Who answered
Who took the survey: where they live, where they're from, and how long they've been writing software.
Starts with 2 cross-tabs, or jump to the 11 individual answers ↓
Cross-tab
A bilingual survey reached people who are not bilingual
English and Korean proficiency by group
Only 36% of the Korean respondents rate their English as fluent or native, and six of them put down basic or none. That matters for how you read the rest of this report: this is not just the English-speaking slice of Korean developers answering. Going the other way, 48% of international residents have conversational Korean or better, against 11% of those still abroad.
Fluent or native English
Korean, in Korea
International, in Korea
Living abroad
Conversational Korean or better
Korean, in Korea
International, in Korea
Living abroad
Still a self-selected sample: the survey was bilingual but circulated through an English-first community, so it says who we reached, not what the Korean developer population looks like.
Groups differ in more than the split shown, so read these as descriptions, not causes.
Cross-tab
The visa ladder is real, and it takes about five years
Residency status by years lived in Korea
In their first year, 3% of international residents hold a long-term or permanent status and 34% are on a work, study or job-seeking visa. By four to six years that flips to 57% settled, and by seven to nine years 86% hold F-2, F-5 or F-6 with only 5% still sponsored.
On a long-term or permanent status
Under 1 year
1–3 years
4–6 years
7–9 years
On a work, study or job-seeking visa
Under 1 year
1–3 years
4–6 years
7–9 years
A snapshot, not a cohort: the people here seven years are not the same people who arrived last year, and anyone who gave up and left is not in this sample.
1 group with fewer than 8 answers are not shown (6 respondents).
Groups differ in more than the split shown, so read these as descriptions, not causes.
Every question in this chapter
Where respondents live
166 answered
Seoul
Outside Korea
Gyeonggi
Incheon
Chungnam
Daejeon
Busan
Sejong
Daegu
Ulsan
Gangwon
Jeonbuk
Residency status
166 answered
Living outside Korea
Korean citizen
F-2 Long-term resident
F-6 Marriage
Other
D-2/D-4 Student/language
E-7 Specialized work
H-1 Working holiday
F-5 Permanent resident
F-4 Overseas Korean
D-8 Corporate/startup investor
D-10 Job-seeking
Nationality
166 answered
Other
Korea (South)
India
United States
Uzbekistan
France
Russian Federation
Nepal
Spain
United Kingdom
Pakistan
Brazil
South Africa
Italy
Romania
Gender identity
166 answered
Man
Woman
Non-binary or gender non-conforming
Not listed
Age
166 answered
Under 20
20–29
30–39
40–49
Years of professional experience
166 answered
<1
1–3
4–6
7–9
10–12
13–15
16–20
20+
Years lived in Korea
166 answered
<1
1–3
4–6
7–9
10–12
13–15
16–20
20+
Education & qualifications
166 answered · multiple answers allowed
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional certification (정보처리기사, AWS, CISSP…)
Coding bootcamp
None of these
Other
Short-cycle/associate
PhD
English proficiency
166 answered
None
Basic
Conversational
Business
Fluent
Native/bilingual
Korean proficiency
166 answered
None
Basic
Conversational
Business
Fluent
Native/bilingual
Employment status
166 answered
Permanent employee
Not employed — looking
Student
Freelance/self-employed
Contract employee
Founder/executive
Internship
Part-time
Other