A person working as Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town typically earns around 34,900 ZAR. Salaries range from 16,100 ZAR (lowest) to 55,500 ZAR (highest).
This is the average salary including housing, transport, and other benefits. Digital Design Engineer salaries in Cape Town vary drastically based on experience, skills, gender, or location. Below you will find a detailed breakdown based on many different criteria.
Minimum Salary 16,100 ZAR |
Median 33,400 ZAR |
Maximum 55,500 ZAR |
Salaries for the position Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town range from 16,100 ZAR (starting salary) to 55,500 ZAR (maximum salary). It should be noted that the given figure is not the legally mandated minimum wage; rather, it represents the lowest figure reported in a salary survey that included thousands of participants and professionals from all regions of the country.
With a median salary of 33,400 ZAR, half of the professionals who work as Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town earn less than this amount, and the other half earn more. The median salary denotes the middle value of salaries. Ideally, you would want to belong to the group earning more than the median salary, located on the right side of the salary distribution graph.
The median is closely associated with two other values known as the 25th and 75th percentiles. By examining the salary distribution chart, it can be determined that 25% of professionals employed as Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town earn less than 26,900 ZAR, while 75% earn more. Similarly, the chart shows that 75% earn less than 38,400 ZAR while 25% earn more.
To provide a better understanding of expected salaries, we categorized the frequently occurring salaries into different ranges. This approach provides a more precise representation of salary distribution for the job title Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town compared to simply calculating the average. The majority of reported salaries, approximately 65%, fall within the range of 20,000 ZAR to 29,000 ZAR. About 20% of salaries are below the 20,000 ZAR mark, while 10% fall within the range of 29,000 ZAR to 33,100 ZAR. Only 5% of individuals have salaries exceeding 33,100 ZAR.
0 - 2 Years | 18,200 ZAR | |
2 - 5 Years | +34% | 24,300 ZAR |
5 - 10 Years | +48% | 36,000 ZAR |
10 - 15 Years | +22% | 43,900 ZAR |
15 - 20 Years | +9% | 47,800 ZAR |
20+ Years | +8% | 51,800 ZAR |
The experience level is the most important factor in determining the salary. Naturally, the more years of experience the higher the wage. We broke down salaries by experience level for people working as Digital Design Engineer and this is what we found.
Employees with less than two years of experience earn approximately 18,200 ZAR.
While someone with an experience level between two and five years is expected to earn 24,300 ZAR, 34% more than someone with less than two year's experience.
Moving forward, an experience level between five and ten years lands a salary of 36,000 ZAR, 48% more than someone with two to five years of experience.
Additionally, professionals whose expertise span anywhere between ten and fifteen years get a salary equivalent to 43,900 ZAR, 22% more than someone with five to ten years of experience.
If the experience level is between fifteen and twenty years, then the expected wage is 47,800 ZAR, 9% more than someone with ten to fifteen years of experience.
Lastly, employees with more than twenty years of professional experience get a salary of 51,800 ZAR, 8% more than people with fifteen to twenty years of experience.
Bachelor's Degree | 21,200 ZAR | |
Master's Degree | +93% | 40,900 ZAR |
We all know that higher education equals a bigger salary, but how much more money can a degree add to your income? We broke down salaries by education level for the position Digital Design Engineer in order to make a comparison.
Employees at this education level have an average salary of 21,200 ZAR.
At this level, the average salary becomes 40,900 ZAR, 93% more than the previous level.
A Master's degree program or any post-graduate program in South Africa costs anywhere from 156,000 ZAR to 469,000 ZAR and lasts approximately two years. That is quite an investment.
You can't really expect any salary increases during the study period, assuming you already have a job. In most cases, a salary review is conducted once education is completed and the degree has been attained.
Many people pursue higher education as a tactic to switch to a higher-paying job. The numbers seem to support the theory. The average increase in compensation while changing jobs is approximately 10% more than the customary salary increment.
If you can afford the costs of higher education, the return on investment is definitely worth it. You should be able to recover the costs in roughly a year or so.
Though gender should not have an effect on pay, in reality, it does. So who gets paid more: men or women? For the people who work as Digital Design Engineer in South Africa, the average difference between the salary of male and female employees is 12%.
Male | 33,200 ZAR | |
Female | -11% | 29,700 ZAR |
Individuals working as Digital Design Engineer in South Africa are likely to observe a salary increase of approximately % every months. The national average annual increment for all professions combined is 8% granted to employees every 18 months.
The term Annual Salary Increase usually refers to the increase in 12 calendar month period, but because it is rare that people get their salaries reviewed exactly on the one-year mark, it is more meaningful to know the frequency and the rate at the time of the increase.
The annual salary Increase in a calendar year (12 months) can be easily calculated as follows: Annual Salary Increase = Increase Rate x 12 / Increase Frequency
Not all compensation increases are reflected directly in the salary. Some companies offer upgraded packages to their staff instead of cash money. The figures displayed here account only for direct increments to the base salary.
100% of surveyed staff reported that they haven't received any bonuses or incentives in the previous year while % said that they received at least one form of monetary bonus.
Those who got bonuses reported rates ranging from % to % of their annual salary.
Received Bonus | % | |
No Bonus | 100% |
The most standard form of bonus, where the employee is awarded based on their exceptional performance.
Company Performance BonusesOccasionally, some companies like to celebrate excess earnings and profits with their staff collectively in the form of bonuses that are granted to everyone. The amount of the bonus will probably be different from person to person depending on their role within the organization.
Goal-Based BonusesGranted upon achieving an important goal or milestone.
Holiday / End of Year BonusesThese types of bonuses are given without a reason and usually resemble an appreciation token.
People tend to confuse bonuses with commissions. A commission is a prefixed rate at which someone gets paid for items sold or deals completed while a bonus is in most cases arbitrary and unplanned.
The main two types of jobs | |
Revenue Generators | Supporting Cast |
Employees that are directly involved in generating revenue or profit for the organization. Their field of expertise usually matches the type of business. | Employees that support and facilitate the work of revenue generators. Their expertise is usually different from that of the core business operations. |
Example: | Example: |
Revenue generators usually get more and higher bonuses, higher salaries, and more frequent salary increments. The reason is quite simple: it is easier to quantify your value to the company in monetary terms when you participate in revenue generation.
Top management personnel and senior employees naturally exhibit higher bonus rates and frequencies than juniors. This is very predictable due to the inherent responsibilities of being higher in the hierarchy. People in top positions can easily get double or triple bonus rates than employees down the pyramid.
The hourly wage is the salary paid in one worked hour. Usually, jobs are classified into two categories: salaried jobs and hourly jobs. Salaried jobs pay a fixed amount regardless of the hours worked. Hourly jobs pay per worked hour. To convert salary into hourly wage the above formula is used (assuming 5 working days in a week and 8 working hours per day which is the standard for most jobs). The hourly wage calculation may differ slightly depending on the worked hours per week and the annual vacation allowance. The figures mentioned above are good approximations and are considered to be the standard. One major difference between salaried employees and hourly paid employees is overtime eligibility. Salaried employees are usually exempt from overtime as opposed to hourly paid staff.
The minimum pay rate per hour for people working as Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town is 93 ZAR. This is the minimum as per the gathered data in the salary survey not the minimum hourly rate mandated by law.
Job Title | Average Salary |
Electrical and Electronics Trades | -100% | |
Cable Installer and Locator | 10,100 ZAR | -71% |
Cable Technician | 9,720 ZAR | -72% |
Digital Design Engineer | 34,900 ZAR | -0% |
Electric Bike Technician | 17,800 ZAR | -49% |
Electrical Designer | 30,900 ZAR | -11% |
Electrical Drafter | 16,800 ZAR | -52% |
Electrical Engineering Manager | 50,500 ZAR | +45% |
Electrical Maintenance Manager | 48,800 ZAR | +40% |
Electrical Planner | 26,500 ZAR | -24% |
Electrical Sales Engineer | 32,100 ZAR | -8% |
Electrical Sales Representative | 20,500 ZAR | -41% |
Electrical Service Technician | 10,300 ZAR | -70% |
Electrical Technician | 16,600 ZAR | -52% |
Electrical Worker | 12,500 ZAR | -64% |
Electrician | 16,600 ZAR | -52% |
Electromechanical Technician | 17,900 ZAR | -49% |
Electronic Assembler | 16,600 ZAR | -52% |
Electronic Drafter | 14,200 ZAR | -59% |
Electronic Engineer | 34,200 ZAR | -2% |
Electronic Service Engineer | 32,800 ZAR | -6% |
Electronics Engineer | 34,600 ZAR | -1% |
Electronics Instructor | 31,600 ZAR | -9% |
Electronics Technician | 17,800 ZAR | -49% |
Field Service Engineer | 32,700 ZAR | -6% |
Field Service Technician | 12,500 ZAR | -64% |
Home Automation Specialist | 32,900 ZAR | -6% |
Home Energy Auditor | 28,500 ZAR | -18% |
Hydroelectric Plant Technician | 15,500 ZAR | -56% |
Hydroelectric Production Manager | 42,300 ZAR | +21% |
Instrumentation Technician | 13,600 ZAR | -61% |
Journeyman Electrician | 14,900 ZAR | -57% |
Maintenance Electrician | 11,200 ZAR | -68% |
Mechatronics Technician | 17,200 ZAR | -51% |
Power Equipment Mechanic | 13,400 ZAR | -62% |
Power Line Technician | 12,300 ZAR | -65% |
Refrigeration and Airconditioning Mechanic | 17,300 ZAR | -50% |
Security Service Engineer | 35,600 ZAR | +2% |
Technical Manager | 45,300 ZAR | +30% |
Turbine Fitter | 9,400 ZAR | -73% |
Warehouse Attendant | 8,950 ZAR | -74% |
Warehouse Manager | 42,100 ZAR | +21% |
Watch Repairer | 12,300 ZAR | -65% |
City | Average Salary |
Cape Town | 34,900 ZAR |
Johannesburg | 31,500 ZAR |
Where can you get paid more, working in a private company or the government? The difference between the public or government sector salaries and the private sector salaries in South Africa is 7% on average across all career fields.
Private Sector | 30,400 ZAR | |
Public Sector | +7% | 32,400 ZAR |
A good and competitive compensation would range anywhere between 33,400 ZAR and 38,400 ZAR. This is a very rough estimate. Experience and education play a very huge part in the final earnings.
All salary and compensation figures displayed here are gross salary figures, that is the salary before tax deductions. Because taxes may differ across sectors and locations, it is difficult to accurately calculate the net salary after tax for every career.
The base salary for a careers like Digital Design Engineer in Cape Town ranges from 16,100 ZAR to 26,900 ZAR. The base salary depends on many factors including experience and education. It is not easy to provide a figure with very little information, so take this range with a grain of salt.
Both are indicators. If your salary is higher than both the average and the median then you are doing very well. If your salary is lower than both, then many people earn more than you and there is plenty of room for improvement. If your wage is between the average and the median, then things can be a bit complicated. We wrote a guide to explain all about the different scenarios. How to compare your salary