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In the dynamic realm of software development, with technologies and tools evolving so quickly, understanding developers’ content consumption preferences is vital for producing relevant and engaging developer resources. So, let’s pull back the curtain and explore these preferences using data from the SlashData Q3 2023 Developer Nation survey, which reached more than 17,000 developers globally. How do developers prefer to learn new things? The vast majority of them (87%) report at least one preferred method for learning, engaging with more than four types of content on average. So, it’s not just about coding; it’s also about how they absorb new knowledge and stay ahead of the curve. But what exactly do they consume? As it turns out, long-form content is the go-to learning method for developers. A sizable 62% of developers rely on long-form recorded video, and 57% choose long-form text, making these the two most popular types of content for educational purposes. This strong preference for long-form content is a testament to developers’ commitment to deep, immersive learning experiences. Our research suggests that these long-form resources are especially common among experienced individuals. That’s potentially because they delve deeper into technical nuances and advanced concepts, which might be interesting to those with a solid foundational understanding of the field. At the other end of the spectrum, social media is the least preferred content type, used by only 31% of developers for learning purposes. That being said, the younger and less experienced developers are shaking things up with their preference for social media, with 37% of beginners with up to two years of experience in software development preferring this type of content, as opposed to 20% of those with more than a decade of experience. This shift towards more engaging learning reflects a broader trend: the rise of a generation that seeks knowledge on the fly, combining quick, impactful insights with the rapid pace of digital innovation. Geography plays an important role in developers’ learning preferences too. While long-form content consumption is universally popular, it rises in importance among European developers. But what’s behind this continental divide in learning styles? Dive into our latest insights , and you’ll find there’s a higher-than-average concentration of seasoned professionals in Europe. These developers naturally gravitate towards in-depth articles and comprehensive tutorials, seeking to deepen their understanding and mastery of complex topics. Keeping up-to-date: Navigating tech news In the fast-changing developer tooling landscape, staying up-to-date with new technologies is non-negotiable, and different sources are constantly competing for developers’ attention. While social media plays a minor role when it comes to learning, it is the most important source for keeping up-to-date with the latest technology news, with 56% of developers relying on these channels. This could be a reflection of the growing tech communities that prefer real-time and interactive exchanges. The role of social media as a cornerstone for professional updates isn't surprising. It is among the most preferred sources of information, regardless of developers’ level of experience in software development. For them, social media is not just for socialising; it's a vital source of industry news and trends. However, based on our research, as developers rack up experience, their preference subtly shifts towards more digestible, straight-to-the-point content - think blog posts and succinct articles - reflecting an evolution in how they consume information. Content consumption, however, isn't uniform across the globe. In regions like Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, social media is a primary channel for tech updates, a practice less common in the Greater China region. The difference could be attributed to the restricted access to many international social media platforms in China, leading to a lower reliance on these channels compared to their global counterparts. This regional disparity highlights not just differences in access and preferences but also the adaptability of developers worldwide in how they stay informed and connected. Problem-solving: The takeover of AI chatbots Lastly, we turn our focus to problem-solving, a vital skill for any developer, with a fascinatingly evolving landscape. AI chatbots, with their instant, interactive assistance are positioned as the top choice for half of developers (51%), particularly those in the early stages of their careers. It’s a bold new world where AI is no longer just a tool but an indispensable, intelligent ally in coding challenges. But don’t count out forum threads just yet! Based on our research, just before AI chatbots took over, forums were the sanctuary for the majority of coding queries. They remain a strong contender, securing a solid 45% preference when it comes to problem-solving. Their extensive knowledge base and nuanced discussions continue to be highly valued, especially among veteran developers who appreciate the depth and perspective they offer. It’s undeniable that AI chatbots have received extensive global traction. But to what extent does the adoption of this technology differ in different parts of the world? Our data shows that regions like Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are enthusiastically embracing AI chatbots, presenting a stark contrast to the more cautious stance observed in the Greater China region. What ultimately drives content preferences? A few elements stick out as drivers. For one, the level of professional experience plays a significant role. While highly experienced developers favour in-depth, comprehensive sources like long-form articles and forums, their beginner peers are more drawn to contemporary, interactive formats like social media and AI chatbots. Second, geography matters. Compared to Asian developers, European developers, for example, place a lot greater emphasis on long-form video material for problem-solving. Additionally, Greater China is far behind Eastern Europe in terms of developers’ use of social media and AI chatbots. What does all this tell us about the future of staying relevant in tech? It points to a blended, diverse approach. As technology evolves, so do the ways developers learn and solve problems. From AI-driven solutions to traditional forums, the landscape is rich and varied. Today’s developers need to be agile, adaptable, and always eager to pick up new skills from different sources. All the insights you read through come from the " Types of content developers value " report. Our research covers 11+ development areas. We speak to developers on several different occasions and we can ask them specific questions you want answered. Explore our tailored solutions for more details.

This article continues the series, where we present key analysis and insights, from the latest State of the Developer Nation public report. You can read the previous 3 posts on how generative AI affects developers' work, developer communities and developers working on everyday electronic devices. In this post, we look into Web3. Web3 has captured imaginations and headlines, offering visions of a decentralised online world. Yet, scepticism lingers: is Web3 genuine innovation, or a bubble waiting to burst? Let's take a first look at what projects Web3 developers are actually working on. Evangelists of decentralisation have been promising a world devoid of centralised control, where developers and consumers are unhindered to explore, create, and build as they wish. However, after a few years of development, what projects are Web3 developers working on? Web3 hasn’t lived up to its early hype, with a large proportion of developers stopping their Web3 projects/experimentation In our latest global developer survey, we asked web and backend developers if they are currently involved in Web3 projects, and, if so, what kind of projects they are working on. The majority of these developers have never been involved in a Web3 project (58%), indicating that Web3 is still a nascent space. While Web3 has associated technical challenges, and it often requires unconventional approaches to monetisation, interest in it continues among some developers, despite plenty of sceptics. Even with this interest from developers and consumers, Web3 has yet to emerge as a space where many developers feel the need to move their projects. Further to this, of the developers who have been involved in Web3 development, 44% are no longer actively working on such projects, with almost half of these stopping development within the last 12 months. The potential of Web3 is advertised as vast, but its journey to full fruition is anticipated to be a gradual one. However, this attrition rate, which may be expected given the nascent nature of Web3, raises questions about its current trajectory. Disrupting FinTech For the 24% of web and cloud developers working on Web3 projects, what are they actually building? The most common type of project is decentralised finance (DeFi) applications, with 31% of Web3 developers working on this. DeFi offers a system and framework for people to participate in financial transactions and investments without needing to go through current financial instruments. This aims to reduce reliance on multiple layers of merchants involved in managing and securing transactions, as well as the regulations and laws that currently exist to protect individuals investing or transacting. While these systems may appeal to developers, and offer a straightforward way for monetising their projects, current perceptions of DeFi may make widespread adoption difficult. DeFi applications place a large amount of responsibility and risk on the users, rather than the institutions. Further, DeFi is more popular among less experienced developers, as well as developers in the Middle East and Africa (39%) and East Asia (35%). It may be appealing more to regions with histories of unstable currencies or depreciated salaries, where the unstable cryptocurrency market is still more secure than their fiat currency. As such, expanding interest beyond those already committed to the crypto space, whether ideologically or out of practicality, may be challenging, which can be seen with DeFi revenue no longer seeing significant growth. You can access the full report for free. Other financially-focused projects are also popular among Web3 developers, with 25% working on non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and 20% involved in decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) applications. NFT marketplaces allow users to trade tokens, typically associated with receipts for ownership of an image, with cryptocurrencies where the owner makes a small slice of each transaction or minting of an NFT. DAOs are comparable to financial institutions involved in spending, investing, or holding capital, but focused around cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. Financial service projects (DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs) are among the most popular projects for Web3 developers However, the regional popularity of these two projects may indicate the future of these other projects. Similar to DeFi, NFT marketplaces are the most popular among developers in the Middle East and Africa (30%) and East Asia (27%). Similar motivations behind being distrustful of local fiat currencies can lead to an interest in decentralised mechanisms for verifying ownership. On the other hand, interest in DAOs is highest among North American (29%) developers. While DAOs have multiple uses, their ability to act as a collective financial institution may particularly appeal to North American developers who wish to access methods of making passive income that they have otherwise found challenging to access. The motivations of developers in these regions are likely to define the use cases of these projects, which may limit their growth beyond those with high technology interest within them. A further example can be seen in the popularity of Web3 gaming applications in East Asia (31%) over all other regions. East Asian game developers and consumers are fans of a particular type of collectable games, gacha, that translates well to play-to-earn and blockchain mechanisms. However, this type of game has received policy focus from certain governments, criticising it for encouraging gambling or exploitative mechanics. This may lead to Web3 gaming becoming highly regionalised, with certain areas being able to produce popular and well-monetised games, while others struggle with regulations and demonstrating their value and use of Web3 technologies. This can be seen with North American and European gaming communities showing high levels of hostility towards Web3 in general. Developer’s experience and their projects Web3 projects are most popular among developers with three to five years (31%) and six to ten years (29%) of experience, and the lowest involvement by both the most and least experienced developers (22% and 13% of developers with less than one year, or more than 16 years of experience, respectively). This suggests that Web3 development is less accessible to less experienced developers. However, the lower adoption of Web3 projects by the most experienced developers points to several possible situations. More experienced developers possess greater expertise in their respective domains, and as such, are likely focused on complex projects in more traditional development spaces, reducing the proportion moving to Web3. Further, Web3 is still a relatively unproven space, and experienced developers have seen many trends or new paradigms rise and fall without having a lasting impact on the industry. This can lead to them being less interested in engaging with Web3 as early adopters, and instead are waiting for it to prove its value to them or their development projects first. However, when looking at the specific types of projects developers of different experience levels are involved in, we can see quite a notable divergence in project choices. Web3 projects that are traditionally associated with the cryptocurrency space are most popular among mid-career developers. DeFi is most popular among developers with between three to ten years of experience (34%), with NFT marketplaces and DAOs being most popular among those with six to ten years of experience (31% and 26%, respectively). Further, DeFi remains the most popular choice for all developers with less than ten years of experience. Until quite recently, cryptocurrency and its associated activities were in highly experiential and unproven stages of development. As such, more experienced developers may have not focused their attention toward it, leaving it as a space where less experienced developers were able to generate their own domain-specific expertise. As they now gain prominence, those who had previously tinkered in this area are now entering the mid-career stage and are positioning themselves to leverage their early interest. However, projects that are more closely associated with traditional development projects are undertaken in greater proportion by more experienced developers. Identity verification and authentication systems are popular projects for developers with more than 11 years of experience. Similarly, we see decentralised storage solutions and supply chain or logistics solutions shine as some of the most popular for the most experienced developers. 37% of Web3 developers with 11+ years of software development experience are working on identity and verification projects When looking into Web3 development, we can see that the most experienced developers appear to be focused on tackling traditional solutions with the new technologies that Web3 uniquely allows. On the other hand, developers with less experience are focusing more on new projects that are only able to exist under Web3 technological paradigms. More concretely, more experienced developers are transforming old challenges with new solutions, while less experienced developers are trying to build entirely new technologies. This article is part of the developer insights offered in the State of the Developer Nation 25th Edition. You can access the full report which covers: 1. Language communities - An update 2. Creating A Sense Of Community - How Developers Interact And Engage With Their Peers 3. How Generative AI Will Affect Developers' Work 4. Web3 Unveiled - Exploring The Diverse Landscape Of Web3 Development Projects 5. From Code To Consumer Magic - The Software Developers Behind Our Everyday Electronic Devices 6. What Are People Building In AR/VR? Do you want to explore a specifc area or industry? We have a lot more data. Get in touch.

Suddenly a fine day dawns when your organisation’s key stakeholders agree that you need data to understand your developer audience. Well, ok, most likely that didn’t exactly happen overnight – in fact we know* that nearly 20% of DevRel practitioners struggle to justify the budget of their developer programs and 32% rely on qualitative arguments. But let’s skip that part for now, and fast-forward to that happy moment when there is full buy-in for data-backed developer strategy decisions. Right. You need data. But what data? First, ask the right questions Let’s pause here for a second. At SlashData we may have data in our DNA, but we know that plunging head-first into data is not where your quest for answers should begin. Your first step should be, instead, to ensure that you are asking the right questions. However trivial that may sound, you may discover (as many others have) that in fact it is not. If you get the questions wrong, the answers will be meaningless and the time and budget you will have invested in finding data to answer them will be wasted. Knowing exactly which questions you need answered will help you specify not only what data you need, but also where you should get it from, and how big a sample you should aim for. If it is just a total market share figure you’re after, for example, chances are you don’t need that many data points – neither in terms of sample size, nor in terms of breadth of information collected. If however you are trying to understand what developer personas (or segments) exist out there, where they are located, how they feel about different technologies, and where they’re going next, you’re looking into an undertaking of an entirely different magnitude, and may the Force be with you. Or, more practically, SlashData, as we have been in this business for more than a decade now. Mind the source Once you know which questions you need to answer, you should carefully choose your data collection method and sources. If, for example, you want to know how your technology is currently being used, you could use your own telemetry or usage data, or survey your own community. If, however, you need to see what other technologies your developers use, or how competing technologies are being used by your broader audience, you need to look beyond your own community by means of a global survey that targets everyone in your market. Based on our bi-annual survey of developer-facing organisations, we find that about half use their own survey data, and nearly half run qualitative research, when in fact it may be more appropriate to use a different approach. A common, though less-than-ideal approach, for example, is tracking developer sentiment (usually in the form of Net Promoter Score) based on data collected from current users that interact with you (say, through your website). While this may be a good indication of how your current active users feel, it can not be generalized to represent the sentiment of your whole target audience, as it omits the views of past users who have now left you, and also the views of those who evaluated but rejected your technology in favour of a competitor. Those who abandon a technology are more likely to give it a low recommendation score if asked. By omitting their views and using only current users’ scores you therefore get a positively biased result. This is particularly true in highly competitive low-rigidity markets (such as some cloud services can be) where your current users are more likely to be satisfied fans who stay with you by choice rather than due to technology lock-in effects, while the displeased have already left you to turn to one of your competitors. That is why in our surveys we always ask both current and past users how they feel about each of the technologies they either use, or have (recently) stopped using, or evaluated but rejected. In this way, we get an unbiased estimate of developer sentiment for the broad range of technologies that we track – allowing us to benchmark them with a high degree of confidence. It’s not only the size that matters “Can we discuss sample size already?” I hear you cry. We shall in a moment, I promise, but we need to get something else straight first. You should be collecting a sample of… what exactly? An equally – if not more – important consideration to size is the representativeness of your sample. To use a crude example, there is no point buying a truckload of bananas, when what you’re looking for is apples. Similarly, there is no point collecting an impressively big sample from the US and India alone, for example, when what you’re interested in is global trends. And that’s because developers in different parts of the world behave very differently when it comes to technology choices, as they have different motivations and business models, and may be at different stages in their journey as they form part of developer ecosystems of varied maturity. Our data proves again and again that there are vast differences between regional developer communities. That’s why we go into great lengths, each and every time, to survey developers from more than 150 countries, so that we may truly gauge the pulse of the global developer community. It’s not only regional diversity, though, that you should carefully balance your sample for. There are several other attributes you should consider, such as the mix of professionals, hobbyists and students, and the size of the organisations that your surveyed professionals work for. The latter is particularly important if, for example, you wish to capture the views of both enterprise developers and startups that are bound to be working with different tools. Demographics such as age may also be important, as you may want to hear from both the young coders, who typically use some technologies more than others (open source software is a prime example here), and from the seasoned developers who may have a deeper understanding but also higher expectations of the tools they use. You should also ensure that you don’t repeatedly rely on the same pool of developers, say a panel, no matter how big. In such a fast-paced industry, behavioural patterns and user profiles may change without warning. By repeatedly surveying the same people over time, you risk failing to observe the change originating from a different pocket of the developer population than the one your panel comes from. And if you do fail to observe the upcoming trend, you will miss the opportunity to ride the wave of change. This is particularly true for the emerging sectors such as augmented and virtual reality, but also for more ‘exotic’ technologies still in the early stages of their lifecycle, such as DNA computing, self-driving cars, or body-brain computer interfaces. As we track all of these and many more, we reach out to capture the experiences and the intent of developer populations of all shapes and sizes, from small local meetups to large vendor communities. Our surveys are promoted by more than 70 leading community and media partners each time, and we make sure they are not the same 70 every time, to ensure we are not repeatedly hitting the same pools (or communities) of developers. And while we reach out afresh to the developer population each time, we consistently observe meaningful trends in our data – rather than wild jumps – which proves that we do indeed capture a representative view of the software development industry. Last but not least, be careful of any incentives you offer to survey takers. These must be carefully designed to appeal to all profiles within your target audience, or you risk creating selection bias, i.e. attracting only developers of specific profiles, rather than a random sample of all developer profiles out there. Is your data clean? But no matter how hard you try, you’re bound to get some sample bias – beware of anyone who says they don’t. How do you deal with it? First, particularly if you are offering incentives, you should clean out all fraudulent – or simply illegitimate – responses. There will always be those who are in it only for the prize, randomly clicking through your survey and diluting results. They may even build smart bots to do that (after all, we are talking about developers here). At SlashData we have developed sophisticated ML algorithms that identify such responses and unceremoniously throw them out. Based on the metadata that our bespoke survey-taking platform tracks, we are able to outsmart the not-so-honest respondents and call them out. Then, it’s a matter of correcting for over-represented groups. It could be that, despite your best efforts, you attracted disproportionately more hobbyists than you should have done, for example. Or perhaps word got around in a particular language community about this cool survey, and slightly more enthusiasts than what you had hoped for came forth to vouch for their favourite programming language. How do you fix those imbalances? Especially given that you don’t know what the true (or population) proportions are – since that is the very thing you’re trying to estimate. In such cases, some – very very careful – data weighting is in order. You have to be extremely careful (have I stressed this enough already?) as to how to go about it, first to identify the sources of bias, and then to decide how to correct it without introducing over-correction. But this is a rather long story, and we’ll keep it for another day. All I shall say here is that at SlashData we treat all the different channels through which we get our data (such as our network of 70+ partners mentioned earlier) as independent samples, which we then compare across a set of parameters which we know may introduce bias. We use ML models to specify the level of correction that should be applied, and take into account all types of bias that a single response may be simultaneously carrying. What is your margin of error? We get that question a lot. I hope that by now I have demonstrated that, although important, this should not be your only concern. In fact, the margin of error can be quite misleading if used as the only metric to assess sample and research quality. Let me give you some statistical insight that might shed some light on this problem. As a quick search can reveal, the margin of error is designed to measure uncertainty in random samples. More specifically, the theory of the margin of error (MoE) applies, strictly speaking, only to questions (but could, under certain circumstances, be generalised to full surveys), and only to perfect random samples. This implies that if the assumption of perfect randomness does not hold (and in the real world in most cases it doesn’t), then the theory collapses and your MoE estimate is meaningless. To go back to our crude example of obtaining a truckload of bananas as a sample of apples, just because you have a truckload (and from a large truck at that), your margin of error estimate will look satisfyingly low. Your calculation, however, will have not accounted anywhere for the fact that these were in fact (loads!) of bananas, not apples, and as such, they make for a useless sample, albeit a tasty one. That is why at SlashData, instead of just quoting margins of error that when used in isolation may misleadingly inflate confidence in a sample, we focus our efforts on obtaining a sample that is as big, as random and as robust as possible. These are, in fact, the three elements that do lead to a reliable estimate of a margin of error. In other words, it’s not enough to only quote a margin of error. One should also be able to demonstrate that the underlying assumptions of the MoE calculations, namely randomness and normality, are met to a satisfactory degree. So if you’re out there shopping for survey-based research, make sure to first scrutinise any potential sellers for the health of their outreach and sampling methodology. Only then, if satisfied, ask about the margin of error. Go for a large sample you can dig into All that said, sample size is, of course, very important. To continue the margin of error discussion, suppose you are faced with a choice of two random samples (that is, samples you can be reasonably sure are close to random). If they both come from the same population, say the global developer population, then, at any given level of confidence, their difference in margin of error will lie in the sample size. Based on our robust developer population sizing research, there are currently (as of Q1 2021) 24.3 million developers in the world. That means, that even at a 99% confidence level, our sample of more than 19,000 developers from across the world yields a margin of error of less than 1% at the question level. If instead you had, for example, a (random) sample of 2,500 developers, your margin of error for the same question would be around 3%. But having a low margin of error is not the key reason for which you should aim for a large random sample. The main reason is having the ability to dig deeper and slice the data, while still having enough sample left from which to confidently draw conclusions. If, like us, you run unsupervised models, random forests and other ML models to identify developer segments and predict their technology choices, then you need large samples to do it. Otherwise, you end up with a really thin sample that is anything but reliable with regards to the picture of developer personas that it paints. Even if you’re into simply tracking trends for subpopulations of interest, you still need a big-enough sample. In our data dashboards, for example, we give you the option to filter for many attributes, such as age, region, professional status, gender, decision-making power, and much more. If we were to start off with a small sample, filtering would leave you with a tiny, and therefore useless, sample size. For example, filtering in our Developer Population Calculator for those under 25 years of age, who are students, and have up to five years of experience, still leaves us with nearly 4,000 respondents to draw conclusions from. Are you lost? Here’s a cheat sheet: Ask the right questions. Make sure you accurately specify what business questions you need answered, and by which audience. Select the data collection method (such as a large-scale survey, telemetry, qualitative research, etc.) that is best suited for the problem you’re trying to solve. Carefully design your developer outreach to obtain a sample that is representative of the population you are interested in. Aim for a large sample, so that you may confidently dig into it, if you need to. Clean your data from illegitimate, or even fraudulent responses. If you’re confident enough that you have a random sample, estimate your margin of error – at the question, not survey, level. Check for sample bias and correct for any obvious deviations from randomness, without overfitting (or over-correcting). In short, as you may have guessed by now, the art of research design and developer outreach is not for the faint-hearted. And it can not be wrapped up in a margin of error figure. But fear not. With more than 10 years of experience in mapping the developer ecosystem through large-scale surveys we are here to help. All you have to do is get in touch. *Based on our Developer Program Leader surveys. Have your say on the latest one. A more visual walkthrough of our methodology: #developerdata #slashdataresearch #methodology #developerresearch #developerinsights #samplesize #marginoferror #datacollection

Are developers interested in distributed cloud computing? Are they using it? To answer these questions, we worked together with Akamai Technologies to explore what developers think of distributed cloud computing. The survey results were collected, cleaned, analysed and put together in the publicly available report “Developer perceptions of distributed cloud“. The findings of the data in the report and this article are based on a survey of 700+ professional developers who deploy, build, or manage services and applications in the cloud, which ran between June and July 2023. These developers come from over 50 countries, and across a wide range of industries. In this article, we will go through the types of cloud environment(s) and cloud-related activities developers are involved in and the current interest and perception of distributed cloud. But first, a definition that was also given to the developers who took the survey: “Distributed cloud computing: the practice of decentralizing cloud resources and services to be physically closer to the data source or user, while still being managed centrally.” Why are we talking about distributed cloud computing? Software development has seen a series of monumental shifts and changes in practices and technologies over the past few decades. However, at every stage of new technological advancement, these novel approaches have succeeded because they match the needs of developers, whether to serve their development goals or customer success. Developers are smart and will pursue technologies that they can see and understand the proposition value of. Developers are now facing another such shift in technology with distributed cloud computing, which has the potential to transform the cloud computing ecosystem by bringing processing and compute closer to the end-point consumers. The potential benefits and use cases for moving compute closer to the end users are numerous; several of which we explore in this report. However, it is important for those developing distributed cloud computing infrastructure and solutions to listen to developers and understand their perceptions and likely use cases of decentralized cloud resources that are centrally managed. This allows providers to cater to developer needs, support the avenues they wish to explore, as well as identify areas where developers may need more education and information on various aspects. Who are the developers who use cloud environments To better understand the developers who use cloud environments, we examined: The advantages developers are most interested in exploring in a distributed and decentralized world The challenges they expect to face The development standards they believe are most important Which technologies they feel need greater development to support their adoption of a more distributed cloud. For the report, the majority of developers deployed some of their projects to hybrid cloud environments (55%), with private cloud (40%), and network infrastructure (39%) as the next most popular deployments. Among this developer segment, 35% identified themselves as already using distributed cloud in a professional capacity. 55% of developers in this study were already using distributed cloud in some form during their current development. The activities of developers show clear overlaps, with the most popular activity (55%) among these developers being to deploy applications on a combination of both on-premise and cloud-based infrastructure. This sample also includes a high proportion of developers who are involved in building strategies for load balancing (46%) and implementing security protocols (45%). Another important aspect of this developer population is the higher proportion of developers who manage deployments across geographically distributed servers (46%) than those who explicitly state they deploy to distributed cloud (35%). This highlights that geographic distribution of servers is a practice many developers are currently involved in, even if they are not specifically deploying to services they call distributed cloud. The current interest in and perception of Distributed Cloud For the developers within this survey, we found that when developers were asked about their familiarity with distributed clouds, a very high percentage were using distributed cloud services (55%) in some capacity during their development. This high usage suggests that there are many developers who are beginning to adapt their processes to a more decentralized and distributed world. Further, among the developers surveyed, there is a very small minority (7%) who are neither familiar nor interested in distributed cloud services. This again highlights that many developers are continually exploring and looking for new directions they can take their solutions in, with a much smaller proportion expressing disinterest in this. Of the developers who are not already using distributed cloud services but are interested in learning more, we see that interest is very high. 65% of these developers were either very or extremely interested in distributed cloud solutions. This interest is higher for developers with more familiarity with distributed cloud. Of those who were somewhat familiar, 74% of developers expressed this high level of interest, while for those who were not very familiar, only 40% were extremely or very interested. This suggests that as developers increase their knowledge of distributed cloud solutions, their interest grows, likely as a consequence of them being able to better envision how these solutions will work with their current projects. Developers working in data analytics or business intelligence show the highest level of interest in distributed cloud solutions 81% of the developers in data analytics or BI indicate that they are either extremely or very interested. However, of this 81% of developers, only a quarter are extremely interested in distributed cloud solutions. Comparing this to those in education and/or academic research and SaaS, who have an overall lower proportion of developers in the very or extremely interested group, a higher proportion say they are extremely interested. This observation underscores the nuanced approaches required when engaging developers across diverse industries about distributed cloud solutions. For instance, developers in data analytics/business intelligence and ecommerce are likely recognizing the broader benefits of distributed cloud solutions for their sector. The potential for real-time data analytics and scalability in these sectors is evident. However, within SaaS companies, interest can be more intricately tied to a developer's specific experience and projects. The full report at this point offers an “industry deep-dive” to highlight industry-specific insights. Read it here. In addition to observed differences based on the industries developers work in, we also see regional differences in familiarity and interest. A larger proportion of North American developers are very familiar with distributed cloud (61%) compared to their Western European counterparts (51%). However, 70% of Western European developers who are not very familiar with distributed clouds are extremely or very interested, compared to 60% of North American developers. This suggests that while adoption may be greater in North America, this is not due to a lack of interest in the space. Instead, North America may just be ahead of the curve, with more of these interested developers having already started working with distributed cloud solutions, possibly to improve their global reach. Most appealing benefits of Distributed Cloud to developers The leading benefit that developers find appealing about distributed cloud solutions is their potential to improve user experience due to reducing latency (38%). As both an easy-to-envision benefit and a current problem that developers face, this is likely the motivation for many developers choosing it. Flexibility in scaling in different geographies (34%) and a greater capacity for handling data-intensive applications (33%) are the second and third most popular benefits. However, the least popular benefit selected by developers in our survey is the potential for innovation with localized computing power (23%). This stands as one of the benefits that distributed clouds offer to developers that differentiates it from other cloud solutions, and its low ranking as a benefit likely represents a lack of knowledge and information about the uses of distributed clouds in real-world applications. This may stem from developers viewing distributed cloud solutions through the lens of traditional edge computing, rather than recognizing its broader potential to create novel experiences. Further, it may suggest that developers are still viewing distributed clouds from a platform-centric view and therefore have yet to imagine how they could utilize a distributed cloud system’s local compute. Distributed Cloud: What’s Missing For Developers? Let’s look at what developers feel is missing from distributed cloud solutions, focusing on three questions: If they could influence the future direction of distributed cloud technology, what would they prioritize for increased adoption? What standards do they believe are essential for distributed cloud computing to be a viable option? What are the current obstacles and limitations preventing them from utilizing distributed cloud in their own projects? First, we asked developers to identify features they feel are lacking. Developers overall are most likely to feel clear cost savings (30%), more robust security features (27%), and enhanced tools for managing distributed systems (26%) were features they consider the most important to improve. However, the next most commonly selected option is the lack of skilled professionals (24%). Cloud development has been a dominant practice in software development for many years and has created many developers with deep experience, and distributed cloud technology introduces new challenges that require different technical experience. Furthermore, a distributed cloud requires a move away from a platform-centric view of cloud development and necessitates different development styles and approaches. You can find the answers to the standards they need and current obstacles in the full report, including a deeper look at the improvements developers would prioritise, broken down by their industry involvement. Developer Expectations of Technologies and Vendor Support To conclude, we look at the specific technologies and practices that developers are considering when imagining a distributed cloud future. The final section of the report discusses the practices that developers consider the most important when managing distributed cloud solutions. Earlier we noted that more than one-third of developers indicated that security risks were a key challenge when moving their software to a distributed cloud platform. We see this sentiment again in developers' responses to the question: “Which practices are most important when managing distributed cloud solutions?” Security and compliance practices lead as the most commonly selected option (42%). However, we note that this is a belief especially popular among those with programmer (38%), system administrator (39%), or technology/engineering team lead roles (37%). This may indicate what sort of security support developers expect from vendors. For example, programmers may be more interested in vendors providing secure APIs to allow them to integrate security solutions into their development processes. While those in system administrator roles may instead wish for vendors to support them with regular security updates that help address vulnerabilities across the wide network surface of their distributed solution. Conversely, security and compliance practices are less commonly selected by those in DevOps specialist (25%) and site reliability engineer (22%) roles. Those in DevOps specialist roles are more likely to select continuous delivery/continuous deployment (CI/CD) (39%) and Infrastructure as Code (32%), while site reliability engineers select CI/CD (45%) and configuration management (36%) as expectations. These follow logically from the roles and responsibilities of developers’ roles. In the full report, we close by showing more insights on developer perceptions of under-realised technologies and vendor activities. Thank you for reading this article. Its purpose is to give you a taste of the insights you can expect by diving into the “Developer perceptions of distributed cloud” report SlashData authored and Akamai Technologies commissioned. The full report is free to access. If you want to see more free reports available from SlashData, you can visit our free resources section. If you would like us to work together on a similar though-leading report for your organisation, get in touch.

This article continues the series where we present key analysis and insights from the latest State of the Developer Nation public report. You can read the previous 2 instalments on developer communities and developers working on everyday electronic devices. In this chapter, we offer insight into how developers perceive the future of generative AI; specifically how it relates to their role as a developer. We all remember back in March when prominent leaders, researchers, and figures in tech, most notably Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed a letter advocating for a six-month pause of giant artificial intelligence (AI) experiments. Despite the letter prompting a wide discussion and raising both ethical and practical concerns that were acknowledged by many in the field, few were surprised that the letter had a negligible impact on slowing the pace of research. Now, approximately six months following the letter’s initial publication, we check in with those who are among the closest to the subject in question: developers. In our latest Developer Nation survey, we collected insights, perspectives, and real-world experiences from over 17,000 developers worldwide, delving into the impact of generative AI on their careers and work now and in the future. Various studies that measured AI’s impact on worker productivity in different roles have been published this year. In this chapter, we do not delve into productivity metrics, but rather, we present developers’ views and perceptions about how generative AI will affect their productivity, work, and the world. 80% of developers believe that Generative AI will increase their potential and productivity at work Regarding AI’s impact on their work, developers are overwhelmingly optimistic. The vast majority (80%) of them agree or strongly agree that AI will increase their potential and productivity, while 70% agree or strongly agree that it will give them access to new programming tools. Throughout our many years of tracking and researching developers’ preferences and behaviours, we have found that the community is incredibly heterogeneous. There is substantial variation in developers’ educational backgrounds, technology choices, and professional preferences. Hence, this remarkable consensus regarding the impact of AI on their workflow is striking. It sends a clear message about generative AI’s positive potential: only 7% of developers disagree or strongly disagree that AI’s net impact on the world will be positive! While generative AI’s potential is great, developers clearly still harbour some reservations as well. 61% of developers agree or strongly agree that generative AI raises many ethical concerns. While we did not ask our survey respondents to specifically identify which ethical concerns they are most preoccupied with, one of the primary ethical concerns regarding AI that has received considerable attention this past year is its potential to displace workers. Developers are somewhat split about generative AI’s potential to displace them in their current roles. 32% of developers strongly agree that AI will surpass their skills and render their jobs obsolete, while 40% either disagree or strongly disagree that this is actually a feasible outcome. How developers feel about AI’s potential to replace their jobs depends on a number of factors, but one critical factor is their current role. In the following section, we examine the differences in perceptions across various roles. Will Generative AI replace developers? Segmenting developers by ten of the most popular roles, we examine which roles have the highest concerns about potential replacement. CIOs, CTOs, and IT managers are the most likely (40%) to strongly agree that generative AI could surpass their skills and render their role obsolete. Initially, this result is somewhat counter-intuitive as managerial skills are unlikely to be replaced in the foreseeable future by generative AI due to the variety and complexity of tasks that managers often face. However, these specific roles are frequently responsible for monitoring a company's technology, infrastructure, and data for – among other metrics – accuracy, efficiency, security, and efficacy; all of which are quantifiable. While AI surpasses a human’s ability in terms of speed and accuracy of monitoring various quantitative metrics, we do not foresee a future where these roles are no longer present, rather, the technical aspect of the roles are altered; a notion supported by 41% of developers in these roles. These roles are more than likely going to evolve or be reimagined to compensate for the additional capacity granted by AI. Developers working or studying as data analysts, scientists, and/or researchers make up the next three roles that are most likely (37%-40%) to strongly agree their skills will be surpassed and their jobs could be rendered obsolete. However, roughly an equal or greater number of developers in these data-driven roles strongly disagree. Generative AI has made great strides in several areas, including data analysis and code generation. While the progress is impressive, what is equally striking is how difficult it can be to differentiate correct from false/hallucinated answers and incorrect analytical applications or interpretations, unless the developer has domain-specific knowledge. Hence, while these researcher and data-handling roles have already been substantially impacted by AI and will surely continue to be, developers are split on the future of these types of roles. On the opposite end of the spectrum, architects and programmers are the most likely to strongly disagree that their roles and skills can be replaced by generative AI. The majority of these developers, 61% and 55%, respectively, feel their role and skills are safe from the threat of generative AI. These developers are some of the most likely to be technical experts and recognise that while AI can excel at quantifiable solutions, complex or multi-faceted problems are likely to continue to require substantial human input for the foreseeable future. 61% and 55% of Architects and Programmers respectively, disagree or strongly disagree that Generative AI will surpass their skills and render their jobs obsolete. It is inevitable, however, that these roles will still feel its impact and influence in their work. Hence, in the next section, we take a look into who the developers are who feel that they can benefit from AI and gain access to additional tools through its use. Will AI allow developers to access new tools and technologies? One of the factors that significantly impacts developers’ perceptions on whether generative AI will allow them to use programming tools that they previously could not is their level of experience. Overwhelmingly, 80% of developers with less than a year of software development experience agree or strongly agree that AI will give them access to new tools that would otherwise not be available. The proportion of developers who agree steadily declines to 60% as developers gain more experience, where in turn, more experienced developers are more likely to strongly disagree with this sentiment. More experienced developers also have greater programming skills and are therefore less likely to expect that generative AI will create new opportunities for them to access additional tools. It is not a new phenomenon that younger, less experienced individuals enter a field or company and are more open to learning novel techniques or new methods; some of which can be in contrast to the established, institutionalised way of doing things. This distribution of developers' AI perspective below conforms to this trend and demonstrates that less experienced developers perceive AI in a different light compared to the more seasoned ones. However, a finding worth highlighting here is that the experts in the field – those with more than 16 years of experience – are the most likely (28%) to report being unsure, neither agreeing or disagreeing, about AI’s potential to provide them access to new tools. This degree of uncertainty from the most practised group of developers is a good indicator that the future of generative AI is still very much evolving and points to an exciting but somewhat uncertain future of how AI advancements will continue to shape the role of developers. This article is part of the developer insights offered in the State of the Developer Nation 25th Edition. You can access the full report which covers: 1. Language communities - An update 2. Creating A Sense Of Community - How Developers Interact And Engage With Their Peers 3. How Generative AI Will Affect Developers' Work 4. Web3 Unveiled - Exploring The Diverse Landscape Of Web3 Development Projects 5. From Code To Consumer Magic - The Software Developers Behind Our Everyday Electronic Devices 6. What Are People Building In AR/VR? Want to dive deeper into data on developer population, data and segmentation? Let’s talk.

Development communities like GitHub and StackOverflow are the bedrock of progress for all kinds of developers and their projects. Furthermore, many organisations curate their own communities to enhance developers’ experience with their products. In this post, taken out of SlashData’s public report “The State of the Developer Nation”, we’ll learn what developers look for when joining a technology-centric community and which factors encourage them to participate and engage more. What factors do developers consider when joining a technology-centric community? Developers primarily engage with technology-centric communities to learn. More than half (52%) consider the quality of available information to be one of the five most important factors to consider when joining a community. That’s considerably more than the next most popular factor, the availability of courses/training (38%), which, incidentally, also facilitates learning and knowledge-sharing. Developers primarily engage with technology-centric communities to learn – the quality of available information is by far the most important factor Interestingly, we see changes in importance among developers who didn’t select either of these two learning-related factors. In-person events (+6%), member-only benefits (+5%), links to industry (+4%), and online events (+4%) all increased in importance. This suggests that when developers aren’t there to learn, they are more likely to join a community in order to network. However, these factors are still among the least important for this group. A positive culture enables developers to get the most from their community experience Community culture is also important. 35% of developers consider the friendliness of a community when deciding to join, making this the third most important factor. Clearly, curating a welcoming and friendly experience should be a priority for community managers. In fact, it seems that a positive culture is an enabling factor in allowing information-seekers to get the most from their community experience: developers who prioritise the quality of information and having access to expert community members are more likely than average to also think that a positive culture is important. Further down the list, the platform on which the community is based is actually not that important when developers decide to join a technology-centric community. Only 21% of developers selected this option, making it the seventh most important factor, just ahead of recency and frequency of activity. However, as we will see later, the right platform can ignite greater engagement and participation. For now, though, we’ll take a closer look at which factors developers in different generations consider before joining a technology-centric community. As developers age, they become even more focused on the aspects of a community which facilitate learning. The quality of information present rises in importance the most — increasing from 47% amongst the youngest developers to 68% of the oldest. We see a similar – though less intense – story for the availability of courses/training, a friendly and welcoming culture, and expert community members. Once again, a positive culture is an enabler of accessing learning materials, and, as we will see later, also an enabler of increased engagement and participation. 68% of developers aged 45 and up consider the quality of information available when joining a community On the other hand, younger developers have subtly different preferences. They are more likely than the oldest developers to consider mentorship programmes, links to industry/recruiters, and membership benefits as being important factors. These younger developers are focused on the employment and the networking benefits of community membership. Younger developers are more focused than their older peers on the employment and the networking benefits of community membership Importantly, the youngest developers consider mentorship programmes to be more than 2.5 times as important as older developers (26% vs 10%), and mentorship programmes are the fifth most important factor to these developers, likely due to their focus on building their careers. Now, this creates a point of tension – how to attract older and more experienced developers to a community, and then engage them in mentorship programmes to help younger developers? Firstly, ensuring that communities meet older developers’ expectations around learning will go a long way to attracting them in the first place. However, to raise engagement for this group, we see that older developers who value mentorship opportunities are more than twice as likely than those who don’t to say that inviting their peers and friends and the availability of in-person events, contribute to increasing their participation levels. In a nutshell, the type of older developer who values mentorship is already predisposed to the networking benefits of a community. Identifying these older developers should be a priority for any community where demand for mentorships outstrips supply. You can access the full report here. What encourages developers to actively participate in a community? From joining a community to actively participating in it, we see large differences in what makes developers tick. A well-designed community platform – which is far down the list of factors that developers consider when joining a community – sits at the top when we ask about what encourages greater community participation. The time and effort that goes into selecting the right platform might not have immediate returns for growing a community, but it is likely to help to keep developers engaged and active. A well-designed platform is what encourages developers the most to actively participate in a community Participation is a two-way street. 27% of developers say that getting regular updates inspires greater engagement. Here, developers want to see activity from the community managers and founders. Looking at this from another direction: there’s likely nothing less inspiring than joining a community where the leaders aren’t themselves engaged. Indeed, further down the list, 17% of developers say that direct interaction with community leaders helps with their engagement. Strong leadership has benefits beyond day-to-day participation. Having a well-defined purpose for the community encourages more active participation for 26% of developers, and an inclusive and welcoming culture is encouraging for 25%. Interestingly, active moderation is a much less popular driver of engagement – only 15% of developers selected this, but those who did are much more likely than average to engage more in communities with a positive culture. A positive community culture not only encourages people to join but also keeps them engaged. This said, sometimes a heavy moderating hand is necessary – whilst developers might not always appreciate it, the alternative of a negative, exclusive, or toxic community culture is likely worse. Developers who value strong leadership in a community are often less engaged by games, quizzes, and prizes It’s not only good vibes that encourage greater participation; prizes and rewards (26%) appear to be a powerful lever in encouraging greater community involvement, with fun activities close behind (22%). However, developers who are encouraged to participate through factors relating to strong leadership and expertise – positive culture, well-defined purpose, direct interaction with leaders, and having access to recognised experts – are often much less inspired to participate by prizes, activities, and polls and quizzes, whilst the inverse is also true. This points to there being two distinct groups of developers – those who engage ‘seriously’ and those who perhaps take a more whimsical approach to community engagement. For community organisers and contributors, it’s important to understand which mindset a community tends towards: a focus on fun and games in a more serious community may appear to lack authenticity and gravitas, whereas taking a more sober tone may exclude those with a lighter agenda. For developers of all backgrounds and skill levels, communities offer an opportunity not only to learn but also to connect. Different types of developers have different expectations for how they want to interact with their communities, but learning opportunities and a welcoming culture are consistently highly rated. This article is part of the developer insights offered in the State of the Developer Nation 25th Edition. You can access the full report which covers: 1. Language communities - An update 2. Creating A Sense Of Community - How Developers Interact And Engage With Their Peers 3. How Generative Ai Will Affect Developers' Work 4. Web3 Unveiled - Exploring The Diverse Landscape Of Web3 Development Projects 5. From Code To Consumer Magic - The Software Developers Behind Our Everyday Electronic Devices 6. What Are People Building In AR/VR? Want to dive deeper into data on developer population, data and segmentation? Let’s talk.

Sustainable software engineering (SSE) is the practice of minimising the environmental impact of software. It is an emerging discipline that integrates sustainability into software practices and architecture, hardware, and data centre design. The ultimate goal of SSE is to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that software applications are responsible for by integrating various approaches to the software development lifecycle. Commonly, SSE is implemented by utilising more efficient or ‘green’ coding practices, but there are a variety of approaches available to organisations and developers alike. In our recent report titled “Who’s integrating sustainable software engineering principles?”, which was based on data collected from the 24th edition of our Developer Nation survey, we discovered that 76% of developers sometimes or always implement at least one SSE principle and that this rises to 82% amongst professional developers. In this blog post, we take a closer look at how developers’ roles, decision-making power and involvement in DevOps activities influence their utilisation of SSE principles. Involvement in DevOps* is a powerful predictor of utilising SSE principles in development projects. These developers are responsible for implementing SSE principles, which takes place at an infrastructural level. This said, as we will soon see, developers higher up the chain of command report using SSE principles more often than DevOps practitioners, with decision-makers being the most likely to adopt such approaches. This demonstrates that whilst decision-makers provide the impetus for adoption, it’s those in DevOps roles who undertake the implementation. Developers involved in DevOps are considerably more likely to utilise SSE than those not involved Indeed, we see that developers involved in DevOps are much more likely to utilise SSE approaches in some capacity than those not involved. The changes in overall SSE utilisation amongst developers doing different DevOps activities, such as continuous integration or automated testing, are not meaningfully different. However, when taking a more granular look at precisely which SSE principles are implemented by developers involved in different DevOps sub-disciplines, we see that it’s those who programmatically provision and manage infrastructure and those who monitor performance and test for security vulnerabilities who implement the widest variety of SSE principles. Developers involved in these stages of the DevOps lifecycle appear to be particularly well-placed to have maximum impact, and vendors should ensure that any SSE tools and products integrate well with these parts of the DevOps technology stack. *In our Developer Nation surveys, we don’t ask developers to self-identify as being involved in DevOps. Rather, we determine their involvement by asking them whether or not they undertake different DevOps-related activities, such as using CI/CD or creating automated tests. Note: The Developer Nation survey is now live. You can respond and help us better understand developers and produce insights that help you address developers’ needs. Our data also show that the more involved developers become in tool purchasing decisions, the more likely they are to integrate SSE principles into their development projects. The reason behind this is twofold: SSE is a relatively new discipline, and so those who are not currently buying tools or components are less likely to have had the opportunity to integrate tools which facilitate SSE development into their projects. More senior developers have a better understanding of the cost-savings and other benefits of adopting SSE principles, and so a larger incentive to integrate such approaches. They also have the power or influence to effect such a change. Senior decision-makers are the most likely to integrate SSE principles into their development projects We can see the effect of decision-making seniority reflected in the usage of SSE by developers in different roles. 91% of CIOs / CTOs / IT managers utilise SSE approaches, but 78% of developers in unspecialised programmer roles do as well. Currently, the implementation of SSE principles is of strategic concern, with a high-level implementation rather than taking place closer to the code. It may be that SSE approaches will follow secure coding practises and ‘shift-left’ as developers take more personal responsibility for the sustainability of their code in the future. DevOps practitioners and decision-makers will still need to be involved though – organisational and infrastructural implementation of SSE principles will continue to have a large impact. For now, though, SSE practices are typically implemented in the domain of specialists such as DevOps practitioners and decision-makers, and we see that developers in these roles are often motivated by environmental concerns and believe they have a part to play in combating climate change. Vendors wishing to encourage the adoption of SSE products and principles may find traction in appealing to the consciences of decision-makers in organisations. We also find that DevOps engineers and other specialists, as well as CEOs, are most challenged by measuring the impact of integrating SSE into their development projects. As companies cannot manage what they are unable to measure, it is clear that the lack of a metric is a key hurdle in SSE being more broadly adopted. Removing this pain point could also act as a push to drive adoption. In our Developer Nation survey, we also asked which SSE principles developers are integrating. The list of SSE principles included activities such as creating carbon-efficient software, minimising data transmission, or optimising code. Looking more closely at which principles are being integrated by developers in different roles, we see that those in managerial positions are among the most likely to integrate every SSE principle we asked about in our latest global developer survey. However, given that few developers in leadership positions are responsible for the implementation, many developers who are closer to the code disagree. Programmers, architects, and DevOps engineers all integrate most of the SSE principles we ask about much less often than average. This suggests that there is a disconnect between the SSE principles that leadership wishes to adopt and what is actually implemented. A closer look at DevOps practitioners reveals a further surprise – as we saw previously, these developers are some of the most likely to integrate SSE principles overall, but they are actually less likely than average to integrate many specific SSE principles. This indicates that DevOps engineers are selective about which principles to integrate. This isn’t the whole story, though. Other specialists such as embedded developers or network, hardware and site reliability engineers integrate the widest range of SSE principles into their development projects – though the cumulative impact of the small numbers of developers in these niche roles is small, they are highly active in the SSE space and represent a cohort of early adopters with a wide range of involvement in SSE. In this post, we’ve learnt that SSE remains in the realm of specialists and leadership, and whilst software development tool companies should cater to the needs of developers in these roles, it’s also worth considering how to drive wider adoption of SSE. Should you be interested in learning more, we take a closer look at developers’ motivations and challenges in the report. For now, SSE sits firmly in the domain of specialist developers and leadership Did you like this post? Discover more about our research and have your say in the Developer Nation survey. #sse #sustaiability #sustainablesoftwareengineering

In this post, taken out of SlashData’s public report “The State of the Developer Nation”, we dive into the world of consumer electronics and explore the profiles of developers who target different types of applications in this space. We focus on comparing their experience levels and their involvement across other sectors. What developers are working on Today, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connections (15B in 2023) outnumbers humans and is forecasted to nearly double by 2030. A subset of this space, consumer electronics (CE), is focused on devices that are targeted towards consumers and often individual use. Examples of CE devices range from home security devices such as digital door locks to cameras and fitness trackers. 4.4M Developers are involved in Consumer Electronics projects As of Q3 2023, we estimate that there are 4.4M developers who work on CE projects, making up 11% of the total developer population. In our latest Developer Nation survey, we asked developers who are involved in this space about the CE categories that they are targeting with their applications. In first place, 28% report that they are working on software for security and access products such as door locks and CCTV systems. This is closely followed by communication devices (26%), network equipment (26%), energy appliances (25%), and entertainment systems (23%). These categories stand out far above the rest, with the next most popular category – home appliances – being targeted by 18% of the developers in the CE space. The many similarities and differences between the top CE categories are reflected in the profiles of the developers who target them with their applications. One of the most interesting aspects to consider is how experience in software development impacts the projects that these developers take on. Developers’ experience We find that those who target energy appliances have the highest level of experience in CE projects*. More specifically, these developers have an average of 3.9 years of experience in this space, which is significantly higher than that of their counterparts who are not involved in energy appliances (3.1 years). This indicates that the specific challenges encountered in this category are more likely to require specialised knowledge of the CE space than across other categories. Having experience with other CE devices can be highly beneficial for development, as energy appliances need to integrate with other household systems and the energy grid. The projects that the developers who are targeting this category are much more likely than average to be smart (59% vs 43%) and have an app (49% vs 35%). Developers who target security and access products are highly experienced in general software development. Interestingly, developers who target security and access products have significantly more experience in software development (4.9 years) than in CE (3.4 years). This corresponds to the most significant gap between experience levels in these two groups. It indicates that working on security and access products is more likely than average to require experience in other development areas beyond CE. With above-average experience in software development, CE developers are involved in other areas of software development. The largest overlap comes from those involved in the industrial IoT (IIoT) development sector (43%). In particular, 56% of those involved in energy appliances also work on IIoT projects and are the most likely to do so. Using this as an example, a household energy management device only needs to manage the energy usage of one household, while an equivalent IIoT system may need to consider an entire manufacturing plant. While there are differences in scale, these two systems share the essence of what they are designed to do. This showcases the close relationship between these two sectors in the broader IoT ecosystem. Security and access On closer inspection of the overlap with IIoT, we see that only 28% of those who work on software targeted at entertainment systems are involved in IIoT projects. This is significantly below that of any other target category in the CE space. Instead, they are the most likely to develop games (36%) and have an above-average representation in the mobile sector (40%). Similar to the case of energy appliances and IIoT, there is a natural overlap between devices aimed at entertainment systems and these two sectors. For example, developers who develop software for smart speakers may also work on accompanying mobile applications. Developers leverage data science to enhance security and access products. Another interesting example can be seen among developers who target security and access products. We find that 32% of them are also involved in data science, which is significantly above average across the other categories (20%). This suggests that data from security devices is analysed in detail to improve the functionality of security and access products. For instance, advanced analytics can be used to detect suspicious access patterns in digital door locks and alert both users and authorities of potential intruders. * We measure this by comparing the median number of years that the developers within each category have worked on software projects. Medians are estimated from grouped frequency data. This article is part of the developer insights offered in the State of the Developer Nation 25th Edition. You can access the full report which covers: 1. Language communities - An update 2. Creating A Sense Of Community - How Developers Interact And Engage With Their Peers 3. How Generative Ai Will Affect Developers' Work 4. Web3 Unveiled - Exploring The Diverse Landscape Of Web3 Development Projects 5. From Code To Consumer Magic - The Software Developers Behind Our Everyday Electronic Devices 6. What Are People Building In AR/VR? Want to dive deeper into developer data on consumer electronics, IoT or Industrial IoT? Let’s talk.

SlashData’s Developer Program Benchmarking report provides annual insights into developer behavior and trends that help tech companies make better, data-driven decisions. Many Big Tech companies have come to trust our unique data insights in helping them understand developers better and shape their strategies. Here’s how one of them –Okta– is using SlashData’s Developer Program Benchmarking to stand out and unlock more developer opportunities. The Gap. Optimize Developer Strategies that Boost Okta’s Developer Community. Every tech company needs to have a better understanding of their developer-user base — so they can make more informed decisions. Plus, having a clearer view of the strengths and weaknesses of your developer programs will expose how you measure up against competitors and how to stand out. To achieve this, it becomes necessary to: Track your program adoption rate –anywhere in the world Stay on top of developer satisfaction with your programs See how competitor developer programs are scoring – what they’re doing right and the gaps you can capitalize on Measure the performance of your specific offerings based on what developers value …and so on. Tech companies like Okta are using SlashData’s Developer Program Benchmarking to do just that. “A Must-Have Resource for Developer Relations” “Over the years, I’ve used SlashData’s reports to understand and prioritize what matters to developers. I’ve found the reports quite helpful in terms of identifying areas for improvement and the impact of our investments. For example, when I was at Mozilla, we noticed our satisfaction score for blogs and newsletters wasn’t where we’d like it to be. So, we invested in creating a developer newsletter and improving the blog. And in 18 months, we saw our satisfaction score for this area rise to the top 3. This satisfaction score and other standard metrics (reach, opens, etc.) helped us determine how successful our program was. Now, at Okta, I’m again using the report to identify areas for improvement and will invest in our documentation, blog and website. SlashData reports give us a trendline that shows, over time, if and how these investments pay off, and allow us to make changes if we are not seeing results.” —Ali Spivak Sr. Director of Developer Relations, Okta [ex. Mozilla] The Results. Instead of second-guessing developers’ interests and neglecting areas of investments that count, Director of Developer Relations – Ali Spivak – could use SlashData’s reports to: Help determine areas of investment and to see –over time — how those investments impact developer adoption and satisfaction level Provide invaluable insights on how their program was performing and where their opportunities for growth lie Shape and augment the user research they were already conducting and focus more on specific areas that required attention Track developers’ satisfaction scores with their program and specific offerings Benchmark how Okta’s developer programs stack up against other developer programs to provide them with a model of improvement Help stakeholders understand what developers are experiencing and prioritizing, their needs, and also justify the investments made into developer programs Here’s How We Can Work Together to Build a Thriving Developer Ecosystem… In today’s diverse and complex developer ecosystem, there’s real power in knowing where to focus your efforts to help build a thriving developer community. That’s what SlashData’s Developer Program Benchmarking helps you achieve. With SlashData, you get: Data-Driven Insights for Effective Decision-making Data is the fuel that drives the engine of decision-making – as a data-driven company, we’re always aware of its immense value. So, when you come to us and share your current challenges, we work to help you see and understand how much difference data-backed decision-making can make. We’re always ready to engage and walk you through the data –so you can uncover and bridge the current gaps you’re experiencing. Client-Tailored Global Developer Survey SlashData’s Developer Program Benchmarking report is a syndicated research study available to tech companies who are subscribed to our program. It is based on data collected in our Global Developer Nation survey that’s fielded twice per year. If your developer program hasn’t been benchmarked, we will include it in the upcoming editions of our in-depth research study. There are many hidden potentials for your growth in engaging developers in a way that targets their needs and  improves their experiences. That’s why we survey about 20 developer programs every 6 months, as the list of programs benchmarked is ever-changing. This helps us learn more about what boosts satisfaction and adoption rates for developers. Full Access to Deliverables for Close Monitoring We provide full access to the agreed deliverables as soon as they get completed. These usually include a market landscape report, insights report specific to your company, and an interactive data dashboard that allows filtering and zeroing in on a particular developer segment. Our clients have found these reports quite useful in helping them shape and even augment the user research they are already conducting on their own. These deliverables will help you pinpoint the specific places you should be focusing on for in-depth user research. Plus, it provides areas of opportunities where you can exploit advantages over competition to stand out. Beyond ready to build stronger relationships with your developer community? Get in touch and we will dive in together in the solutions that will win developers’ hearts. #okradevelopers #okta #developerprograms #developerprogramsbenchmarking #slashdatadpb #okradeveloperprogram

With the ongoing effects of the recent global pandemic and the European energy crisis, companies have had to adapt to changing environments both internally and externally. The ability to respond quickly to these challenges has become a defining characteristic of successful businesses. We recently partnered with Aiven to explore how digital native companies have evolved their data management practices in response to these challenges. The “2023 state of data management solutions for digital natives” report offers insights into the evolving data management landscape and the strategies used by companies to thrive in today’s business world. We define “fast growth” as the approach of adapting quickly to change and innovating, which is crucial for companies that want to expand. The data presented are based on a Q3 2022 survey of nearly 500 IT professionals at digital native companies worldwide. What was happening in the past? Firstly we’ll see which systems companies stopped using and which ones they plan to use in the future. We found that when adopting a new data management solution, professionals must consider all options. Replacements occur when other products offer better benefits, not because the replaced system failed. Data model fit is crucial when choosing a product, while pricing is essential when replacing one, especially for small businesses. Large enterprises prioritize technical support. Fast-growing companies prioritize service availability and disaster recovery capabilities, with 43% prioritizing this when adopting a data management tool. Inadequate backup/snapshot functionality is a common reason for replacing a tool, with 19% of fast-growing companies citing it. Conservative-growth companies are less likely to replace tools based on this feature. While data model suitability is at the forefront of reasons for adopting data management tools, pricing is often the primary factor when it comes to finding alternative solutions. What is happening now? What our analysis shows, for now, is that fast-growing companies prefer fully-managed services, while conservative-growth companies lean towards self-managed solutions, except for search technologies. Interesting highlights: On average, companies with an eye for scaling up are 16% more likely to use fully-managed services and are highly focused on search technologies and event streaming/message queue systems. Faster-growing companies tend to be more likely to adopt open-source search technologies, with OpenSearch emerging as the most popular search technology among them. 43% of those who work for companies with fast-growth business models prioritise service availability and disaster recovery capabilities when adopting data management products. What does the future of management systems look like? 56% of respondents are looking to adopt at least one new system in the near future. Relational databases currently have the lead in adoption (78% of respondents), but the demand for streaming data is increasing with the reliance on artificial intelligence, and event streaming and message queues are on track to become the second most popular data management system type among digital native companies. In terms of fully-managed services, security and performance are the most likely features to grow in importance, while pricing and cost optimization are the least likely. Fast-growing companies are more likely to adopt open-source data management products, while conservative growth counterparts are more concerned with scalability. Sustainable practices are becoming more important when selecting a DBaaS vendor, with a higher likelihood of prioritizing reducing environmental footprint over-optimizing costs. Adoption of data management tools? We dedicated a special section of our report to measure adoption. We look at 9 data management tool categories and see what % of the respondents are currently using or planning to use each data management system type. Does this align with your goals? Download the full free report to access all insights here. A word from Aiven Aiven’s cloud data platform helps your business reach its highest potential by making your data work for you. It provides fully managed open-source data infrastructure on all major clouds, helping developers focus on what they do best: innovate and create without worrying about the limitations of technology. We like to think that Aiven is not only a cloud data platform but also an extension of your team. We are dedicated to helping you to succeed by removing barriers and finding the right solutions – with the help of the best data technology there is. About SlashData SlashData has been surveying developers for more than 17 years. We talk to 30,000+ developers globally, on an annual basis. Leading tech brands rely on our insights for their developer-facing strategy. Leverage the rich data and our deep insights to segment, grow and engage your developer community by addressing their needs – directly.

You’re familiar with at least one AI-assisted development tool; That’s right, the ChatGPT. Its popularity has skyrocketed in the last few months and with good reason. It is designed to assist users in generating human-like text but it’s been helpful to developers too, as they can leverage ChatGPT to automate certain tasks, generate code snippets, assist in writing documentation, or even prototype conversational interfaces. While ChatGPT is primarily a language model, it can be used in the development process to aid in various aspects of software development. In our 24th edition of State of Developer Nation, we asked developers if they use AI and how. This led to a dedicated chapter on all the new technologies that captivate developers’ imaginations. The data from our survey suggest that 63% of developers engaged in some aspect of AI-assisted development, making it evident that this technology is rapidly maturing and transforming from a mere trend to a valuable tool. AI-Assisted Development: A Growing Trend While overall engagement has experienced a slight decline of 4% over the past year, the nature of developer involvement has undergone a fascinating shift. More developers are actively working on or learning about AI-assisted development, showing a 6% increase in engagement. Simultaneously, the number of developers with latent interest has decreased by 6%. This dynamic suggests that AI-assisted development is maturing and gaining practical applicability in the development landscape. Generative AI: Unleashing Creative Possibilities Alongside AI-assisted development, generative AI has emerged as a new and exciting technology. With 57% of developers actively involved or interested in generative AI, curiosity and excitement abound. While AI-assisted development still leads in adoption at 17%, generative AI projects attract 14% of engaged developers. The Many Uses of Generative AI Developers use generative AI in three main ways: as a helpful tool for their development process by integrating it into projects through APIs or even by creating the models themselves. Ongoing investigations are exploring these usage patterns to uncover more insights into this groundbreaking technology. Challenges and Opportunities Although generative AI is gaining high engagement, there are factors that affect its adoption among developers. Some developers may be hesitant to rely solely on generative models for critical or security-conscious tasks. However, there is a growing adoption of generative AI for visual assets in software development, which reduces the risks of errors and security vulnerabilities. Overcoming Challenges Developers who work on generative AI models face the challenge of needing a large amount of training data. However, certain tools offer the ability to fine-tune pre-trained models for specific tasks, making this challenge easier to overcome. As developers become more familiar with assistive and generative AI technologies, we can expect a surge in their adoption, leading to innovation and creativity. Leadership’s Role Interestingly, leaders in C-suite and other leadership positions show higher engagement rates with emerging technologies. About 49% and 50% of those who approve tool expenses or budgets are actively involved in AI-assisted development. This trend suggests that the revolution in AI-assisted development is driven by leaders who recognize its potential. Looking Ahead: The Changing Landscape: When we take a broader view, we see a cyclical pattern in the adoption and interest in emerging technologies. Developer interest has dropped by 5% overall, while adoption has increased by 4 percentage points. This contrast indicates a dynamic shift in developer preferences, marking a change from previous trends. In summary, AI-assisted development is rapidly evolving and attracting developers’ attention. Generative AI opens up exciting possibilities, and leadership engagement plays a crucial role in driving its growth. Cryptocurrencies continue to be intriguing, and the landscape of emerging technologies is constantly shifting. Did you find this article interesting? Download the full free report to learn about: The rest of the technologies that capture the developers’ imagination The Role of female coders in software development An update on language communities How well-paid developers feel What makes a high-quality API An Overview of embedded software development

Security threats in software development evolve at lightning speed in today’s digital age. With the average cost of a security breach in a hybrid cloud environment hovering at a staggering $3.6 million, it’s crucial for organisations to prioritize software security. This is why we recently partnered with Cisco; to uncover developers’ exposure to API security exploits, their outlook on security, and how they use automation tools to detect and remediate threats. We did so by exploring the findings from two global surveys that targeted enterprise developers and created the “Developers and Shift-Left Security” public report. How is our report unravelling? 1. Security is a key priority for enterprise developers Security threats are on the rise, with our survey data proving it; in fact, a whopping 58% of enterprise developers have had to tackle at least one API exploit in the past year alone. And to make matters worse, nearly half of them have experienced multiple API exploits during that time. As modern applications increasingly rely on microservices, securing the APIs that connect these services becomes even more crucial. But with developers juggling multiple APIs, it can be a challenge to stay on top of security. That’s why it’s essential to prioritise security from the very beginning of development to avoid wasting time and effort on reworking code and dealing with exploits later on. When it comes to security breaches, it’s best to prevent them altogether. But if they do occur, organizations must be prepared to act quickly. Shockingly, our survey found that only one-third of enterprise developers can resolve API exploits within one day of a breach occurring. By treating security as a top priority from the start of the development lifecycle, organizations can increase preparedness and avoid costly mistakes down the road. 2. How do enterprise developers address security? The philosophy behind shift-left security is all about putting security at the forefront right from the start. It’s like having a VIP seat reserved for security at the decision-making table! By addressing security concerns early on in the development process, you can save a ton of money compared to dealing with security issues during deployment or after a security breach. In fact, our data shows that many organizations are already investing significant effort in identifying security vulnerabilities during the early stages of development, and as a result, have implemented additional security measures. When do enterprise developers address security? 3. Automation makes things faster and less error-prone than manual operations. We asked developers whether they use automated approaches to security, such as scanning tools or automated fixes. The most likely group of developers to adopt automated security approaches are key decision-makers and team leads who influence, manage, or set the strategy for their teams’ purchase initiatives (90%). This means that many developers still don’t use automation tools for security. However, it’s crucial for developers to use the best tools available to ensure they produce secure code. In conclusion, APIs are crucial for modern software systems, but security exploits are a common occurrence. A shift-left approach is vital for enhancing application security from the earliest stages of development. While more than half of enterprise developers are already shifting left, less experienced developers are lagging behind. To support this approach, automation is essential, with two-thirds of developers using automated security tools. However, developers motivated by gaining experience are less likely to use automation, so organizations need to balance the need for learning with the importance of using the best security tools available. Interested in the full data and graphs? Download the full report for free.

Software is officially everywhere. Today, no matter what we do, we work in a tech business. We’ve been expecting this for a long time now. In fact, we bet our business on it. Developers, developers, developers 2000 Before developers were coined the new kingmakers, before CEOs pointed out all companies are tech companies; SlashData was tracking software developers and trends. Nearly two decades ago, we believed developers were designing the world we were moving quickly to become. Since then, the world has changed more than a few times. Leading to the irony of the newest trend. Our daily feeds are flooded by 2 contradictory highlights: Learning how ChatGPT and AI software like it makes our lives and jobs easier Mass tech layoffs Well, with every challenge comes opportunity, and we decided to take a step back and find our clarity, to see our vision once again. Up till now we have been proud to say SlashData helps the world understand developers and developers understand the world, but why? What is the value we create as a result? A value-first approach We started asking – What is the core of our business? What is the reason for our existence in the vast universe of 0s and 1s? Understanding Developers is still our core. Quite simply, it’s what we do. We help technology companies, all companies, across industries, understand developers in order to make the right investment decisions. Know your customer, know your user and don’t forget – know your non-user. Then, data is still in our DNA – as it should be. How can you make decisions confidently otherwise? Intuition isn’t cutting it. Let’s face it, maybe we are in the position we are today, because too many people make major investment decisions based on hunches and assumptions. This is why SlashData is so critical to the way businesses should make decisions. Now more than ever, investment decisions must be supported by data. Decision making backed by data is the only way to optimise spending, create efficiencies and keep jobs. Lastly, once you get down to the core of what we do – we listen to the market. We listen to developers. Tools, products, and solutions must be reactively built. If you’re not addressing a need, you are creating a solution for no one’s problem. Listening to developers, hearing their needs, preferences and whys, and then reacting to it is how you do that. Mission to the future This is how we will empower developers to code the future. Our vision is to give a voice to the developers that is amplified and spread to the world’s largest companies to help them make the right decisions, spend less on mistakes, and effectively, (dare I say it?) make the world a better place.  Here’s what will map our next steps  Vision – Empowering developers to code the futureMission – Understand developers. Inspire the future of technology SlashData’s Mission and Vision 2023-onwards We have the data, it’s now your turn to listen to it and Inspire the future of technology as a result. *Drops mic* Moschoula Kramvousanou is the CEO of SlashData. #business #softwareatetheworld #businessstrategy #missionandvision #datadrivendecisions #strategy #developers

Have you tried NGINX? Have you worked with a web server or reverse proxy? For those who have been living under a rock, NGINX is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. It is also free and open-source software, released under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license in 2004. Last year, we collaborated with F5 NGINX to explore their community. We designed a survey that ran between August and September 2022 with more than 2,000 respondents worldwide. We took the survey findings and published the “NGINX State of App and API Delivery Report“. In this report we conduct an in-depth exploration of the following: Profile of NGINX users. We provide an overview of the survey respondents’ profiles in terms of their geographic location, role, and size of their organization, while also focusing on their use cases and the challenges they face in application (app) and API delivery projects. What did we discover? 31% of all development roles also identify with leadership roles 44% of employees at large enterprises have nothing to do with security compared to 29% and 27% for those working at medium-sized and small businesses, respectively The largest issue faced by the NGINX community is a lack of technical skills. When it comes to app and API delivery use cases respondents are working on, we find that nearly 50% are currently using web servers, 36% reverse proxies, and 34% load balancer Organisational approaches to APIs and the importance of App/API features. We then dive deeper into apps and APIs, by examining the degree to which organizations are adopting four key API first practices: leveraging APIs as sources of revenue, designing the API first when building services, aligning APIs to their overall digital strategy, And designing APIs to be reusable. Furthermore, we examine how these practices vary across company size. We also explore how important security, scalability, and observability features are in app and API delivery projects. One interesting highlight: A higher share of those with no security responsibility recognises that user authentication and authorization are very important, compared to those who build security features into their apps. Technology choices and development environments. Moving forward, we look at the technology choices and development environments of NGINX community members, with a focus on their workloads, Kubernetes adoption/maturity, where their code is run, and attitudes towards open source software. We examine how role and organization size affects each of these topics, and compare the profiles of those with low and very high workloads. Some interesting findings in this chapter include: 77% of the respondents who use a container orchestration tool are using a Kubernetes-based one. Scalability is the number one motivation for Kubernetes adoption The top 3 code deployment environments are public cloud, web client/front-end, and on-premises servers. Management, security, and monitoring/observability tool usage. Finally, we take a look at which management/security and monitoring/observability tools the community uses, discuss cross-usage, and explore the differences between the profiles of those who use NGINX and those who don’t. Among other things, we found that: Those in SecOps roles strongly favour 3 tools in particular: Google (excluding Firebase), SecureAuth, and Duo. 44% of respondents are currently working on authentication or authorization use cases Those in Leadership roles are more likely to depend solely on NGINX configuration management tool. Make sure to download the complete report to find out more on the importance of App/API features as well as on the usage on monitoring, security and management tools Interested in finding out more about your community? Let’s talk #community #developerdata #webserver #INGINX #proxy