Still haven’t found a developer after months of searching?
What if the problem isn’t the market, but your job ad? Paste it in: in 30 seconds you’ll see what’s driving candidates away, your real time-to-hire and what every month of waiting is costing you. Free, no sign-up.
Tuned for tech & product job ads: developers, ops, data, QA, design, product, lead/CTO.
Frequently asked questions about hiring developers
How can I tell if my job description is driving developers away?
Paste it into the tool above: in 30 seconds it flags the signals that make strong candidates scroll past — no salary range, a fuzzy tech stack, requirements out of line with the pay, jargon, an opaque process. If nothing is flagged, the tool tells you so: the bottleneck is then more likely the market.
How long does it take to hire a developer?
In the US, plan on 1–6 months to hire a mid-level tech profile, depending on the role: 1–3 months for a frontend developer, 2–4 months for a backend or full-stack developer, 3–6 months for a data engineer (tensionscore benchmarks updated July 2026, based on BLS and Robert Half data). In our model, a job ad without a salary range adds one month to that estimate.
What does a developer really cost in the first year?
A mid-level full-stack developer nationwide earns about $102k–$132k in base salary. Add employer costs (×1.3), recruiting (20% of base) and the cost of 2–4 months without the skill, and the first year comes to $175k–$255k. Per-role detail is on the salary pages.
What drives developer candidates away from a job ad?
No salary range, a fuzzy tech stack, unrealistic requirements, corporate jargon, an opaque hiring process… these signals push the best candidates to move on. The tool spots them one by one and, on request, sends you the concrete fixes to apply to your ad.
Is tensionscore really free?
Yes, completely. The full diagnosis (score, time-to-hire, real cost, signals that drive candidates away) is shown with no sign-up. You only leave your email if you also want to receive the fixes to apply and a copy of the report.
How the diagnosis works
- A rules engine (no AI) reads the text of your job ad: role, seniority, location, advertised pay, and the signals that drive candidates away.
- Those elements are matched against a dated, sourced market benchmark (BLS OEWS, Robert Half and BLS employer-cost data in the US; APEC, Silkhom and France Travail in France).
- Time-to-hire, the real first-year cost and the tension score follow, as ranges. Nothing is made up, nothing is stored.
2026 salaries by role
Base salary for a mid-level hire nationwide, and the real first-year cost:
- Frontend developer$95k–$125k · $153k–$228k
- Backend developer$105k–$136k · $180k–$263k
- Full-stack developer$102k–$132k · $175k–$255k
- Mobile developer$105k–$138k · $180k–$267k
- DevOps engineer$115k–$146k · $197k–$298k
- Data engineer$110k–$145k · $201k–$312k
- Tech lead$170k–$210k · $310k–$452k
- QA engineer$80k–$105k · $129k–$192k
- Product designer$85k–$120k · $146k–$232k
- Product manager$115k–$150k · $197k–$306k