CLIENT TREND REPORT August 2020

How COVID-19 has affected Arc projects and client expectations

On March 19, WHO designated COVID-19 a pandemic. An unprecedented global shutdown

took place and economic uncertainty ensued. Businesses’ adaptability and nimbleness has
been tested while unexpectedly starting a global work-from-home experiment. We reviewed the
projects and client expectations on Arc since March and found three takeaways:

1. Clients preference for contract roles has increased.

2. Client budget has become more conservative.
3. Clients are maintaining a careful approach with hiring for the near future.

Job Types

Project trends seen on Arc, illustrated in the graph below, shows ​a 20% increase in contract
requests in the month of March and 65.7% from May onward. In contrast, the number of
permanent roles posted has fluctuated during the same period. ​This could be triggered by the
global shutdown, which unfortunately may have affected companies to downsize. Even growing
and healthy companies, instead of hiring permanent employees, are opting for contract roles.
Compared to January and February, we've seen a significant increase in contract roles and in
general a downward trend for permanent hire. This could be tied to clients being more
risk-averse and consequently, preferring the flexibility of contract roles.

Client rate expectations

Below are the rate ranges for developers that Arc clients requested interviews with (broken
down by region and expertise). This comes from analyzing the last 50 job requests from Q2.

The median rates for each region, from left to right on the chart, are USD61.25, USD61.09,
USD57.50, USD55 and USD50. Keep in mind that the range is inclusive of all projects with
different requirements and level of complexity. We also looked at the rates of recent in-demand
expertise and expertise combinations.
At USD70/hour, WordPress has the highest rate. On the other hand, Azure has the lowest rate
of USD25/hour. Other than Azure, median hourly rates for these technologies are between
USD55-USD60.

The combination of Node.js and React is not only the most in-demand but also has one of the
highest interquartile range or midspread. That being said, Python and Javascript as well as
Python and Node.js equally have a maximum rate of USD65/hour. Median rates for these
combinations are between USD50-USD57.50 per hour.

Attitude towards rest of 2020

From conversations with clients, it seems more and more companies are going to opt for
contract-based hires. Due to this, we expect companies to continue hiring conservatively
echoing the charts above with less willingness to commit to permanent hires. This may continue
at least until we see an end to the pandemic, while businesses adjust to the effects of
COVID-19.

During this unprecedented “downtime,” there is a sense of uncertainty and cautious

expectations among clients. Hiring for contract roles (which allow for more flexibility), as well as
hourly rates are top priority for clients. However, we believe this situation is temporary and the
future is still bright for remote work and for Arc. With the current economic climate, at least until
the end of the year, it may benefit you to experiment with hourly rates. We hope this provides
more insight to help you stay competitive in the current market.

Sincerely,
Arc Team