Delivery Apps Say, "Hire Food Tech Developers"

Elegant Brothers, Delivery Hero, and Others Continue Hiring in AI, Big Data, and Server Fields
Attracting Talent with Improved Salaries and Benefits

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Domestic development talents are flocking to delivery applications (apps). As delivery app companies, which are seeing increasing orders day by day, aggressively hire developers, compensation such as annual salaries has also improved.

As the market grows and services expand, securing developers to handle this has emerged as the most important task for delivery apps. The fields for hiring developers are diverse, including systems, servers, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI). The so-called 'Food Tech' has become a new battleground for promising developers.

According to the industry on the 24th, delivery app companies plan to hire more than 300 new developers this year. Woowa Brothers, which operates 'Baedal Minjok,' the market leader with the largest share in this field, plans to hire around 400 people this year.

More than 30% of these hires are expected to be in development roles. Delivery Hero Korea, which operates 'Yogiyo,' 'Baedaltong,' and 'Foodfly,' also plans to double the size of its technology research institute staff, currently about 150 people, this year. To this end, they have established a separate organization called 'Tech HR.'

The increase in developer demand by delivery app companies is thanks to the rapid growth of the related market. For Baedal Minjok, which holds over 55% of the domestic market share, the monthly order volume increased from 10 million in January 2017 to 18 million in January 2018, 27 million last year, and reached 40 million in January this year. Woowa Brothers' number of employees doubled from about 700 in 2017 to about 1,400 as of January this year.

About 30% of Woowa Brothers' total workforce is composed of the development organization. As orders increase, more developers are needed. A Woowa Brothers representative explained, "An annual increase of 10 million orders means that traffic has increased accordingly, and the development organization is the foundation for expanding services in response."

Delivery apps are also focusing on new business initiatives in addition to existing services this year, which is another reason for the need to increase developers. Woowa Brothers is concentrating its capabilities to grow new businesses such as 'B Mart' this year. B Mart is a 'small quantity immediate delivery' service officially launched by Baedal Minjok in November last year.

They are also conducting research and development (R&D) to introduce AI and robot technologies into their services. Delivery Hero plans to expand new businesses into kitchens and marts as well. In particular, they aim to expand the delivery service area through the mart business, which is scheduled to launch in the second half of this year.

Each company is putting effort not only into hiring but also into nurturing developers. Woowa Brothers' establishment of the developer training school 'Woowa Tech Course' is a representative example. It is a vocational school for those who want to become developers, providing professional education over a 10-month course that enables graduates to be immediately employed by leading domestic IT companies.

In the first class last year, about 1,000 people applied, and 52 were finally selected and trained. Among the graduates, 23 joined Woowa Brothers as entry-level developers. This year, 52 people were also selected for the second class and are currently undergoing training. Delivery Hero also operates a development internship program called 'Rookie Hero' to nurture talent in the food tech field.

An industry insider from the delivery app sector said, "This year, due to the expansion of the food e-commerce market and the entry of new players, fierce competition is expected more than ever, so each company is trying to maintain growth based on young and talented personnel."