Notice how everything seems to become hi-tech around you?
Well, jobs aren’t any different.
As we heads towards the new normal, the latter being created precipitously by the Covid19 pandemic, we can see companies and organisations are hiring more tech talents, i.e., software engineers, developers, programmers.
This is mainly due to the shifting of living and working behaviors from the offline environment to the online virtual world.
One of the popular countries to hire these employees would be in the Philippines.
In this article, we will share some of the top tips and techniques to hire some of the best tech talents in Philippines.
Table of contents:
- Who are the Tech Talents?
- Why should we hire tech talents from the Philippines?
- Where can we find these talents?
- What are the things you should know as an employer?
- Holiday regulations in the Philippines
- How to find Tech Talents in Philippines?
1. What are Tech Talents?
Tech talents are broadly speaking, skilled professionals that have studied the fields of computer science, information technology, engineering, and developers are considered tech talents.
They are usually labelled as “Developers”, “Engineers”, “Technicians”, or “Programmers”.
While there is either hardware or software or both tech talents, in this article, we will focus more on software tech talents.
Tech talents are crucial to some businesses as they possess technical skills that not a lot of people can have.
Software Tech talents can be further split into two parts
- Frontend Developers/Engineers/Programmers
- Backend Developers/Engineers/Programmers
Frontend developers are those who are concerned with mainly the visual part of the technical system, i.e., the “front-side” of the software system.
Backend developers are those who are focused on coding the logic and makeup of the database, and server of the technical system, i.e., the “back-side” of the software system.
Some of the key technical coding languages/skillsets possessed by Frontend developers are
- HTML
- CSS
- Javascript
- ReactJS
- VueJS
- AngularJS
- iOS
- Android
- React Native
Some of the key technical languages/skillsets possessed by Frontend developers are
- NodeJS
- Golang
- Python
- Ruby
- .NET
- C++
- PHP
Do note that a tech talent can either be a Frontend Developer or Backend Developer or both.
In the latter case, that tech talent is usually termed as a “Fullstack” or “Full-stack” developer/engineer/programmer.
Since that talent is well-versed in both the frontend technical stack and backend technical stack, hence, the term “fullstack” is used to label that talent’s holistic technical mastery in both technical stacks.
Now that you are schooled on the construct of a tech talent in terms of a frontend or backend or a fullstack developer, programmer and engineer, we will next touch on why you should be looking in the Philippines for such talents.
2. Why should you hire tech talents from the Philippines?
Due to several key factors promoting the viability of hiring tech talents in the Philippines, many companies have set up business process outsourcing (“BPO”) or “tech-shops” hiring hundreds and thousands of tech talents.
2.1 Low cost
The Philippines is one of the countries with a relatively low labor costs (as compared to most other developed countries).
Therefore, it allows employers to maximize their resources in hiring tech developers.
Now, you might think that lower pay means lower quality.
Well, it isn’t.
Paying less without compromising the quality of the work is rather a great deal that we are talking about here.
According to the Bureau of Local Employment, an entry level (with less than 1 year of experience) web developer’s salary ranges from P 13,000 – P 31,000 per month which is equal to approximately 550 USD at the top limit.
According to Jobstreet Philippines, they estimated that a typical software developer can earn around P 35,000 – P 45,000 per month, which is around 800 USD at the top estimate.
In the table below, we will show the rough estimates of different salary review websites:
| Website | Salary Per Month (USD) |
| Bureau of Local Employment | 550 |
| Payscale | 664 |
| Glassdoor | 700 |
| Indeed | 718 |
| Jobstreet Philippines | 800 |
| 9cv9 | 766 |
Note: Salary per month is converted from Philippines Peso to United States Dollars using Google Foreign Exchange Converter
As seen from the table above, the rough estimate of an average salary per month of a typical tech talent is around 700 USD.
In comparison to the United States, which has a software engineer earning around 10,000 USD a month (Indeed, 2022).
This means that at a rough estimate, we are looking at around a 14.3 times disparity between the two countries.
On average, tech developers’ salaries in the United States are 14.3 times that of those tech developers in the Philippines
– 9cv9
2.2 Literacy
In the Philippines, people do highly value their education.
It has always been one of the priorities of a standard Filipino household.
Even people at an old age still have the certain willpower to learn.
For instance, there was this grandma from Leyte who received a diploma at 75 years old.
Wow, right? What an inspiration, indeed.
If you are curious about this narrative, click here to read it.
Meanwhile, a report from 2019 also showed that the country has an estimated literacy rate of 91.6% for the people aged 10-64 years old, resulting in a high literacy rate.
This only tells us that not only are there a certain amount of old people who are eager to learn but also a handful of youth.
This further shows hope and inspiration to many of our next generations.
For tech talents, the hunger and need to learn is important.
As tech and coding languages are constantly evolving and upgrading, the tech talent needs to always stay at the top of his/her game to keep up with the most updated and relevant material.
2.3 High English Proficiency
The Philippines was a colony of the United States until 1946 which explains why we speak proficient American English.
The exposure we had to their culture had a significant impact on us.
Even if people think of this as just a small matter, this is rather helpful most times.
For instance, when speaking with a customer, we usually use American English so that they could understand the context.
The English language is an asset for someone who is working in relations as this is the key to communicating with our clients.
Additionally, it also helps that we learned from our experiences and channel our admiration for them which allows us to connect with them more effectively.
Why is this point important to the hiring of tech talents?
That is because in developing a technical system, i.e., web or mobile applications, you need all the moving parts or all the members of the development team to be on the same page.
This means smooth and unhindered communication is essential.
Imagine having a “Tower of Babel” in your development team.
That would be disastrous.
Unless you are planning to hire tech talents from a single locality with a single lingua franca, it is highly recommended to find tech talents with good proficiency of English.
This allows you to increase your hiring pool of tech talents across countries, cities and localities.
Also, most of the technical documents these days are typed and worded in English.
Modern coding languages such as Golang, NodeJS, and ReactJS are mainly written in the English Language so it makes sense to hire tech developers who can read and understand English well.
2.4 Hardworking
The people in the Philippines are generally hardworking.
Given that the Philippines has ranked 9th in countries with the worst gap between rich and poor, the people here learned to fend for and provide for themselves.
Difficult times put us in a spot wherein we must work to provide for ourselves.
This then leads to an overflowing dedication and perseverance we commonly share.
Hardworking and diligence are key traits needed for a tech talent to flourish in his/her work.
Sometimes there is a need to work overtime due to inherent planning risks and you wouldn’t want a lazy tech talent to complain on that.
2.5 Empathetic
The tech talents in the Philippines are often easygoing and friendly.
Their everyday lives show proof of how they interact with each other on a daily basis.
An example of this would be the friendly neighbour who loves to chat with everyone for it gives them a sense of knowing and caring for each other which results in an empathetic character.
Similarly, we take this lesson to heart and project it in our job and client relations.
In a similar vein, having friendly tech talents in your development team will not only boost team morale but also provide a work-life balance edge.
Making everyone professionally and personally comfortable in their tech development responsibilities will help optimise your tech development process and make the tech development and design process a more enjoyable and sustainable one.
2.6 Flexible
Filipinos’ flexibility and adaptability are no secret to everyone.
We were able to see countless smiles even in the face of disasters and poverty.
It is so inspiring that even the people living in the worst conditions try to form smiles and look towards the brighter side of life.
This led to most employers considering Filipino workers as the best workers.
Flexibility goes a long way in ensuring development risks are mitigated.
Imagine asking your tech talents to work on a weekend and getting an inflexible resounding “no” might cause panic to your company.
With strong Filipino tech talents, they will ensure that your technical system will not run into a stall during the weekends.
2.7 Great Interpersonal Skills
Aside from their English speaking skills, Filipinos are generally known for being good with people.
Hospitality is one of the things we can remember if we talk about the country Philippines.
Wherever you are from, you will be greeted by a warm welcome once you step into the land of this country.
They will grace you with food and accommodations, even the lightest friendship too.
Filipino tech talents are no exceptions.
As mentioned above, they can communicate effectively with all members of your tech development team and even to the higher echelons of the management team to present clear steps and outcomes in a presentation.
3. Where can we find these talents?
The first stop. Target at the source. Universities.
Universities in the Philippines offer many tech-related courses for every college student.
Each year, these universities produce the most qualified candidates for the software job.
For instance, Kevin Atienza, a summa cum laude from their computer science department made headlines on Rappler as he tops the Google Code Jam in 2014 and 2016, representing the Philippines’ ability in the field of technology.
He is one of the living proof to the success of tech-related education in the Philippines.
If you are eager to find talents like him, here are some of the top universities in terms of tech-related courses:
| University | Undergraduate courses Offered | Tuition Range |
| University of the Philippines | Computer Science Information Technology | ₱3,800- ₱55,000/yr |
| Ateneo de Manila University | Computer Science Management Information Systems Media Arts Technology | ₱180,000 – ₱200,000/yr |
| Mapua University | Computer Science Information Systems Entertainment and Multimedia Computing Information Technology | ₱160,000 – ₱200,000/yr |
| University of Santo Tomas | Information Technology – Majors: Technology Automation, Web and Mobile Development. Computer Science – Major in Data Science Information Systems – Major in Business Analytics | ₱120,000- ₱150,000/yr |
| De La Salle University | Computer Science – Majors in Software Technology, Information Security, Computer Systems Engineering Information Systems, Information Technology | ₱200,000 – ₱230,000/yr |
Other than those mentioned above, there are still a wide variety of places to be on the lookout for your next tech talent.
Places like Manila and Makati, ones that are very much highly urbanized also show a good amount of tech talent in their workplaces.
You might want to check out Cebu City too due to the presence of tech talents in that city.
Pro-tip: To post an advertisement to attract tech talents from these universities, try listing a job on 9cv9 Job Posting Platform. The platform extends your reach into the educational institutions’ tech students in the Philippines.
4. What are the things you should know as an employer?
4.1 The average salary of a tech developer in the Philippines
While we have mentioned on the average salary of a software tech talent above, we will further deep dive into the average salary of a software tech talent from 1 to 3 years of experience.
Below listed are some of the in-demand career opportunities for tech talents and their corresponding average salary.
The range qualifies for entry level up to senior developer positions.
| Job / Role | Average salary range (For experience level 1-3 years) |
| Software Developer | ₱21,000 – ₱80,000/ month |
| Software Engineer | ₱25,000 – ₱75,000/ month |
| Web Developer | ₱17,000 – ₱50,000/ month |
| Application Developer | ₱34,000 – ₱80,000/ month |
| Security Engineer | ₱32,000 – ₱53,000/ month |
| Data Analyst | ₱21,000 – ₱40,000/ month |
The typical working hours in the Philippines is 8 hours a day with an hour-long lunch period as per regulations by the government.
You would have to pay them an additional 25% of their regular pay if employees work overtime.
4.2 Benefits an employer should give to them
Through observation, these are some of the common benefits a company could offer for tech developers in the Philippines.
Here are some of it:
4.2.1 13th month pay
Employees usually look forward to their salaries when Christmas is near. This is mainly because of the bonus that they will be receiving.
Presidential Decree No. 851 states that the mandatory compensation for all the employees should be given on or before December 25 of each year.
The amount given as a 13th month pay is equivalent to one month’s salary or 1/12 of a worker’s annual salary.
Do note that this is mandatory and compulsory which means if the Employer does not pay this 13th month salary, the employees can take legal action against them.
The 13th month salary in the Philippines is compulsory by statutory requirement.
– 9cv9
4.2.2 Leaves
Leaves are essential for the employees to be able to take a step back and breathe.
If you are a workaholic, you may not agree with this.
But even workaholic needs this too.
This is in favor of our health and mental wellbeing.
In addition, it gives us time for the family.
In short, a breather for workers.
Every year, the employee gets to have annual leave to reduce their stress and recover their happiness and mental state. This assures more productivity and fewer employee turnovers in the long run.
4.2.3 Sick leaves
This is given to the employees that are unwell and unable to perform the tasks they should be doing. This is a time when the employee could rest and take care of their physical health instead of worrying about their papers and deadlines.
4.2.4 Maternity Leaves
An employer is entitled to give maternity leave to an employee who is a mother, regardless if she is married or not. This is given 45 days prior to the due date and should extend until 60 days after childbirth.
4.2.5 Paternal Leaves
Fathers on the other hand, would also need to be present in these times for emotional support. Paternal presence is equally important in the delivery process. That is why there is also a Paternal leave for the fathers that lasts up to 7 days.
4.2.6 Insurance
- SSS or Social Security System
This is mandated by the government for all the employers and employees to follow. This will be deducted from the monthly salary they have.
Every person in the workforce that qualifies under the age of 60 with more than 1000 income per month should be able to contribute. This is used to help the employees seek benefits and funds in times of maternity, sickness, retirement, disability, and even for the funeral.
- Health Insurance
This mainly focuses on your health. Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or “PhilHealth” is a government corporation that provides healthcare to the masses. All citizens of the Philippines are entitled to have free healthcare here.
It is also mandatory to comply and pay your contributions to PhilHealth to ensure the health of your employees. It should deduct 3.5% of an employee’s monthly salary as of 2021.
- Pag-Ibig Fund
This is another mandatory national saving program that employers need to comply with. This encourages more Filipinos to save, at the same time provides access to multiple housing loans for employees.
4.2.7 Flexible working arrangements
Since tech work is mostly done on our different gadgets and software, some companies would offer employees flexible working arrangements.
Especially in the new normal, offices do not need many people in the workplace anymore.
Therefore, these individuals can work from home instead of going out.
With just the tools needed, they can work almost anywhere.
4.2.8 Night differential pay
When you are losing sleep time to work, it is only right you get overtime pay.
This is to compensate the employee for their sleeping time in exchange for work.
Usually, this refers to the work that goes beyond the 8-hour time frame the government had set.
They are entitled to an additional 25-30% of their regular wages.
4.2.9. Performance Bonus
As a reward system, some companies give a performance bonus to employees with exceptional work.
This is said to be a token of appreciation for the employee that also plays a huge role in motivating the employees to maintain their work records.
5. Holiday regulations in the Philippines
Holidays in the Philippines are divided into 2 classifications: Regular Holiday and Special Non-working Holiday
Now, you might get a little confused there. Let me break it down for you.
Regular Holidays are days that are set to date. It is a normal holiday you are entitled to give to your employees. If your employees worked during this day, then you are entitled to compensate them 200% of their regular salary. Furthermore, if the employee also worked overtime then they should be receiving 30% of their regular pay on top of the 200%.
Special Non-Working Holidays are days that may vary in terms of date and aren’t generally practiced. These holidays apply the “no work, no pay” policy. If your employee works that day, then you should give them 100% of their pay. Now, if they exceeded the work of 8 hours, then you should give them an additional 30% of their normal wage as overtime pay.
Read more (https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/nationwide-holidays/)
6. How to find Tech Talents in the Philippines?
To start, we divide the approach into two parts:
- Inbound applications from Tech Talents – Job Portals and Advertisement sites
- Outbound application for Tech Talents – Headhunters
Both approaches are different in the sense of how they work.
For the “Inbound application” method, the Employer will typically post the job description (“JD”), i.e., the job name, job location, job scope, job requirements on either or both offline and online job platforms or sites.
Some of the more popular websites to post an advertisement for job applications from tech talents are listed below:
Websites to post tech jobs in Philippines in 2022
- 9cv9: Arguably Asia’s leading Tech Hiring Portal with over 3,500+ Employers and over 160k+ tech talents looking for tech jobs. Employers can post 1 job and get access to 3 visible candidates for free. Paid packages start from USD 149 per month for 5 job postings. Free and Paid.
- Jobstreet: One of Asia’s largest job portals with 5.5 million visits per month (Sept 2022). It attracts all sorts of talents, including tech talents. Jobstreet Philippines require Employers to pay for job listings on their site. Paid.
- Indeed: One of the world’s largest job portals but not as popular in Philippines as compared to other countries. Paid.
- Glassdoor: Mostly known for being a company review website, Glassdoor has since branched out to include job postings. Paid.
- Monster: Founded in the US in 1999, Monster has grown to be one of the biggest job portals in the world. However, they do not focus on tech jobs. Paid.
- Jora: Jora is a worldwide job search aggregator which includes many tech jobs and roles. Employers can post here for free. Free.
- Linkedin: Linkedin needs no introduction as one of the biggest professional career websites in the world. It also contains a sizeable pool of tech talents on its platform. Free and Paid.
- Kalibrr: Kalibrr is a job portal from Philippines with around 1.6 million visits per month (Sept 2022). Paid.
- Grabjobs: Grabjobs is a job portal that has filipino tech talents on it as well. With over 100,000 visits per month (Sept 2022), employers can treat themselves to some tech talents’ applications. Paid.
- Onlinejobs.ph: With over 2.8 million visits per month, there is a high chance of landing a great tech talent from Online Jobs Philippines. Paid.
- Bestjobs.ph: With a target audience that is well-spread around the world, employers who are keen to also expand their geographical reach can post a job here. Paid.
- BossJob: Mainly dealing in hiring professional tech talents in the Philippines. Paid.
- Mynimo: A job portal that allows for posting jobs. However there are certain requirements needed such as Philippines’ business documents, one job per post, etc. Job postings are not free and start from 5,488 PHP, including taxes. Paid.
- Fastjobs.ph: Based on a similar company from Singapore, Fastjobs typically targets the blue collar and retail workers. Paid.
Other than the above job portals in which you can post job positions to attract tech talents and get inbound applications, your recruiting team can also consider using “Outbound Application” methods such as the headhunting method.
Headhunters in Philippines in 2022
- 9cv9: 9cv9 is one of the best and arguably one of the most well known tech headhunting and offshoring agencies in the world. Using a wide array of in-house human resource technologies, 9cv9 has earned rave reviews from clients and companies worldwide, including from the Government of Singapore for their Global Tech Talent Alliance program.
- Jobsrefer: Jobsrefer uses a decentralised recruiting platform to reach out to tech talents. Leveraging on their massive pool of freelance referrers and recruiters (10,000 as of Sept 2022), they tap on the referrers’ social network to increase the pool of addressable tech talents to hire. Jobsrefer also screens and qualifies the tech talents before endorsing to the clients, thereby reducing the time and resource costs on the part of the hiring company.
- Robert Walters Philippines: Robert Walters is a professional headhunting and recruitment consultancy with a branch in Philippines.
- Curran Daly & Associates: Curran Daly is one of the popular headhunters around in Philippines, i.e., Manila, and also in Sydney, Australia and in Hong Kong.
- KC Recruitment: KC Recruitment is a full-service headhunting firms providing Recruitment, Executive Search, HR Consulting, Payroll Processing, and Staff Leasing Services to registered companies in the Philippines.
- Michael Page Philippines: As part of PageGroup, Michael Page Philippines helps companies to hire in Philippines.
For hiring tech talents, developers, engineers and programmers, we highly recommend using the “Headhunter” method.
Why?
Tech talents are so high in demand these days that they already have job offers and invitations waiting for them from headhunters even before they are looking for a job.
Hence, generally there will be a small pool of tech talents applying to tech jobs on their own accord.
Most tech talents, especially the good ones, are headhunted.
– 9cv9
Waiting for inbound applications from tech talents might take too much time and also, undesirable from a company strategic perspective (due to need for speedy execution of tech development strategy).
Also, passively waiting for tech talents might also risk losing out on top, high quality tech talents (as those tech talents would already have been snapped up by other companies).
Now that you know the ins-and-outs of hiring tech talents, developers, programmers and engineers in the Philippines, are you now ready to hire them?
If yes, do skip over to 9cv9 Jobs and Career Platform to post 1 free job to start getting inbound job applications or send over an inquiry to 9cv9 Headhunting and Offshoring service now to hire the best and top tech talents in Philippines.
