Mental Well-Being

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Awareness and activity

Less than half of the respondents are actively interested in the concept of mental health. Of those developers who are aware of this concept, 45% take care of their mental health by using psychological techniques and practices on their own. 40% are not concerned at all.

How familiar are you with the concept of mental health?

44%

I’m actively interested in this topic

27%

Vaguely aware of it

23%

I know about it, but I’m not interested in the topic

7%

Never heard of it

Do you take care of your mental health?

45%

Yes, I use psychological techniques and practices on my own

11%

Yes, I visit a psychologist

8%

Yes, I take prescribed medications

1%

Yes, I take over-the-counter medications

6%

Other

40%

No

Habits and practices

Which of the following statements apply to you?

62%

I have a hobby

52%

I meet up with friends

47%

I go for walks in nature

46%

I separate work time from family and personal time

35%

I participate in high-activity sports

25%

I participate in low-activity sports

24%

I meditate or engage in other mentally relaxing activities

21%

I have a daily regimen

4%

None of the above

Speaking of habits that promote mental health among developers, 21% of the respondents have a daily regimen, more than one third participate in high-activity sports, and slightly less than a half of the developers we surveyed separate work time from family and personal time.

Exercises for memory, attention, and thinking development are quite popular among developers – 40% of developers have tried these exercises as adults. However, mindfulness practices have gained popularity among developers. 40% of the respondents have tried meditation and 32% haven’t tried but would like to do it.

As an adult, have you used applications or played special games that provide exercises for memory, attention, or thinking development?

45%

No

40%

Yes

8%

I don’t remember

6%

I don’t believe such exercises work

Have you tried mindfulness practices (meditation)?

40%

Yes

32%

No, but I’d like to

20%

No, and I wouldn’t want to

7%

I don’t believe they work

Interests

We asked our respondents which fields of knowledge they are interested in. As expected, Computer science and Engineering were among the top results, but amazingly enough, Music took third place (the number of people who are interested in Engineering and Music is approximately equal). At the same time, Psychology took ninth place out of 28 total options, which means 31% of developers find it interesting.

What knowledge areas are you interested in?

86%

Computer science

51%

Engineering

48%

Music

39%

History

36%

Mathematics

36%

Finance

35%

Economics

Challenges

We asked developers about their experience taking part in challenges. Turns out, more than half have participated in challenges, and just over one fifth would like to do so one day. A mere 13% don’t find challenges engaging at all.

Have you ever taken part in challenges?

58%

Yes

21%

No, but I’d like to

16%

No, and I wouldn’t want to

5%

I don’t remember

Do you find participating in challenges to be engaging / worthwhile?

64%

Yes

13%

No

22%

I’m not sure

Developers actively use challenges as an instrument for self-motivation – 74 % of developers made up their own challenges for themselves. The top three areas of life where developers are engaged in challenges are hobbies, profession, and body and health.

Have you ever made up your own challenges for yourself?

In what areas of your life have you participated / would you like to participate in challenges?

67%

Hobbies

64%

Profession

45%

Body and health

38%

Self-discipline, regimen

29%

Entertainment

29%

Mental games or exercises

10%

Caring for the environment

8%

Culture

7%

Charity

1%

Other

65%

Hobbies

63%

Profession

39%

Body and health

29%

Self-discipline, regimen

29%

Entertainment

29%

Mental games or exercises

15%

Caring for the environment

13%

Culture

8%

Charity

Goals and planning

The most popular goal among developers is learning new programming languages and technologies, a goal set by 81% of respondents. Furthermore, more than half of developers set themselves the goals of learning how to use development tools more effectively and developing soft skills.

What kind of professional development goals do you voluntarily set for yourself?

81%

Learning new programming languages and technologies

57%

Learning how to use development tools more effectively

54%

Developing my soft skills

48%

Self-organization and self-discipline

38%

Developing myself as a leader

5%

I do not set such goals

1%

Other

44% of the respondents set their goals a month ahead, 22% an entire year ahead, and 17% determine their goals week-to-week. Almost half of the respondents simply keep track of their progress inside their own heads, without using tools or writing anything down. Interestingly, a roughly equal portion of developers do either use tools or make notes.

How far into the future do you set these goals?

4%

Days

17%

Weeks

44%

Months

22%

Years

2%

Decades

12%

My whole life

How do you track your progress toward your goals?

47%

It's all in my head

20%

I make notes in a text editor

12%

I make notes by hand

12%

I use special tools

2%

Other

7%

I do not track my progress

Productivity

The most popular ways to increase day-to-day productivity are learning how to use IDEs effectively as well as time management and self-organization. These methods are used by more than a half of developers.

The most powerful triggers of a sense of productivity for developers are seeing that the results of their work are of use, salary increase, and pleasure from the work process.

Which of the following increase your daily coding productivity?

Please choose up to 3 options.

57%

Learning how to use my IDE more effectively

50%

Self-organization and time management

33%

Hardware upgrades

30%

Organization of work and processes in my team / company

27%

Upgrading my IDE’s functionality

23%

Working on my emotional state

20%

Reducing the number of work meetings I attend

19%

Working on my cognitive abilities

18%

Working on my physical health

1%

Other

Which of the following help you feel productive at work?

Please choose up to 3 options.

56%

Seeing that the results of my work are of use

46%

Salary increase

45%

Pleasure from the work process

26%

Personal thanks from colleagues

23%

Achievement of goals I've set for myself personally

22%

Personal praise from a colleague of higher status

20%

Objective indicators and metrics / KPIs

15%

Promotion

12%

New responsibilities

10%

Public praise from a colleague of higher status

6%

Public thanks from colleagues

Which tools do you use to increase your productivity?

21%

Trello

21%

Google Keep

20%

Microsoft To Do

15%

Google Task

14%

Todoist

5%

WakaTime

5%

TickTick

4%

Forest

4%

Asana

4%

Things 3

40%

developers do use special tools to increase their productivity. Trello, Google Keep, and Microsoft To Do are the most commonly used solutions.

What functionality of these tools do you use?

85%

To-do lists

53%

Note-taking

50%

Planning

40%

Time-tracking

24%

Self-control

1%

Other

Life satisfaction

On a scale from 1 to 10, 78% of developers rate their satisfaction with their lives as at least 6, and 5% of developers are totally satisfied with their lives.

All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?

1%

1

2%

2

5%

3

6%

4

7%

5

13%

6

24%

7

26%

8

9%

9

5%

10

2%

Don’t know

Self-monitoring

57%

developers use self-monitoring apps or devices to track physical activity, sleep quality, health, and other metrics.

What do you use these apps or devices for?

82%

To track my physical activity

65%

To track my sleep

43%

To improve my health

29%

To have a better body

26%

Just for fun

21%

To track the calories and nutrients I consume

8%

To track the water I drink

5%

To compete with other app users

2%

Other

The most popular reasons to use such tools are to track physical activity and sleep quality. At the same time, less than a quarter of developers track the calories and nutrients they consume. And only 5% of developers use these tools to compete with others.

Fatigue and flow

Almost a quarter of developers often or always feel tired while working, which means that they are at risk of burnout. On the other end of the spectrum, 11% developers say they rarely feel tired.

Which of the following statements describes you best?

11%

I rarely feel tired

25%

I often don’t feel tired while working, but I do feel tired after finishing work

42%

I sometimes feel tired while working

13%

I often feel tired while working

9%

I always feel tired

1%

Other

While working, how often do you find yourself in a state of strong concentration that prevents you from noticing what is happening around you and how much time has passed, because you are so absorbed in what you are doing?

7%

Almost always

23%

Very often

28%

Often

33%

Sometimes

7%

Rarely

2%

Never

More than a half of developers have no problems with concentration while working – they are often, very often, or almost always “in the zone”. On the other hand, 9% of developers have difficulty concentrating during work.

Burnout

73%

of developers have experienced burnout at some point in their careers.

By “burnout” we meant emotional exhaustion and decreased motivation due to intense or difficult work.

Have you ever experienced burnout?

By job roles

83%

Developer Advocate

80%

DBA

79%

Technical Writer

78%

Business Analyst

78%

Product Manager / Marketing Manager

78%

Technical Support

78%

Data Analyst / Data Engineer/ Data Scientist

UX/UI designers and people in C-level positions experience burnout more rarely than people in other roles. Developer Advocates, DBAs, and Technical Writers are most prone to burnout.

Have you ever experienced burnout?

By primary languages

80%

Shell scripting languages

76%

JavaScript

75%

Go

75%

Dart

75%

SQL

74%

C

74%

Rust

There’s also a link between burnout frequency and primary programming language: those who use Shell scripting languages most often report they have experienced burnout. The least susceptible to burnout are Kotlin, PHP, TypeScript, and C# users.

How many vacation days did you take last year?

By burnout

Up to 14

15 or more

It’s no surprise that those who had more than 2 weeks of vacation are (8 percentage points) less likely to experience burnout.

When do you usually go to bed?

By burnout

Before 22:00

22:01–23:00

23:01–0:00

0:01–1:00

1:01–2:00

After 2:00

Bedtime also matters. Those who go to bed after 1 am experience burnout (10 percentage points) more often than those going to bed before 10 pm.

Mental Well-Being:

2022

Thank you for your time!

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If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at surveys@jetbrains.com.