Stack Overflow has designed a questionnaire for developers in order to find out who they are, where they work, and what they do. The 45 questions in the survey were answered by over 50,000 people in 173 different countries, and thanks to all these participants, we now have an insight into the real profile of developers today.
In terms of the developers’ professional situation, 67.8% of respondents are employed full-time, 12.6% are studying, and 7.1% are freelancers or entrepreneurs. 63.1% are not actively looking for work, but are open to new opportunities. The most common way of finding work is through friends (at least in Germany and the United States).
As developers gain experience, decision-making, technology and tele-working become a greater priority. However, more experienced developers are more concerned about their job title.
The larger the company, the higher the salary, although smaller companies (from 1 to 4 employees) also pay very well.
On the point of training, 69% of developers say they are at least partly self-taught (only 13% claim to be entirely self-taught). 43% also have a degree in computer science or in some related field, and 2% have a doctorate.
One other significant issue is the wide disparity between men and women –92.8% of the respondents are men, compared to 5.8% women. 12.4% of the women define themselves as designers, and none of them define themselves as mobile designers (Windows Phone). Most women (35.4%) have between two and five years’ work experience. In general, around 73% of developers believe that diversity is not so important in the workplace, 41% think diversity is very important, and the developers with most influence over hiring decisions express a greater belief in the value of diversity than other types of developers.
