We did a reality check of the buzzing high-paying tech jobs in South Africa that don’t require a degree. So, in order to get a sense of how this industry operates, we looked at the payslips of back-end software developers, cloud engineers, and front-end developers, and we also wanted to look at a payslip of someone who had a degree in this field.

What we discovered, left many feeling dizzy for days.

What are the requirements to get a tech job in South Africa?

A back end developer with just 5 years of experience shared that getting the Amazon Web Services (AWS) foundation certificate and completing a three-month data science boot camp were important certifications and are enough to get you started.

And get this: he said that he learned everything else about software engineering on his own!

He started as a Python developer for a UK-based company and now works in the financial services industry where he receives a basic salary of R75000, after deductions, his monthly take-home pay exceeds R45 000.

Click on this video to see the payslip.

Which tech industry stream is currently in demand in South Africa?

The 26-year-old cloud engineer, who has 3 years of experience in the field, pointed out that cloud data engineers are in high demand in South Africa right now. He shared with us 2 of his payslips which showed an average salary net pay of R75 000 and R81 000.

What are the benefits of working as a cloud engineer?

According to the engineer who sent us his payslips, what is even more charming about this field is the crazy salary increases and bonuses they get every six months.

He said there really is no secret magic spell here as he declared to be self-taught and without a degree, so if you’re thinking about starting out, you better start acting now, he did suggest getting an Amazon cloud practitioner certificate as a good foundation.

The revelation of these crazy large numbers on the pay slips left people dizzy.

Watch this video to see people’s reactions to the cloud engineer payslip.

It is evident that those in this field are driven by the values of hard work, faith, and commitment. Most of them are self-taught and they are not stingy with information.

One man told us he left Zimbabwe for South Africa in pursuit of greener pastures.

His salary as a software engineer in the tech industry is unbelievably over R40,000 per month, coming from only R75 a day when he was in construction.

To learn more about his story, check out this video:

Software Developer Salaries