DigitalOcean Holdings has announced the findings of its latest Currents report, which shows that today’s developer talent shortage has potential to worsen.
Globally, just over a quarter of developers who have been in the workforce for over a year started a new job in the past year, and 42% of those who didn’t are considering or may consider leaving their jobs this year. Comparatively, in India 32% of the same cohort have started a new job this year, and 44% of those who haven’t are considering it.
“Attracting and retaining developer talent is evolving rapidly and companies need to adapt to the new landscape,” said Gabe Monroy, Chief Product Officer at DigitalOcean. “Businesses need to better understand developers and give them the tools, benefits, and pay they need to be successful — business survival in the digital era depends on it.”
Key findings of the report include:
- The Great Resignation and developer talent shortage trends are strong in India, with 32% of those who have been working for more than a year reported they have started a new job in the past year, and 44% of the same group considering leaving or may consider leaving their job this year.
- 27% of developers with more than a year’s experience have started a new job in the past year. One in five developers with 15 years or more of experience also started a new job in the past year.
- 64% of those with less than a year’s experience, and 32% of those with 1-5 years experience, left job recently. By comparison, only 21% with more than 15 years of experience have done so.
- Motivations for leaving jobs are consistent among both those who have already left and those considering leaving, with compensation, remote or flexible work environments, and better benefits being the top factors that motivate people to leave jobs, especially for younger developers.
- 18% of respondents cited lack of time and resources to work on projects is also a key challenge, and 11% mention team members leaving as a challenge, demonstrating that the developer talent shortage is impacting even those who stay in their roles.
It is clear that businesses of all sizes need to rethink their approach to attracting and retaining highly-skilled developer talent. The report also identifies compensation and desire for fully remote or more flexible work environments as the top reasons developers are thinking about quitting, or already have.
Other key trends of the report include:
- Job satisfaction among developers may be low, but entrepreneurship is high. 8% of developers who have both left their job and who are looking to leave are doing so to start their own companies.
- In a challenging job market, developers are turning to the open source community: 56% of respondents from India have participated in open source projects in the past year, and 71% of those respondents say their participation has increased during the pandemic.
- Just 12% of respondents say they have been paid for their contribution to open source projects, compared to 20% of all respondents. This, while 67% agree or strongly agree that individuals should be paid for their open source contributions, and 79% believe companies should give more time for open source contributions.
- When asked what they have gained from contributing to open source, developers reported enhanced skills (35%), networking (19%) and job opportunities (11%). While developers in India reporter enhanced skills (37%), networking (23%) and job opportunities (10%).
- Developers want to contribute to open source while on the clock. 64% of companies use open source code for more than half of their software. However, most businesses don’t give their developers time or compensation to contribute to open source projects. 79% of developers want to be able to contribute to open source during the workday, and a majority believe that they should be paid for those contributions.
- Developers are not buying into Web3/blockchain hype: Despite the buzz around blockchain and Web3 technologies, 67% of developers do not use blockchain/Web3 yet. They also have mixed opinions about low-code — developers with fewer years of experience are more likely to see the value of low-code, while those with more experience believe low-code is overhyped.
Feelings in India are more favourable towards low-code and no-code tools: 23% say they make their job easier, and 18% say they allow them to focus on more important tasks. Just 15% say these tools are overhyped, compared to 21% in the total sample. - Usage of containers and serverless architecture is slightly lower in India than overall, with 55% saying they use containers, container orchestration systems, and microservices, compared to 68% of all respondents. 32% are using serverless architecture, compared to 44% in total.
- A slightly higher percent in India are using or plan to use blockchain technologies and automation (AI/ML). 55% of those in India compared to 33% in the total sample are already using blockchain technology. Additionally, 13% of India respondents believe they will use open source for blockchain technologies next year, compared to 7% of total respondents. 68% are using automation compared to 57% in the total sample.
Methodology
The Current Survey asked over 2,500 respondents all identified as having technical roles, including front end, back end, and full stack developers, system administrators, DevOps specialists, and more.
Respondents represent 94 countries, with 43% coming from the United States, 15% from India, 6% from Germany, 3% from Canada, 3% from the UK, and the remaining 30% spread between other countries. The gender breakdown was 87% male, 8% female, 1% non-binary, and 4% who preferred not to say or preferred to self-describe. Respondents represent a range of ages, with 32% of respondents being 25-34, 25% ages 35-44, 21% under 24, and 22% 45 or older.