Junior developer job description templates for small teams: 6 variants with BLS pay bands, the FLSA exempt test juniors fail, and a ramp plan. Free DOCX.
Junior Developer Job Description Templates for Small Teams
6 free templates for the companies hiring their first entry-level developer: general, front-end, back-end, full-stack, QA, and apprentice. With pay bands and the classification rule most employers get wrong. Download as DOCX.
The first junior developer job description I ever wrote was a senior posting with the salary crossed out. It asked for a computer science degree, three frameworks, cloud experience, and a portfolio, then offered entry-level pay. Two capable people applied. Both of them turned out to have ignored the requirements list entirely, which told me the list had done nothing except scare off everyone who read it carefully.
That is the defining problem with this particular posting. A junior developer job description is not a shorter version of a senior one. It is a different document with a different job: it has to describe supervised work honestly, filter without intimidating, and commit you to the mentorship that makes the hire work at all.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for companies without an HR department, and this page covers six variants: a general junior developer, front-end, back-end, full-stack for a small business, QA and test automation, and a paid apprentice with a conversion path. Each includes the classification note that the generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
A junior developer job description describes supervised work: scoped tickets, code review on everything, and a named mentor. Classification is the trap. The FLSA computer employee exemption needs both a pay test and a duties test, and someone still training for those duties is non-exempt. Entry-level pay tracks the 10th to 25th percentile of the matching occupation. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What Junior Actually Means in a Job Description
Junior describes a supervision level, not a discount. The defining feature of the role is that someone else reviews the work before it reaches production, and the posting is honest only if that reviewer exists and has time protected for it.
Most disagreement about the word comes from employers using it to mean cheap rather than to mean supervised. That produces a posting describing a mid-level engineer at a junior salary, which fails slowly and expensively. Here is the ladder as candidates read it.
Apprentice or intern
Learning is the job
Output is not expected to cover the cost. The arrangement exists to produce a hire. Pay hourly, treat as non-exempt, and set a written conversion decision date so the person is not left guessing.
Junior developer
Ships supervised work
Handles well-scoped tickets end to end, with review on everything. Zero to roughly two years of commercial experience. Needs a named senior to review, which is the requirement most small teams skip.
Mid-level developer
Ships unsupervised work
Takes an ambiguous problem, scopes it, and delivers without daily direction. If your posting describes this and your budget says junior, you will interview for months and hire nobody.
Senior developer
Owns systems and people
Makes architecture decisions, reviews others' code, and carries responsibility for what the team ships. This is the person a junior hire depends on. Hire the senior first, or contract one.
The One Question to Answer Before You Post
Who reviews this person’s code every week, by name? A junior developer without a senior nearby will produce work that nobody at your company can evaluate, and you will discover that only when something breaks or when they leave. If the name is blank, the options are to contract a senior for a few hours a week, retain an agency for architecture review, or hire at mid-level instead. None of those is a failure. Posting the junior role anyway is.
What Belongs in a Junior Developer Posting
A junior posting does four jobs: it sets expectations about supervision, it filters without intimidating, it protects you legally, and it closes the candidate. Most postings only attempt the third and the fourth. Here is the full inventory.
The highest-leverage item on that list is the one that sounds like an afterthought: an explicit section stating what you do not require. Strong beginners read requirement lists literally and disqualify themselves, so naming the flexible items directly is what widens the pool. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure in more depth.
6 Junior Developer Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Junior Developer Job Description Templates
General, front-end, back-end, full-stack for small business, QA automation, and developer apprentice. All in one download.
Junior Software Developer
The general-purpose posting
The default junior role on a team that already has senior developers, with scoped tickets, code review, and an honest list of what you do not require.
Junior Front-End Developer
Interfaces and components
For UI work from existing designs, with accessibility and browser expectations written in and a classification note on visual production work.
Junior Back-End Developer
APIs, data, and services
For server-side work, with a security and access section covering what a junior can reach in production and when to escalate before shipping.
Junior Full-Stack Developer
The small business hire
For a company where software runs the business rather than being the product, with external technical review, IP assignment, and the contractor warning.
Junior QA / Test Automation
Quality and regression
For testing and automation, with defect reporting standards and the overtime note that matters when release weeks run past forty hours.
Developer Apprentice
Structured entry path
For a paid apprenticeship or intern-to-junior program, with a mentor, a curriculum, a written conversion decision, and the pay rules spelled out.
Template 1: Junior Software Developer
The default junior posting for a team that already has senior developers, with scoped tickets, code review, and an explicit section covering what you do not require. Use the broader software developer templates if you are hiring above entry level.
Junior Software Developer Job Description
JUNIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / Remote / Hybrid)
Reports to: [Engineering Lead / Senior Developer / CTO / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note before posting)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] builds [product or service] for [customer type]. Our engineering
team is [number] people, and we ship [weekly / continuously]. This is a junior
role: we expect you to arrive with fundamentals and grow into ownership here,
not to have done the job before.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Junior Software Developer writes, tests, and maintains code under the
direction of a senior developer, works through well-scoped tickets, takes part
in code review, and steadily takes on larger pieces of the product.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Write and test code in [language / framework] against defined requirements
•Take well-scoped tickets from the backlog through to a merged pull request
•Fix bugs reported by [customers / support / QA] and confirm the fix
•Take part in code review, both receiving feedback and reading others' code
•Write and maintain unit tests for the code you ship
•Keep documentation current for the parts of the system you touch
•Use version control, our branching model, and our deployment process
•Ask for help early rather than staying stuck [time limit, for example 1 hour]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Bachelor's degree in computer science / bootcamp completion / demonstrated
ability through a portfolio: pick the bars you will genuinely accept]
•Working knowledge of [language] and familiarity with [framework]
•Comfort with Git and a basic understanding of how code reaches production
•Ability to read an error message, form a hypothesis, and test it
•Clear written communication in a team that works [asynchronously / in person]
WHAT WE DO NOT REQUIRE
•Commercial experience beyond [internships / personal projects / coursework]
•Knowledge of our specific stack on day one
•[Remove this section if you are not genuinely open on these points]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
Do not assume a junior developer is exempt. The FLSA computer employee exemption
requires both a pay test (the standard salary level of $684 per week on a salary
basis, or at least $27.63 per hour if paid hourly) and a duties test: the
primary duty must be systems analysis, or the design, development,
documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer systems or
programs. A developer who is still primarily learning, and whose work is
directed and reworked by a senior, may not meet the duties test. Federal
regulation also states plainly that the exemptions do not apply to employees
training for a computer employee role who are not actually performing those
duties. If in doubt, classify as non-exempt, track hours, and pay overtime.
Some states set higher thresholds or their own computer employee rules; confirm
with your state labor agency. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [benefits summary], [review cadence]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a link to code you
have written.
Template 2: Junior Front-End Developer
For interface work built from existing designs, with accessibility and browser expectations written in. The senior version lives in our front-end developer templates.
Junior Front-End Developer Job Description
JUNIOR FRONT-END DEVELOPER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / Remote / Hybrid)
Reports to: [Front-End Lead / Senior Developer / Design Lead]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] is hiring a Junior Front-End Developer to build and maintain the
interfaces our [customers / internal team] use every day. You will work from
designs in [design tool] and from tickets written by [product / the founder],
with a senior developer reviewing everything you ship.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Junior Front-End Developer builds user interface components in
[framework], connects them to our APIs, fixes visual and behavioral bugs, and
helps keep the front end accessible and fast.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build UI components in [React / Vue / Svelte] from provided designs
•Write semantic HTML and maintainable CSS in [our styling approach]
•Connect components to existing APIs and handle loading and error states
•Fix visual bugs and browser inconsistencies reported by [source]
For server-side work, with a section on production access that most junior postings skip entirely. Pair it with the back-end developer templates when you need the senior counterpart.
Junior Back-End Developer Job Description
JUNIOR BACK-END DEVELOPER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / Remote / Hybrid)
Reports to: [Back-End Lead / Senior Developer / CTO]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] runs [describe the system: an API, a data pipeline, a web
application] on [stack]. We are hiring a Junior Back-End Developer to add
endpoints, write queries, and keep the service healthy, with a senior developer
reviewing the work and owning architecture decisions.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Junior Back-End Developer implements server-side features in [language],
writes and tunes database queries, adds tests, and helps operate the service in
production under supervision.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Implement API endpoints and background jobs in [language / framework]
•Write database queries and migrations against [database]
•Add unit and integration tests for the code you ship
•Investigate errors in [logging / monitoring tool] and fix the cause
•Follow our practices for secrets, input validation, and access control
•Document endpoints and data changes so the rest of the team can use them
•Take part in code review and, once ready, in the on-call rotation
•Escalate anything touching [payments / customer data / auth] before shipping
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Working knowledge of [language] and one back-end framework
•Basic SQL and an understanding of relational data
•Understanding of HTTP, status codes, and how an API is consumed
•Comfort with Git and command-line tooling
•Careful habits around data: you check before you write a migration
SECURITY AND ACCESS NOTE
This role has access to [production data / customer records / infrastructure].
State the access level in the posting, run any background check you require
before granting access, and set up accounts through your standard onboarding
process rather than by sharing credentials.
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
The FLSA computer employee exemption requires both a pay test ($684 per week on
a salary basis, or at least $27.63 per hour if paid hourly) and a duties test
centered on systems analysis or the design, development, documentation, testing,
creation, or modification of computer systems or programs. A junior who is still
being trained into those duties may not qualify, because federal regulation says
the exemptions do not apply to employees training for a computer employee role
who are not actually performing the duties yet. When unsure, classify as
non-exempt and track hours. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [benefits summary], [on-call policy and pay]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a code sample.
For a company where software runs the business rather than being the product, with external technical review, intellectual property assignment, and the contractor warning stated plainly. The general version is in our full-stack developer templates.
•Build small features end to end, from interface to database
•Connect and maintain integrations between [tool A] and [tool B]
•Fix bugs reported by staff and customers, and communicate the status
•Keep dependencies patched and backups verified on our schedule
•Write down how things work so the business is not dependent on one person
•Submit anything structural to [named reviewer] before it ships
•Support staff on [systems] as a small part of the week
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Practical experience across a front end and a back end, at any scale
•Familiarity with [our stack] or a demonstrated ability to pick up a new one
•Comfort working without a large engineering team around you
•Clear communication with non-technical colleagues
•Judgment about when to ask [named reviewer] rather than improvise
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
This role is easy to misclassify twice over. First, do not default to exempt:
the FLSA computer employee exemption needs both the pay test ($684 per week on
a salary basis, or at least $27.63 per hour) and a duties test built around
programming and systems analysis, and time spent on general IT support, data
entry, or content updates does not count toward it. Second, do not hire this
person as an independent contractor while setting their hours, tools, and
methods. If you control how the work is done, you have an employee, with payroll
taxes, workers' compensation, and overtime obligations attached. This is general
information, not legal advice.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Include a written assignment of work product in the offer, and confirm that
accounts, domains, and repositories are owned by the company rather than by an
individual. Small businesses discover this problem at the worst possible moment.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [benefits summary], [equipment provided]
To apply, email __ with your resume and anything you built
that a real person used.
Template 5: Junior QA / Test Automation Developer
For testing and automation work, with defect reporting standards and the overtime note that matters when release weeks run long. See also the QA engineer templates for the fuller role.
Junior QA / Test Automation Developer Job Description
JUNIOR QA / TEST AUTOMATION DEVELOPER JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / Remote / Hybrid)
Reports to: [QA Lead / Engineering Lead]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt] (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per [year / hour]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] ships [product] to [customer type] on a [weekly / continuous]
release cycle. We are hiring a Junior QA Developer to test what we build, write
automation that catches regressions, and give the team a clear picture of
quality before each release.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Junior QA Developer writes and maintains automated tests, executes manual
test plans for new features, reports defects with reproducible steps, and helps
keep the release checklist honest.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Write and maintain automated tests in [framework]
•Execute test plans for new features and for the regression suite
•Report defects with clear reproduction steps, expected and actual results
•Verify fixes and close out defects after confirmation
•Keep the test environment and test data usable
•Track and report test coverage and release readiness to [audience]
•Take part in requirement review and raise ambiguity before build starts
•Work with developers on root cause rather than throwing tickets over a wall
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Some scripting or programming ability in [language]
•Familiarity with a test framework such as [framework]
•A methodical approach and genuine attention to detail
•Written communication clear enough that a defect report needs no follow-up
•[Degree / bootcamp / demonstrated ability: set your bar honestly]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
QA roles sit on both sides of the line. Test automation work that is primarily
the creation, testing, and modification of computer programs can fall under the
FLSA computer employee exemption if the pay test is met ($684 per week on a
salary basis, or at least $27.63 per hour). A role that is primarily manual
script execution and defect logging generally does not, and a junior still being
trained into automation is unlikely to qualify. Non-exempt QA staff need hours
tracked and overtime paid past forty in a week, which matters because release
weeks run long. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [year / hour], [benefits summary], [overtime policy]
For a paid apprenticeship with a mentor, a curriculum, and a written conversion decision. If you are building an internship program more broadly, our guide to hiring interns covers the pay rules in detail.
[Company Name] runs a [duration] paid apprenticeship for people entering
software development from [a bootcamp / a degree program / a career change]. It
is structured: an assigned mentor, a written curriculum, real tickets, and a
decision at the end about a full-time junior role.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Developer Apprentice learns our stack and our practices while contributing
real work under close supervision, following a written plan with checkpoints at
[weeks], and is evaluated for conversion to a junior developer role at the end.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Complete the structured curriculum for [stack] on the agreed schedule
•Work assigned tickets with mentor review before every merge
•Pair with [mentor / rotating developers] for [hours] each week
•Write tests and documentation for the work you complete
•Present what you built at [checkpoint intervals]
•Track your own hours accurately, including any work outside normal hours
•Ask questions early; getting stuck quietly is the only real failure here
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Completion of [a bootcamp / relevant coursework / self-directed study] with
work we can look at
•Fundamentals in [language]: variables, control flow, functions, data
structures
•Reliable availability for [schedule]
•Ability to receive direct feedback and act on it
CONVERSION PATH
At [duration] we make a decision, and we tell you either way. Conversion to a
junior developer role depends on [named criteria: shipping independently,
code review turnaround, test discipline]. Starting compensation on conversion
is $_ per year.
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read this one carefully)
Pay apprentices and treat them as non-exempt employees: hourly, minimum wage or
better, and overtime past forty hours in a week. Someone in training who is not
yet performing computer employee duties does not meet the FLSA exemption, and
federal regulation states that directly. Unpaid internships at a for-profit
company are governed by the primary beneficiary test, which asks who really
gains from the arrangement, and a person doing productive work you would
otherwise pay for is an employee. Track hours from day one, including evening
and weekend work you did not ask for but did accept. If the program carries a
formal apprenticeship designation or school credit, confirm the additional
requirements that come with it. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [equipment provided], [conversion salary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and something you
built, however small.
Exempt or Non-Exempt: the Trap in Junior Roles
Do not assume a junior developer is exempt from overtime. The FLSA computer employee exemption has two halves, and a genuine junior often satisfies the pay half while failing the duties half, which leaves the role non-exempt no matter what the offer letter says.
The rule sits in the federal regulation on computer employees as exempt, and the Department of Labor explains it in Fact Sheet 17E. Both make the same point: job titles do not determine exemption status, and the primary duty has to be programming or systems analysis work rather than anything merely performed on a computer.
The computer employee exemption has two halves
Most employers remember the pay half and forget the duties half. The pay test is met by the standard salary level of $684 per week on a salary basis, or by an hourly rate of at least $27.63, which is unusual: this is the one white-collar exemption that survives hourly pay. The duties test is the harder one. The primary duty has to be systems analysis, or the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs. Both halves must be satisfied. Paying a junior $90,000 does not make the role exempt if the duties do not qualify, and the job title on the offer letter carries no weight at all in the analysis.
Training is explicitly carved out
There is a federal regulation that speaks directly to junior hiring, and almost nobody reads it. It says the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employee exemptions do not apply to employees training for one of those roles who are not actually performing the duties yet. Read against a real junior developer, that is a pointed warning. If the first months are structured learning, pairing, and work that a senior reworks before it ships, the person is training for computer employee duties rather than performing them. The safe answer during that period is non-exempt: track hours, pay overtime past forty in a week, and revisit the classification in writing when the duties genuinely change.
Non-exempt is not an insult, it is a record
Small employers resist classifying a developer as non-exempt because it feels like a demotion. It is not. It is a timekeeping obligation, and the obligation is the point: when a wage claim arrives, the employer carries the burden of producing accurate records, and an employer with none is arguing against the employee's own estimate. Juniors work irregular hours precisely because they are slower, and crunch weeks before a release are exactly when unpaid overtime accrues. Set up time tracking on day one, state the overtime policy in the offer, and require approval for hours past forty. That protects the budget as much as it protects the person.
States can raise the bar, never lower it
Federal rules are the floor. Several states set salary thresholds for exempt status well above the federal $684 per week, and those thresholds change on their own schedules. California maintains a separate computer software employee exemption with its own hourly and salary rates that the state adjusts annually, so a figure you memorized is probably stale. Where the state rule is stricter, the state rule governs. Confirm the current numbers with your state labor agency before you classify, and re-check them at each raise, because a threshold increase can quietly convert an exempt employee into a non-exempt one without anyone changing their job. This is general information, not legal advice.
The decisive text for junior hiring is a separate regulation on trainees, which states that the exemptions do not apply to employees training for a computer employee role who are not actually performing those duties. If your first ninety days are structured learning and supervised rework, that describes training. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests in general, and anyone outside an exemption needs hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a week.
Situation
Likely classification
What to do
Paid apprentice or intern working a curriculum
Non-exempt
Hourly, minimum wage or better, overtime past 40 hours
Junior in the first months, all work reworked by a senior
Non-exempt
Track hours from day one; revisit in writing later
Junior shipping scoped features with routine review
Fact-specific
Assess the primary duty honestly against the regulation
Developer meeting the duties test, paid $684+ per week
Exempt
Confirm state thresholds, which can be higher
Developer meeting the duties test, paid $27.63+ per hour
Exempt
The one white-collar exemption that survives hourly pay
Role that is mostly IT support or content updates
Non-exempt
Computer employee duties test is not met
Junior engaged as an independent contractor
Almost certainly an employee
Supervision and control defeat contractor status
That last row deserves its own warning. Hiring a junior as a contractor to avoid payroll obligations fails on the facts, because the role requires direction by definition. Our guide to employee versus contractor classification covers the control test.
What to Pay a Junior Developer
There is no federal wage figure for a junior developer, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies work by occupation rather than by seniority. No occupation code exists for the title, so the honest benchmark is the bottom of the percentile ladder in whichever occupation matches the actual work.
Entry-Level Benchmarks From the Nearest Occupations
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the 10th percentile annual wage was $82,460 for software developers, $57,710 for computer programmers, $61,440 for software quality assurance analysts and testers, and $48,100 for web developers. The corresponding medians were $135,980, $100,390, $104,300, and $92,650 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Nearest BLS occupation (May 2025)
10th percentile
25th percentile
Median
Software developers
$82,460
$105,210
$135,980
Software quality assurance analysts and testers
$61,440
$80,310
$104,300
Computer programmers
$57,710
$75,850
$100,390
Web developers
$48,100
$64,230
$92,650
Read that table as a range rather than a target. A junior offer generally lands between the 10th and the 25th percentile of the matching occupation, which means the single most consequential decision is which row applies to your job. The gap at the entry level between web developer and software developer is roughly $34,000 for work that many small companies describe with the same sentence.
Match the occupation to the actual work, not to the most impressive available title. If the job is maintaining a website and a customer portal, the web developer row is the honest benchmark and the posting should say web developer. Adjust for your local market, and publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules require one.
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Screen for evidence of building and for learning speed, because a junior candidate has no professional record to check. Ask for something they built that a real person used, however small, and read the code instead of the resume.
The most informative exercise is not a take-home task at all. It is a live session where you introduce a change to a problem the candidate has already solved and watch how they reason through it, because reacting to changed requirements under supervision is the daily reality of the role. Our guide to finding developers for a small team covers sourcing before this stage.
Cap the Take-Home, and Pay for It If It Runs Long
Unpaid take-home tasks that consume a weekend filter for free time rather than for ability, which pushes away career changers and anyone with caregiving responsibilities. Cap the task at a length you would be willing to pay for, say so in the posting, and honor the cap. If your process genuinely needs more, pay for the time. A task that produces something you would ship is work, and treating it as work is both the fair position and the defensible one.
The Real Cost of a Junior Hire
A junior developer costs more than the salary, and the extra cost is senior time. For the first several months the review, pairing, and rework consume hours from your most expensive person, so two salaries produce meaningfully less than two developers of output.
That is not an argument against hiring juniors. It is an argument for planning the ramp before the offer goes out, because the hire becomes a genuine saving only after the supervision curve flattens, and it never flattens if nobody owns the mentorship.
Ramp stage
What the junior does
What the senior owes
Week 1
Environment set up, first small ticket merged
Setup guide that works, first ticket chosen in advance
Weeks 2 to 4
Small scoped tickets, heavy review
Daily availability, review turnaround inside a day
Months 2 to 3
Small features end to end, moderate rework
Weekly one-to-one, written 30 and 60 day feedback
Months 4 to 6
Owns a bounded area, review becomes routine
Architecture guidance, stretch assignments
Months 7 to 12
Ships independently in familiar territory
Path to next level in writing, revisit classification
Write those checkpoints down before the first day and assign them to real owners with real dates. The thirty, sixty, and ninety day conversations are the mechanism by which a struggling hire gets corrected rather than quietly written off, and our developer onboarding guide covers the technical setup side of the same first quarter.
Hiring a Junior Developer Without an HR Department
Junior hiring fails in three predictable places at small companies: the wrong reason for hiring, a posting that describes the wrong level, and a first quarter with no plan. Each has a concrete fix.
You are hiring a junior because a senior is expensive, which is the wrong reason
A junior developer is not a discounted senior developer. The federal wage ladder makes the gap look like an easy saving, and for the first several months it is not a saving at all: the junior consumes senior time in review, pairing, and rework, so two salaries are producing something closer to one and a quarter developers' worth of output. The hire pays off later, and only if the senior time exists. The honest test before you post is whether you can name the person who will review this code every week. If that name is blank, you are not ready for a junior, and the money is better spent on a contractor or a mid-level hire who can work unsupervised.
Your posting asks for a junior and describes a mid-level engineer
This is the most common failure and the easiest to fix. A posting that says junior in the title and then lists five years of production experience, three frameworks, cloud infrastructure, and a computer science degree is not a junior posting, it is a mid-level posting with a junior budget attached. Strong entry-level candidates read the requirements list literally and self-select out, while the applicants who ignore requirements entirely flood you. Cut the list to what you will genuinely enforce, then add an explicit section stating what you do not require. That second section does more for applicant quality than anything else in the document, because it tells a capable beginner that applying is not a waste of their time.
The first ninety days have no plan, so the hire looks like a mistake by day thirty
Junior hires fail for structural reasons far more often than for talent reasons: no environment setup guide, no first ticket chosen in advance, no mentor with protected time, no checkpoint where anyone says how it is going. By week four both sides privately suspect the hire was a mistake, and neither says so. FirstHR was built to remove that gap. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every new developer, task workflows assign the environment setup, the first ticket, and the thirty, sixty, and ninety day checkpoints to real owners with real dates, e-signature handles the offer and the IP assignment, training modules cover security and code review practices before the first commit, and employee profiles keep equipment and access records straight. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is signed the work becomes repeatable, and a standard onboarding checklist carries most of it. For an entry-level hire the checklist matters more than usual, because a junior has no prior workplace to fall back on when something is unclear. You can browse the rest of our hiring templates for the surrounding documents.
Key Takeaways
Junior describes a supervision level rather than a discount, so do not post the role until you can name the person who will review the code every week.
The FLSA computer employee exemption requires both a pay test ($684 per week salaried or $27.63 per hour) and a duties test, and satisfying only the pay half leaves the role non-exempt.
Federal regulation states that the exemptions do not apply to employees training for a computer employee role who are not yet performing those duties, which describes most juniors in their first months.
No BLS occupation code exists for junior developer, so benchmark to the 10th and 25th percentile of the nearest occupation: software developers began at $82,460 and web developers at $48,100 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
An explicit section listing what you do not require does more for applicant quality than any other part of a junior posting, because capable beginners read requirement lists literally.
Hiring a junior as an independent contractor fails on the facts, since the role requires direction and supervision by definition.
A junior hire succeeds or fails in the first ninety days. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every new developer, with task workflows assigning environment setup and the thirty, sixty, and ninety day checkpoints to real owners, e-signature for the offer and the IP assignment, and training modules delivered before the first commit. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a junior developer job description include?
A junior developer job description should include nine things: what your product is in two sentences, the stack named specifically, the team size and who reviews the code, the responsibilities written as supervised work rather than ownership, requirements you will genuinely enforce, an explicit list of what you do not require, the FLSA classification decided on duties, the pay or a good-faith range, and what the first ninety days look like. The two that matter most for a junior posting are the ones almost nobody writes. Naming the reviewing senior tells a candidate they will not be abandoned. Listing what you do not require stops capable beginners from self-selecting out of an application, which is the single biggest cause of a weak junior candidate pool. Everything else in the document is convention.
Is a junior developer exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
It depends on duties, and the safe answer during the training period is non-exempt. The FLSA computer employee exemption has two halves that both have to be satisfied. The pay half is met by the standard salary level of $684 per week on a salary basis or by an hourly rate of at least $27.63, which is unusual because it survives hourly pay. The duties half requires the primary duty to be systems analysis, or the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs. A federal regulation states directly that these exemptions do not apply to employees training for a computer employee role who are not actually performing the duties yet, which describes a genuine junior in the first months. Classify as non-exempt, track hours, pay overtime past forty in a week, and revisit in writing when the duties change. Several states set higher thresholds. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a junior developer make?
There is no federal wage figure for a junior developer specifically, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies by occupation rather than by seniority. The practical benchmark is the bottom of the relevant occupation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the 10th percentile for software developers was $82,460 a year against a median of $135,980, while computer programmers started at $57,710 against a median of $100,390 and web developers at $48,100 against a median of $92,650. Software quality assurance analysts and testers began at $61,440. A junior offer generally lands between the 10th and 25th percentile of whichever occupation matches the actual work, adjusted for your local market. Match the occupation to the job rather than to the most impressive title, because the spread between web developer and software developer at the entry level is roughly $34,000.
What is the difference between a junior developer and an entry-level developer?
In practice the terms are used interchangeably, and both describe someone with roughly zero to two years of commercial experience who ships supervised work. Where a distinction gets drawn, entry-level emphasizes that no professional experience is required at all, while junior sometimes implies a year or two of prior work, an internship, or an apprenticeship already completed. The distinction matters less than what your posting says about supervision and scope. Describe the actual work: well-scoped tickets, code review on everything, a named mentor, and a defined path to the next level. Use whichever title candidates in your market search for, then let the responsibilities and the explicit list of what you do not require carry the real signal about seniority. Consistency matters more than the label you pick.
Should a small business hire a junior developer?
Only if you can name the person who will review the code every week. A junior developer is not a discounted senior developer. For the first several months the hire consumes senior time in review, pairing, and rework, so the arrangement produces less combined output than the two salaries suggest, and it pays off later only when that supervision genuinely exists. If your company has no senior developer and no contracted technical reviewer, a junior hire will produce work nobody in the building can evaluate, which is how small businesses end up with systems they cannot maintain or replace. The practical middle path is to arrange review first: a fractional technical lead, a contracted senior on a few hours a week, or an agency retained specifically to review architecture decisions. Then hire the junior against that structure.
How do I screen a junior developer with no professional experience?
Screen for evidence of building and for learning speed rather than for credentials. Ask for something they built that a real person used, however small, and read the code rather than the resume. Give a short take-home task that mirrors your actual work, cap it at a length you would be willing to pay for, and pay for it if it runs long. The most useful signal comes from a live session where you introduce a change to a problem the candidate already solved and watch how they reason through it, because that is the daily reality of a junior role. Ask what they got stuck on most recently and what they did about it. Check that they ask questions before writing code. Skip trivia about language internals, which measures preparation for interviews rather than capacity to do the job. Keeping candidates, notes, and take-home results organized through the process matters as much as the questions do. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Can I hire a junior developer as an independent contractor?
Usually not, and it is one of the most expensive mistakes a small company makes. Classification turns on control. If you set the hours, assign the tickets, direct the tools and methods, review the work before it ships, and expect the person to be available during your business day, you are describing an employee regardless of what the agreement says. A junior is almost always the wrong candidate for genuine contractor status precisely because the role requires supervision and direction by definition. Misclassification exposes you to back payroll taxes, unpaid overtime, penalties, and in many states additional liability. If you need project work without an employment relationship, contract an experienced developer who supplies their own tools and methods, and hire the junior properly as an employee. This is general information, not legal advice.
