The 2024 Tech Job Landscape: Salary Ranges and Workplace Dynamics

The 2024 tech job landscape pans out as a tapestry of transformation, innovation, and adaptation. From remote hiring to shifting employment dynamics, the future of work in tech is as promising as it is complex.

This article will help you stay informed, agile, and proactive to navigate the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead in this field.

🤖 Understanding the tech landscape: Key trends

Business owners, HR specialists, and recruitment agencies will have noticed the shift in hiring trends in recent years. Despite the seemingly volatile landscape, which has veered from tech talent shortages to mass layoffs, there is still high demand for tech jobs.  

According to the Linux Foundation’s Tech Talent Survey, in-demand roles include DevOps, project management, and security. 

Organizations increasing their hiring are focusing on newer technologies: cloud containers, cybersecurity, and AI and machine learning. 

Predictions of what may happen in 2024 and beyond are just that—best guesses based on the current state of the market and historical data. However, one thing is clear: while things may look better for the tech industry than in 2023, they are still far from predictable and safe. 

One key impact is a reduction in talent mobility. It is not unheard of for ambitious talent to hop from one organization to another, chasing roles and skill development in an employee’s market. However, recent mass layoffs have seen the power tip in the employers’ favor, as staff choose to sit tight until more stability is brought to the industry or, at least, their niche.

👩‍🏭 Meeting demand for talent

The demand for workers in the tech industry is expected to remain strong, with 61% of tech managers planning to hire for new roles in 2024.

Armed with the knowledge that there continues to be a rising demand for skilled IT professionals, recruiters are faced with a different challenge: how to identify individuals who are not only adequately trained and skilled for the job today but who will be able to evolve with their role as they inevitably change?

Primary challenges when recruiting for tech jobs are not just the shortage of candidates in general but the difficulty meeting candidates’ expectations regarding salary and other benefits. 

However, according to the survey of global tech leaders in collaboration with MIT Technology Review, the biggest challenge is that tech candidates lack the necessary skills or experience. 

By definition, the tech industry is constantly changing. It is not enough to find candidates that might fit the role today; they need to serve their organization – and vice versa – for the longer term. 

To recruit successfully, recruiters need to look beyond a candidate’s skills, experience, and accreditation, focusing instead on their aptitude, desire to learn, ability to adjust to ever-changing environments, and drive to succeed. 

Instead of looking for the finished product, which may not exist, but if it does, is most certainly in short supply, recruiters would be better placed to recruit for potential. This opens up many opportunities, including student recruitment fairs, internship opportunities, or internal recruitment.

💸 Tech salary ranges

After an uncertain 2023, which brought about a hiatus in tech salary rises (and even a drop), 2024 is likely to see a rise. However, increases are likely to be more measured than in recent years (pre-2023).

With a push for talent to return to the office, those looking for tech opportunities must know the geographical variances in tech salaries and plan accordingly. 

Similarly, recruiters can leverage these geographical variations to attract talent from out of state. 

Variations in tech salaries are often based on employer location and linked to local overheads. If real estate is more expensive, the cost of living (and owning a business) is higher, and longer commutes are required to get to work, it makes sense for salaries to be slightly higher to account for those additional expenses or demands. 

Understanding these variances has helped savvy home workers modify their expectations and understand where to look to get the best employment benefits. Research such as that highlighted in Motion Recruitment’s IT Salary Guide 2024 offers insights into the roles and locations that pay the most and the least. 

In the US, LA and New York were the highest-paying states, with Phoenix and Philadelphia at the opposite end of the spectrum. These figures are unsurprising when considering the cost of living and potential opportunities available to businesses in those locations.

🏢 Returning to the office

2020-2023 saw a massive rise in people working remotely, first by necessity and then by choice. However, as COVID-19 appears firmly in the rear-view mirror, companies are calling employees back to the office.

While some people are undoubtedly more productive at home, other leaders believe productivity increases when working together in an office. 

Even those who had adopted a hybrid approach are reconsidering their position. 

In April 2023, JPMorgan retracted hybrid working for executives, mandating 5 days in the office. Amazon gave notice in February that staff were expected to be in the office at least three days a week from May 1st, 2023.

According to Statista, this move is happening across tech, with Google, Meta, and Zoom bringing in return-to-office strategies in 2023.

What does this return to office model mean for geographical salary variations?

Where organizations might have felt that they could drop salaries based on time and expense savings for stay-at-home employees, there will once again be pressure to compensate staff for their work and according to their location. 

And that has to be good news for ambitious tech talent, who can gain traction in a new role by making their presence felt at the office. However, it is not so good for those who use hybrid working to balance work and life or to fulfill parental or other caring responsibilities while still having a satisfying career. 

While execs may be keen to get their employees on-site, nearly 70% of full-time workers prefer a hybrid approach, with one or more days a week spent at home and the remainder in the office.

So it would seem that while the homeworking model is dead, the office-only approach is yet to be resurrected; 9-5.30, 5 days a week, can become a thing of the past. 

The attachment to hybrid working could be good news for employers who may be able to offer flexible working as part of an employment package to compensate for a lower salary.

🔮 The future of the tech workplace: Concluding remarks

There may be light at the end of the tunnel for those who have faced the uncertainty of recent years, with tech talent demand remaining strong. 

However, the tech world has always been volatile, and this relative calm after the storm is almost certainly temporary. At some point, there will be some pullback as hiring trends settle down, an inevitable occurrence after periods of accelerated growth. This leaves those currently in senior roles in which they are not entirely happy reluctant to move, choosing to sit tight until they can better assess the risks and benefits. This fact poses a challenge for recruiters who, in more stable times, would be able to entice skilled managers with a competitive employment package and the promise of new challenges.  

As an industry constantly producing new areas of specialization, it is unlikely that there will ever be a plentiful supply of appropriately trained, skilled, and experienced candidates for roles, particularly for more senior positions. However, the IT industry is nothing if not creative. 

To recruit successfully, tech employers, HR specialists, and agencies must be as agile as the industry they work in, recruiting for potential. Above all, IT professionals and recruiters must continue to bend with the wind; if not, they risk breaking.

Author bio

Shahin Fard is the founder of Bravr, a digital marketing agency based in London. He is a senior digital marketer with 20+ years experience with a keen interest in search marketing, data and technology.