Ever wondered how an AWS developer salary level compares to that of other developers? Any developer’s salary depends on the country they work in, their level of experience and of course, the company they work for- AWS roles are no exception.
This article will discuss the various factors affecting the average Amazon web services developer salary.
What is AWS?
Before discussing the average AWS developer salary, it’s important to first get an idea of what exactly AWS is.
AWS (standing for Amazon Web Services) is Amazon Inc’s first foray into the world of cloud computing. The company aims to provide on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments. These services are charged for on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Source: Youtube
AWS offers subscribers a way of obtaining large scale computing capacity more quickly and cheaply than building an actual physical server farm. AWS accounts for 1/3 of all cloud computing services worldwide. there is a huge demand to bring in the right developers in order to stay ahead of the curve.
It’s also worth mentioning that AWS data engineer is a different role to AWS developer. Therefore you can expect an AWS data engineer salary to be different to the figures presented in this article.
Key skills impacting AWS salary
Key skills of an AWS developer include:
- Deployment. This relates to the deployment of web apps to AWS
- Familiarity with databases. There are actually several database services to choose from and a wide knowledge of these reduces the risk of choosing the wrong one.
- An AWS developer should also have knowledge of debugging, Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) within their skillset.
AWS salary data
An AWS developer’s salary can vary. This depends greatly upon experience and location. Of course, more experience as an Amazon Web Services developer, means you will probably earn more.
Here we present Amazon web services salary data taken from four leading salary comparison sites:
Salary data taken from Glassdoor:
According to Glassdoor’s figures, the average Amazon Web Services developer salary in the US (as of December 2021) was $103,656.
Source: Glassdoor
Starting salaries for an AWS developer in the US, according to Glassdoor, start at around $77k. A similar average salary figure was supplied by PayScale with their figure given as $108k. PayScale’s average hourly salary for an AWS developer was just under the $50 mark at $45.12 per hour. Although this figure does fluctuate depending on the US city in question.
Source: PayScale
Of the four salary comparison sites mentioned, ZipRecruiter provides the highest average salary for an AWS developer in the US. Their average figure is $122,799, which works out to be $59.
Source: ZipRecruiter
Below you can see ZipRecruiter’s breakdown of AWS developer salary levels across varying cities of the US. Not surprising given that it is home to America’s tech center, Silicon Valley, 5 of the top 10 highest paying cities are in California.
Source: ZipRecruiter
Finally, there is AWS salary data taken from Talent.com. They put the average salary for an AWS developer position at $125,228 per year. This works out at an hourly wage of $64.22 an hour. The highest of our four salary estimates. Given that this figure is based on over 2000 salaries, the number is likely to be a fair representation of the average AWS developer salary across the US.
Source: Talent.com
Source: Talent.com
AWS salary by experience
Several factors dictate how much an AWS developer gets paid. An Amazon Web Services developer’s experience is a huge factor. For instance, taking into account the graphic presented above, an entry level salary for an AWS role in the US is $107,250. Not a bad starting wage for an entry-level position, but almost $20k less than the average wage. As with any job, the more experience you have, the more you can expect to earn.
The average wage given by Talent.com for an experienced AWS developer is $155,000 per year. What this shows us, is that entry-level positions for AWS developers pay more than entry-level positions, even for many other developer roles. Moreover, individuals with Amazon certifications can expect even higher salaries than those without certifications. Certification demonstrates proficiency and expertise in AWS technologies, making them more valuable to employers. Thus commanding higher compensation packages.
Read: Complete Salesforce developer salary data
AWS developer salary experience within a specific role
One aspect that affects AWS developer salary levels is a developer’s experience within a company and the exact AWS role they perform. For instance, ZipRecruiter presents differing salary info, depending on whether the employee is an AWS architect, AWS Solution architect professional or an AWS Solutions architect. From the outside, all of these roles might appear exactly the same, but there are subtle differences between them that can affect the salary they earn.
Often, one AWS developer job can expect to earn more than another AWS developer role. So it’s important that you know you’re exact skillset and exactly what you can offer before making salary demands.
Source: ZipRecruiter
AWS salary by location
It was already mentioned earlier that the US city an AWS developer lives in can have a huge effect on how much they earn. But what about outside of the US?
In the UK, according to Glassdoor the average salary for an AWS developer is £31,595 GBP which equates to around $43k USD. At first glance, this appears to be a lot less than comparative AWS positions in the US, but there are several other factors to take into account here, including living costs relevant to each country.
Source:Glassdoor
Talent.com set their average AWS developer salary at £55k GBP. Significantly more than the average salary presented by Glassdoor. Although it’s also worth noting that Talent.com’s figure comes from an average of 6281 salaries, whereas the Glassdoor figure comes from an average of 33,910 salaries.
Read more: What is a cloud architect?
Source.- Talent.com
| Switzerland | 118CHF / $129,807 |
| Australia | 103k AUD/ $74k |
| Denmark | 552k Kr/ $84k |
| United States | $108k |
| Norway | 678k Kr/ $77k |
| Germany | €63k/ $71k |
| Netherlands | €61k/ $69k |
| Canada | C$89k/ $71k |
| Finland | €52k/ $59k |
| France | €45k/ $51k |
| United Kingdom | £47k/ $64k |
Source: PayScale
In the leading markets across Europe and the US, the salaries for AWS developers fluctuate from country to country. However, particularly in mainland western Europe, the average AWS developer salary tends to average at the equivalent of around the $70k mark. This figure is a lot less than the average salary of $108k paid to AWS developers in the US. However as mentioned above, a country’s salary level is affected by various other aspects.
Other than in the US, the highest developer salary for AWS can be found in Switzerland. Here the average AWS developer salary is the equivalent of $129k USD, considerably more than the salary earned anywhere else in this list. Scandinavian countries also have some of the highest AWS developer salary levels. Hardly surprising given these countries also have some of the most stable economies in the world.
Other contributing factors affecting the average AWS developer salary in the US
AWS developers are often attracted to larger cities where wages are higher than in rural environments. However, living costs in these major cities are also usually higher. The remoteness of developer work and the current working pattern for remote work around the world, means for many AWS developers it might be better financially to live in one area, but work remotely in another.
Conclusion
As cloud services increase in popularity, demand for roles like AWS Developer will also only increase. Wages are therefore likely to plateau or to increase as well as time goes on. In any tech role where demand outweighs the number of candidates available, developers with the right set of skills are able to demand increasingly higher wages, and AWS will likely be no exception.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
