While the global developer population is set to reach almost 29 million by 2024 – having increased by 3.2 million since 2020 – a new Reveal survey shows that hiring developers with the right skills is still a huge challenge (and will remain so in 2023).
The survey, which was completed by 2,000+ developers and IT professionals, goes on to add that the most difficult jobs to fill are DevOps Engineer, Data Analytics Developer, and IT Security Engineer. At the moment, the developer shortage is being addressed by the use of low-code/no-code tools in 76.8% of orgs.
A couple of the biggest developer pain points appear to be communication and collaboration, especially with remote and hybrid teams. 57.9% of those surveyed had more time to complete projects, since they were able to save time on commuting, but 31.9% relieved they were less productive in a hybrid environment.
Other challenges identified by the survey were difficulty keeping up with innovation in developer tools (27.7%), issues with third-party integrations (26.70%), security threats (26.10%), and more. However, embedded analytics and business intelligence are still rising in popularity, with many software developers incorporating analytics tools into their products.
The recent reshuffling in the tech industry (after a period of growth during the pandemic) has led to layoffs but, despite that, it appears there’s a real shortage of software developers – or shortage of skilled developers.
Still, developers have a lot of influence in tech companies, as they:
- Have a deep understanding of technical products,
- Are aware of how developer experience (DX) can impact the success of a product,
- Are responsible for integrating new products into existing systems,
- Have direct relationships with decision-makers,
- Love to help and provide feedbacks and insights, and
- Share your product with their peers.
Check out our Developer Relations Playbook to learn more about this influence, as well as about developer personas, DX, communities, the developer journey, and more.
