How much do programmers earn in Moldova?

The IT sector in Moldova is the most developed and dynamically developing sector of the economy, bringing to the state treasury about 3.5% of the total GDP of the country. The main export destinations for Moldovan software and related IT services are the EU, USA, Canada and UK. It is much more profitable for these countries to buy Moldovan software products on outsourcing than to keep highly paid specialists in their staff. 

Of course, Moldovan IT companies themselves benefit from this, as it allows them to keep competitive prices for software and a decent salary level for programmers in Moldova. 

EU IT market and average salary of programmers in Moldova: how it is connected

The growing market of information technologies and programmer's salary in Moldova is influenced by the fact that EU countries cannot satisfy the need for qualified specialists. According to Eurostat, more than half of the companies registered in the EU have difficulties in hiring programmers. And this does not fit in with the EU's goals within the framework of global digitalisation - to have at least 20 million "army" of IT specialists by 2030.

Our IT companies are successfully competing with Western companies, especially in the segment of software development and support, smartphone applications, Internet network administration and database maintenance. Moldovan progres take advantage of experience, expertise, quality, compliance with deadlines and, most importantly, optimal prices for their services. But there is also the other side of the coin - for the most part, Moldovan companies cannot take on large orders because of their small staff.

Potential accession to the European Union will allow Moldovan IT companies to open new opportunities on the EU market, increase the number of orders and, accordingly, raise the average salary of a programmer to the European level.

How much a programmer earns in Moldova

Referring to the official statistics for the country, the minimum salary of a programmer is 6,419 MDL or about 360 USD. And the maximum salary of a programmer reaches MDL 24,797 or $1386 (at the exchange rate as of February 2024). Here we mean the net average salary of a programmer per month together with allowances and bonuses. 

But how much do programmers in Moldova actually earn? The salary level can vary dramatically downwards or upwards, depending on the vacancy, position and requirements to the candidate. 

Do you want to know how much a programmer really earns? Moldova's IT portal TechDoor.md has launched annual programmer survey Moldova to get first-hand information and to keep abreast of IT services market events. The survey is anonymous. We will publish the results of the survey in one of our next posts. 

How much programmers are paid by position 

Having monitored vacancies on job search platforms like rabota.md, bestjobs.md and other services, one can roughly guess how much employers in Moldova pay (or are willing to pay) programmers. 

Attention! The specified salary of a programmer is indicative and may vary, depending on the position and level of the specialist.

Comparison of programmer salaries by example certain specialisations:  

1. Backend developer - a specialist who develops and maintains the server side of websites and applications. Processes requests from clients, works with databases, external services, APIs, is responsible for the security and performance of the web resource. Must know several programming languages (Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, C#, Node.js). From 6,592 to 28,518 MDL is how much a programmer gets paid per month. We remind you that these figures are according to the official statistics in Moldova. In fact, the real salary of a Backend developer depends on the level of the developer and the hiring company and can vary from 30 000 to 60 000 MDL and higher.
2. Frontend developer - a specialist who develops web interfaces for websites and applications. Responsible for how a web page looks and works from the user's point of view (adaptive and interactive design, usability). Works with different technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, etc. How much does a frontend programmer get on average? The salary ranges from 5,507 - 30,285 MDL. The actual salary also depends on the level of the developer and the company itself, and can range from 30,000 to 50,000 MDL.
3. DevOps Specialist - A specialist who develops, tests, deploys and supports software products using modern methodologies and tools. DevOps Specialist works in a team, optimises processes, ensures software reliability and security. DevOps offer salaries ranging from 8,061 - 30,426 MDL (actual salary can be between 30,000 and 70,000 MDL). 
4. Game developer - Creates computer, mobile, console games. Responsibilities include programming, design, animations, testing. The specialist works alone or in a team, depending on the scale of the project. Official salary ranges from 5,979 to 20,788 MDL (unofficial salary can be from 20,000 to 50,000 MDL depending on the competences of the specialist and his client)
5. Go developer - A webmaster who uses the Go programming language to create applications, websites and systems. Go is a fast and robust language characterised by multi-threading, modularity and code simplicity. The salary for a junior Go programmer starts from 5,943 to 19,154 MDL according to the Ministry (unofficial figures can be 20,000 to 60,000 MDL).
6. R programmer - A specialist who uses the R programming language for data analysis, visualisation, machine learning, etc. He should have knowledge of statistics, mathematics, algorithms and code optimisation. The specialist is in demand in bioinformatics, finance, marketing, science and engineering. How much do beginning R programmers earn in Moldova? Salary ranges from 5,836 to 18,912 MDL as skills and experience grow.

Salaries by programming language also vary.

• .NET - 6,519 - 23,368 MDL/
• ABAP - 7,025 - 26,133 MDL/
• ASP.NET - 6,311 - 19,813 MDL/
• Android - 5,757 - 26,691 MDL/.
• C - 5,809 - 23,684 MDL/
• C# - 5 516 - 22 099 MDL/
• C++ - 6,948 - 25,752 MDL/.
• Java - 5,948 - 29,025 MDL/.
• JavaScript - 6,490 - 22,213 MDL/.
• Objective-C - 7,072 - 26,402 MDL/.
• Oracle - 6,477 - 24,635 MDL/.
• PHP - 6,165 - 18,774 MDL/.
• Perl - 6,157 - 24,055 MDL/.
• Python - 6,145 - 21,595 MDL/.
• iOS - 8,072 - 28,385 MDL/.

How much does a junior programmer earn in Moldova? Newcomers, for example, Backend Developer can expect an average salary of about 17 500 lei per month, but as a rule, at first employers do not pay this amount. And already senior programmer salary with up to 5 years of active development can reach up to 3000-5000$ per month. So, there is room to grow and develop.