Stack Overflow survey provides insights into how developers work, what they find rewarding, and what they look for in a job
Developers highly value jobs within organizations that provide ongoing learning and professional growth, even more than they value compensation, according to the annual Stack Overflow Developer Survey report released today. Just over half of the respondents, though, said they believe they are underpaid.
The report, based on responses from more than 64,000 developers in 213 countries, looks at issues such as career satisfaction, education, languages and tools they use, according to Jay Hanlon, Stack Overflow vice president. “Internally our core mission [at Stack Overflow] is to help developers learn, share and level up” their skills, he said. “We know where developers live and what they use, but not a lot about what drives them, about what’s important to them in their careers.”
Among the more interesting findings, Hanlon said, is that 50% of survey respondents said they have been working as a professional developer – not a hobbyist – for five years or less, and 74% have been working professionally less than 10 years. The fact that most are working on web and mobile applications is expected, based on the fact they’re learning the newer technologies, Hanlon said. In fact, three-quarters of the respondents identified as web developers; the next most common were desktop developers at 29% and mobile developers at 23%.
