Job description: Software Developer in Malaysia
Duties, requirements, interview questions and a template ready for you to advertise your vacancy today.
Role summary
A software developer designs, writes, tests and maintains the applications a business runs on or sells. The role turns requirements into working, reliable code and keeps existing systems secure and easy to change. Good developers reduce manual work, prevent costly outages and allow the company to launch new services quickly, which makes the quality of each hire visible for years afterwards.
Main duties
- Write clean, tested and documented code for new features according to agreed specifications
- Analyse requirements with product owners and users and propose simple technical solutions
- Fix defects reported by users or testers, identifying the root cause and not only the symptom
- Take part in code review, both reviewing the work of colleagues and acting on the feedback received
- Design and query relational databases, and optimise slow queries and inefficient processes
- Build and consume APIs to integrate with payment gateways, third-party services and internal systems
- Write automated unit and integration tests and keep the build pipeline passing
- Deploy releases to staging and production, monitor logs and respond to incidents
- Maintain technical documentation and estimate tasks realistically during sprint planning
Typical requirements
- Degree in computer science or software engineering, or equivalent demonstrable experience
- Two or more years of professional experience in the main language and framework of the team
- Solid knowledge of SQL, version control with Git and the fundamentals of web security
- Experience with automated testing, code review and an agile way of working
- Familiarity with cloud platforms, containers or continuous integration tools is desirable
- Ability to read technical documentation and communicate clearly in written English
Key skills
Salary in Malaysia
Based on jobs posted on Saplic over the last 6 months. It is a market benchmark, not an official figure.
Vacancy template ready to copy
Replace the fields in square brackets with your company details.
Market benchmark: RM 4,000 per month (median of the jobs posted on Saplic over the last 6 months).
Software Developer — [Company name]
At [Company name] we are looking for a software developer to join our engineering team in [City]. The role involves building new features, improving existing systems and taking part in code reviews, within a team that values well-tested code, realistic deadlines and continuous learning.
Responsibilities
- Write clean, tested and documented code for new features according to agreed specifications
- Analyse requirements with product owners and users and propose simple technical solutions
- Fix defects reported by users or testers, identifying the root cause and not only the symptom
- Take part in code review, both reviewing the work of colleagues and acting on the feedback received
- Design and query relational databases, and optimise slow queries and inefficient processes
- Build and consume APIs to integrate with payment gateways, third-party services and internal systems
- Write automated unit and integration tests and keep the build pipeline passing
- Deploy releases to staging and production, monitor logs and respond to incidents
- Maintain technical documentation and estimate tasks realistically during sprint planning
Requirements
- Degree in computer science or software engineering, or equivalent demonstrable experience
- Two or more years of professional experience in the main language and framework of the team
- Solid knowledge of SQL, version control with Git and the fundamentals of web security
- Experience with automated testing, code review and an agile way of working
- Familiarity with cloud platforms, containers or continuous integration tools is desirable
- Ability to read technical documentation and communicate clearly in written English
What we offer
- Salary: [Salary]
- Benefits: [Benefits]
- Location: [City]
Interested in this vacancy? Apply today.
How to hire a software developer
Name the actual technology stack
Adverts asking for a developer with every language in existence attract nobody serious. Listing the two or three technologies used daily, and which are essential or merely desirable, improves the quality of applicants.
Keep the technical test short
A realistic exercise of one to two hours, based on work the team actually does, respects the candidate's time. Long unpaid projects drive away the strongest developers, who usually have other options.
Review real code together
Asking the candidate to explain code they wrote, or to review a deliberately flawed snippet, shows judgement, clarity and humility. It is more revealing than abstract puzzles unrelated to the job.
Move quickly on good candidates
Skilled developers rarely stay available for long. A process with a screening call, one technical stage and a final conversation, completed within two weeks, wins candidates that slower companies lose.
Be clear about remote working
Whether the role is office-based, hybrid or remote is often decisive for developers. Stating it in the advert, together with on-call expectations, avoids wasted interviews on both sides.
Interview questions for software developer roles
Could you describe a project you built and the technical decisions you made?
What to look for: Explains trade-offs clearly and distinguishes personal contribution from that of the team.
How did you track down the hardest bug you have faced?
What to look for: A systematic approach: reproduces, isolates, forms hypotheses and verifies the fix with a test.
What would you do if you were asked to deliver a feature in half the time you estimated?
What to look for: Negotiates scope openly and explains risks instead of silently cutting tests or quality.
How do you decide what to test and what not to test?
What to look for: Prioritises business logic and risky paths; pragmatic, not dogmatic, about coverage.
What would you look for when reviewing a colleague's pull request?
What to look for: Correctness, readability, security and tests, delivered as respectful and specific feedback.
How would you investigate a page or query that had become slow?
What to look for: Measures before changing anything, checks query plans and indexes and confirms the improvement.
Could you tell me about a time your code caused a problem in production?
What to look for: Owns the mistake, describes the recovery and the safeguard added to prevent a recurrence.
How would you protect an application against SQL injection and cross-site scripting?
What to look for: Parameterised queries, output encoding and input validation, explained with understanding and not by rote.
Shortlist better with the Saplic ATS
Posting the vacancy is the first step. The Saplic recruitment system organises everything that comes afterwards.
Free, no credit card required
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a software developer earn in Malaysia?
The median of the jobs posted on Saplic over the last 6 months is RM 4,000 per month, and the typical range runs from RM 3,300 to RM 7,000. It is a market benchmark, not an official figure.
What are the requirements for a software developer in Malaysia?
The most common ones in vacancies are: degree in computer science or software engineering, or equivalent demonstrable experience; two or more years of professional experience in the main language and framework of the team; solid knowledge of SQL, version control with Git and the fundamentals of web security.
Does a software developer need a university degree?
Not always. Many capable developers are self-taught or come from short technical programmes. A degree usually brings stronger fundamentals, which matter for complex systems. For most business applications, a portfolio of working software, a sound technical test and good references from previous teams are more reliable evidence than the qualification.
How can a non-technical employer assess a software developer?
Involve a trusted technical adviser, even an external one, for a single technical interview. In addition, ask the candidate to explain a past project in plain language, check references on delivery and teamwork, and review a working example of their software. Clear explanations usually accompany clear thinking.
How much does it cost to advertise software developer vacancies on Saplic?
Nothing. Posting the vacancy is free and no credit card is required. The recruitment system for organising the people who apply is free as well.