More developers are looking for or are open to a new job now compared to the last two years—that’s according to the results of our latest survey on the state of developer employment. More than 1,000 developers responded to this year’s survey about jobs and 79% are at least considering new opportunities if not actively looking.
New insights from these survey results show that new tech talent and late-career developers are both more likely to be looking. New developers have increasingly switched jobs compared to early- and mid-career developers in the last three years. We believe that the decreasing amount of entry-level openings and lack of perceived stability within the tech industry, as described in a recent article by Wired, explain why these survey results show a migration of developers out of the tech industry and skilled developers exploring career changes out of curiosity. The trends around salary, flexibility, and learning indicate the current tech job market is like a gymnast’s balance beam routine for job-seekers who are seeking to compete and land the dismount as gracefully as possible.
Changing careers and changing industries
Every beam routine begins with a salute to the judge, and to continue this analogy with research on employment trends, there is a saying that the world economy and the countries it supports are the judges. developers from 107 countries responded to his October Pulse survey. Currently, the industry with the most developers is technology (46%), followed by manufacturing/supply chain (14%) and financial services (13%). developers reported that they were more likely to work for a small company with fewer than 500 employees (56%) than a large company with 500 to 10,000+ employees (38%). Compared to the 2023 Developer Survey, 8% of developers are leaving the technology industry and taking on more roles in manufacturing and supply chain companies (11% vs. 7%).
developers report that slightly more people work for small and medium-sized companies than large companies in the US and India, and vice versa in Germany and the UK. The US and Germany have the highest concentration of manufacturing/supply chain developers, while India has the highest concentration of technology developers. The latest developer research analysis pointed out that new technology talent and revenue in India’s technology sector are growing rapidly. India continues to have a high concentration of developers in the technology industry and stands to gain more technology opportunities.
developers are onboarding more in 2023
Similar to gymnasts, developers must decide for themselves how many different poses and positions they can fit into a limited amount of time (scoreboard or resume). Achieving a high score on balance beam requires a complex interplay of increasing the amount of skilled poses while simultaneously risking mistakes and pauses that detract from the seamless appearance of the routine and final score. developers of all ages want to take on more positions in their day-to-day jobs. In other words, most people are open to new jobs.
As developers get older, their interest in finding a new job decreases among new-to-mid-career (44 and under) respondents (86% to 74%), but compared to respondents aged 55 to 64 (88%). %) will return your interest. Late-career developers say “better pay” is the second-leading reason they’re looking for a new job this year, and curiosity about other companies is the top reason cited among all age groups. I admit that. Since last year, curiosity has become more important for late-stage developers than all other age groups (32% vs. 22%), and for this group, other things like tackling new technologies and growth opportunities have become more important. It’s more important than why the group was ranked so highly.
Additionally, developers are curious and will visit job sites before they even start looking for a job. According to survey responses, the top two ways developers learn about companies they want to work for before they start looking for a new job are through job boards (53%) or networking (39%). developers don’t use their own media until after a search has started, and are most interested in educating themselves through a company’s job page (61%), followed by third-party reviews on their site (52%). Continue. Subsequent career developer experience and increased curiosity may have led to a jump in the median number of jobs held from 7 to 9, and increased interest in new jobs this year compared to last year. there is.
New technology talent is second only to late-career developers among the age groups most likely to start a new job, and by 2023 will surpass early-career developers who are also looking for a new job. reported that they would get the same number of jobs. Changing jobs can change an employer’s expectations of the workplace. New technology talent enters as many workplaces by age 24 as those up to 10 years older, and this rapid experience cycle can potentially match the knowledge and experience of the employees they report. there is. The survey’s sentiment data suggests why we believe knowledge sharing is a barrier for new tech talent as they move into more experienced roles. 63% of new tech talent agree or strongly agree that they can quickly find answers to their questions. For more mature developers it was 56%.
Although respondents 20 to 44 typically report having less work compared to the median in their age group over the past few years, developers these days have gone from having less work to having as much work as junior developers. I now have a job. When asked about their reasons for leaving their current job, developers of all ages cited pay and flexibility as the top reasons over the past three years, in order. Other research suggests that salaries are not keeping up well with inflation, and it’s certainly possible that income and spending pressures are a reason for people to move into new jobs these days. Our research shows that over the past three years, pay remains important for new tech talent moving on, but it’s not consistent or growing. For late-career developers, pay is becoming more important as a reason for leaving, and so is curiosity. Early and mid-career developers change jobs at a steady pace while remaining consistent in their salary and flexibility rankings over the same time period.
Flexibility is in high demand while learning opportunities slumps
Learning to stay on the balance beam after a back handspring isn’t enough, so balance beam artistry and skill are needed to add a personal touch that shows the audience something original yet spectacular. Is required. This year, fewer developers say learning opportunities are an important factor in staying in their current job compared to the past two years. Continuing with this analogy, it’s as if he’s a 2023 developer who decided that just keeping the beam going was enough. In 2021, 54% of developers said they would stay in their current role because of learning opportunities, but in 2022 this has dropped to 51% and this year to 44% .
Throughout the three years we conducted this study, flexibility remained the number one reason for staying in the role. In this trend, he says developers under the age of 44 stand out, all of whom recognize the increasing importance of flexibility. His 70% of mid-career developers cited it as the most important reason for staying on the job, compared to 65% of junior developers and 59% of new tech talent.
Summary of recent Gallup polls economist They argue that low engagement levels in the workplace are measurable (for all workers, not just developers), and that workers are generally interested in doing only what is necessary and lack opportunities for learning. This explains the reasons for not taking In our 2023 Developer Survey, we started asking questions about AI and the developer community’s sentiment about it. When we checked back in through this pulse survey, the results were very similar (70% use or plan to use AI). developers may also feel less enthusiastic about learning opportunities (30% (listed as the biggest advantage).
All the pressure to make the connection to the next big move, whether it’s on the balance beam or at work, comes back to the simple feeling that flexibility is more important than ever. Perhaps the tight job market allows developers to be comfortable where they are, while those who lack flexibility are more likely to look elsewhere. As Glassdoor argues, the migration of technology developers to other industries may be a reaction to the corporate culture of technology companies that reduces flexibility to justify higher salaries. Respondents to this survey agree that they want a higher salary but don’t want to sacrifice flexibility.
