At UTC+2, that means near-complete overlap with Western Europe and little natural overlap with the US West Coast.
Cape Town is the largest single concentration with 1,343 developers, followed by Johannesburg (1,029), Pretoria (360), Durban (187) and South Africa (107).
65 skills have enough developers in South Africa to break out separately, so you can go straight to the combination you are hiring for.
Most common skills in South Africa
Each links to the local breakdown for that technology.
- JavaScript2,029
- HTML1,911
- Python1,591
- TypeScript1,247
- CSS1,175
- Java1,002
- C#699
- Bash / Shell616
- PHP583
- Jupyter491
- C++445
- C413
- Go285
- Ruby259
- Vue.js200
- Dart176
- React169
- Docker167
- Kotlin159
- Sass / SCSS154
- Rust140
- R114
- LaTeX106
- Swift102
- Lua92
- Node.js91
- CMake85
- HCL64
Counts are developers in the indexed profile set.
Developer cities in South Africa
All indexed developers per city, across every skill.
- Cape Town1,343
- Johannesburg1,029
- Pretoria360
- Durban187
- South Africa107
- Gauteng79
- Stellenbosch63
- Midrand45
- Centurion40
- Bloemfontein32
Counts are developers in the indexed profile set.
What developers in South Africa look like
Measured across the profiles in this group, not self-reported.
- Median public contributions, last 12 months
- 40
- Median public repositories
- 16
- Median followers
- 7
- Have a linked LinkedIn profile
- 32.3%
- Flagged as open to work on GitHub
- 29.8%
Years of experience
- 0–2 years22%
- 3–5 years15%
- 6–9 years31%
- 10+ years32%
Shares of the profiles in this group where experience could be derived.
Sample profiles from South Africa
Real indexed developers, reduced to ranges and derived labels so no individual is identifiable.
- Contributions / year
- 0–50
- Public repositories
- 250–500
- Followers
- 100–250
- Contributions / year
- 500–1,000
- Public repositories
- 5–10
- Followers
- 50–100
- Contributions / year
- 0–50
- Public repositories
- 35–50
- Followers
- 25–50
- Contributions / year
- 100–250
- Public repositories
- 20–35
- Followers
- 10–25
- Contributions / year
- 0–50
- Public repositories
- 20–35
- Followers
- 25–50
- Contributions / year
- 0–50
- Public repositories
- 10–20
- Followers
- 0–10
Figures are shown as ranges and identifying details are removed. Full profiles, including GitHub handles and contact details, are available to signed-in users.
Frequently asked questions
How many developers are there in South Africa?
3,880 developers in South Africa are indexed on RealGreatDevs, 0.15% of the 2,554,463 profiles in the dataset. Location comes from the developer's own stated country on their public profile.
What technologies do developers in South Africa use most?
JavaScript leads with 2,029 developers, followed by HTML (1,911), Python (1,591), TypeScript (1,247) and CSS (1,175).
What are the working-hour overlaps with South Africa?
At UTC+2, that means near-complete overlap with Western Europe and little natural overlap with the US West Coast.
How active are developers in South Africa on GitHub?
The median developer there made 40 public contributions in the last year across 16 public repositories. 32.3% have a LinkedIn profile linked.
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