How much does a software developer earn?
Software developers design, build and maintain applications, interfaces and systems – from web and mobile apps to backend services and enterprise software. They analyse requirements, write and test code, work in agile teams and ship features to production. Gross pay depends on region, tech stack, company size, remote share and experience. As a guide, qualified developers in Germany in 2026 often earn about €4,500–€5,600 gross per month; during dual IT apprenticeship (e.g. Fachinformatiker) around €1,100–€1,450 is typical.
Salary by region (gross/month)
Guide figures as of 2026. The apprenticeship column refers to dual IT training (e.g. Fachinformatiker/-in application development) or comparable trainee pay; qualified means practising software developers after completed training or a degree plus work experience. Actual pay depends on tech stack, collective or company agreements, company size, remote/hybrid models, bonus and experience and is not a guarantee.
Further training options
Job and everyday work
A software developer turns business requirements into working software: reading specs, implementing features, fixing bugs and coordinating with product owners, QA and operations. Everyday work includes code reviews, tests, CI/CD pipelines and documentation – often in sprints, with a focus on quality, maintainability and delivery dates.
- Analyse requirements, design technical solutions and implement features in frontend, backend or full stack.
- Write and refactor code, secure it with unit, integration and end-to-end tests; review pull requests.
- Diagnose defects and performance issues – logs, debugger, monitoring – and ship fixes to production.
- Work with product owners, designers, QA and operations in agile rituals (stand-up, planning, retro).
- Maintain CI/CD, version control and deployments; keep documentation and API contracts up to date.
- Keep learning technologies and best practices; apply security and data-protection requirements in code.
