Java Developer Jobs Market April 2023
After a big year of movement in 2022, the Java market has returned to a more normal balance of supply and demand in Q1 2023. Skillsets have certainly seen ebbs and flows, but the core skills employers are eager to see that are related to this language remain the same – Spring Boot, Kafka, Microservices, Cloud (AWS, PCF, GCP, Azure) & Testing.
Candidates that have experience with the full product life cycle and end-to-end solutions are high in demand. Solid communication skills are as important as ever with the large cohort of candidates available in the market and the competition that results from this. Experience with other languages such as Python, Scala, Kotlin & Golang is very appealing and shows interest to grow & develop as well as transferable skills.
Some changes have occurred over the past 6 months, including salary expectations lowering, similar to the sort of salaries that were evident pre-Covid. A possible reason for this could be the macroeconomic conditions & the tech layoffs the Dublin market has experienced in the past 6 months. Additionally, a lot of organisations are encouraging employees to return to the office on a hybrid basis and candidates seem to be pretty responsive to it.
Companies hiring in this sector now comprise of more startups and mid-sized organisations than multinationals, which is different from what we would have seen 6 months ago. Multinationals have limited their hiring whereas startups are booming and attracting many candidates with interesting products, engaging work, and stock options.
Candidates in the Java market are looking for security and stability when considering a role. For about 40% of this market, remote working and flexibility are also important. Compensation and good benefits packages also remain a priority but candidates are placing less emphasis on this as of late.
Hiring companies are interested in speaking to candidates that are working with a cutting-edge tech stack with a desire to learn new tools and ways of working. At all levels of seniority, interpersonal skills are essential, especially for client-facing roles and roles that involve stakeholder management, experience building from scratch, and exposure to architecture.
Benefit schemes in the Java market tend to include pension, health insurance, stock options, bonus structures, and in certain cases dental care, eye care, and wellness schemes.
For more information on the current Java jobs market and the latest salary bands, please download our IT Salary Survey below.