Minister rejects claims 30,000 software developers left Türkiye

ANKARA

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank has refuted the claims that 30,000 software developers have left Türkiye.

“We have young people working for companies abroad. But most of them have not left the country, they are working from Türkiye as freelancers,” Varank said, speaking at a cyber security event in Ankara.

He added that those figures are put in circulation by anti-government media, noting that the ministry is closely following the developments in the industry and movements of software developers.

“Did 30,000 software developers really leave the country? Who checked those numbers?” Varank asked.

Gönül Kamalı, the president of the Software Industrialists’ Association (YASAD), recently claimed that 30,000 software developers left Türkiye for foreign countries in 2021.

Kamalı argued that local developers are seeking jobs abroad because of longer working hours and low pay in Türkiye.

One out of every two software developers who quit their job in Türkiye starts working for a company abroad, with the leading software and technology companies in the country considering a raise twice a year in order to retain their employees, recent research showed.

According to the research, in which a total of 70 technology companies participated, 60 percent of the companies stated the main reason behind the software developer crisis in Turkish companies is job offers from foreign markets.

Foreign companies, who saw the spread of remote working as an opportunity, started to employ technology talents in Türkiye as they are able to offer software developers jobs with low salaries compared to their home countries but much higher than a company can offer in Türkiye, according to the research.

The rate of companies that fully worked remotely last year was 6 percent, while this rate increased to 24 percent this year.