[Updated September 1] While finding quality engineers in Hong Kong is a common complaint, the war for talent in established ecosystems like Silicon Valley is just as present. In fact, some tech companies like Facebook and Airbnb have been recruiting interns straight out of high school.
Earlier this year, the founder of a successful enterprise tech startup shared the ludicrous but true story of their efforts to lure a programmer from Google with US $500,000 annual salary as bait. Turns out, the engineer turned down the generous offer because he was already making $3 million in cash and restricted stock units (what are RSU’s?).
Turning the focus to Hong Kong, we wanted to find out what the compensation landscape was like for our burgeoning startup scene. Five Hong Kong startups, ranging from seed to Series B funding levels, shared what they were willing to pay programmers and designers ranging from fresh grad/junior to advanced level.
Programmers:
In Hong Kong, programmers can expect to receive a starting salary of HK $15,000 at a fresh grad / junior level to the highest earning potential of $80,000 per month for advanced engineers, which works out to about US $23,000 and $120,000 a year respectively.
Designers:
Hong Kong startups will start off at HK $15,000 for fresh grads / junior level and will pay up to $60,000 per month for advanced designers, which works out to about US $23,000 and $93,000 a year respectively.
[Acknowledgment] We have updated the post and apologize for any confusion. US $120,000 annual salary is by no means the average of the results – but was the highest reported compensation for advanced level engineers from surveyed startups. US $23,000 being where fresh grads and junior level developers would start.
We have also gone ahead and removed the comparison to Silicon Valley. While the original intention was to use it as a guideline, we realize that how comparing the two can be misleading.
This is an ongoing project. We’d like to hear from more startups in order to get a more accurate pulse on Hong Kong’s compensation landscape, and will update once we have more data. If you’d like to participate, please drop me a line at [email protected].
This comparison doesn’t make much sense. So there’s a 65k/month difference between the lowest and highest paid salary for programmers in HK. That doesnt mean the average salary is in the middle of that. Let’s say you got salary data from 5 startups in HK:
Startup 1 pays: 20k/month
Startup 2 pays: 15k/month
Startup 3 pays: 25k/month
Startup 4 pays: 35k/month
Startup 5 pays: 80k/month
Then the average salary for a HK programmer working for a startup = 175k / 5 = 35k/month = 420k/year = 54k USD/year
The above number seems a lot more realistic then USD120k/year as the average salary for programmers in HK. The salaries startups pay in HK are NOWHERE near those as in the valley (unfortunately), only our rents are!
Hey Doron,
US $120,000 isn’t average salary for programmers in Hong Kong – but was the highest reported compensation from our surveyed startups. And that would be the kind of pay an advanced level engineer could hope to pull in (US $23,000 being for fresh grads / junior level engineers). And you’re right that a comparison between the two startup scenes might not work — we will consider taking down the SV comparison and just post the HK salaries as a guideline. Thanks for your ideas!
Hi Iris, no problem. I think a comparison between the 2 start-up scenes is actually a cool idea but it should be done slightly differently imo, especially when comparing the two side by side in a graph it makes more sense to take the average numbers.
Can you share more of the survey data as the HK programmer rates sound far in excess of what I’ve come across.
The largest programmers salaries in companies I’ve come across are more in the range of US$50K.
Hey Steve,
Sure! We’ll work on a re-write as soon as we get more responses. Just so we’re clear though – US $120,000 annual salary was the highest reported salary (for advanced level engineers) from surveyed startups, not the average! We realize how this may have seemed misleading though. Thanks for your comment!
you graph is misleading if not incorrect showing only the top end.
The graph seems way off from your own numbers, no? It seems to plot the maximum value, which isn’t really representative. Your own numbers are 23k-120k in HK and 80k-130k in the US. Not sure if you have enough respondents to get an accurate average, but the HK range does look quite a bit lower than the US range.
I’d love to see the numbers as you get more responses! Would be particularly interesting to match the data up against experience.
Hey Kannan,
Yes you’re right! We were trying to plot a “range of responses” from surveyed startups instead of just plotting the maximum value. Can see how that is confusing – have removed it and will re-plot when we get more responses. And yes! It would be interesting to match up level of experience with average pay and also equity. Thanks for your ideas!
Wait, the HK programmer salaries range from $23k-120k, and you put $120k on the graph, rather than the average? That’s pretty misleading (especially as, in reality, most HK programmers make much closer to $23k than $120k).
Hey Ad,
We were trying to plot the “range of responses” from surveyed startups instead of just plotting the maximum value. Can see how that is misleading and have removed it. And you’re right, an average would serve better than a range. We’re working on getting more responses in to do this, but please email us if you want to participate!
what a mislead research! if u compare salary, you also need to see how much tax the country paid and the quality of the staff. hong kong only has a few series b or above company comparing to the states. The case you quote paying high salary is google… are you getting relevent to seed to series b company. most of staffs of start up in the States and China get low paid with high options, not like hk staff not care about options but cash. that’s why most of startup wont get good passionate people.
Hey Richard,
We originally wanted to use Silicon Valley’s pay ranges as a guideline, not a comparison. You are correct in saying that SV’s number of mature startups far exceeds Hong Kong’s so it would be tough to compare the two. We’ll consider a rewrite focusing just on Hong Kong startup salaries while taking into account level of experience and equity compensation as well. Thanks for your ideas!