Developers’ Lifestyles

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The following section covers various aspects of developers’ lives, including сareer, education, mental well-being, and hobbies.

Career

Have you ever switched your career field to IT?

75%

No, IT has always been my primary field

22%

Yes, I worked in another field before switching to IT

3%

Other

The prime age for switching to IT is in one’s thirties, accounting for 38% of the career changes. 46% of those who have been in IT from the very start of their careers are people aged 21–29.

Why did you choose to become a software developer?

77%

Technology, computers, and everything related to them was always interesting to me

49%

Programming was my hobby

46%

I liked STEM

26%

I am passionate about tackling complex challenges

25%

I wanted to create something new, like a video game or website

18%

Great salary and other benefits

17%

I like to make things better

Why did you choose to become a software developer?

79%

71%

Technology, computers, and everything related to them was always interesting to me

51%

44%

Programming was my hobby

49%

44%

I liked STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

25%

28%

I am passionate about tackling complex challenges

24%

24%

I wanted to create something new, like a video game or website

Interestingly, among those who switch to IT rather than get into it from the start, a lot more people are enticed by the possibility to work remotely (14% vs 6%).

How did you initially find out about your current job?

30%

Referral from a friend

24%

I sought out the opportunity directly

18%

An external recruiter

11%

LinkedIn

10%

I knew I wanted to work here

10%

An in-house recruiter

6%

Career fair

1%

Twitter

How satisfied are you in your (main) job?

14%

Completely satisfied

23%

Very satisfied

38%

Fairly satisfied

11%

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

7%

Fairly dissatisfied

2%

Very dissatisfied

1%

Completely dissatisfied

4%

I don’t know

Which aspects of your job are important to you?

70%

Good hours

70%

Good pay

67%

A job in which you feel you can achieve something

52%

An opportunity to use initiative

39%

An opportunity to make the world better

35%

Generous holidays

31%

A responsible job

4%

Other

The top three job aspects have not changed from last year: good hours, good pay, and feeling you can achieve something are still the most important things for our respondents.

Interestingly, women lead men in valuing generous holidays and an opportunity to make the world better (by six percentage points), but say good pay is important less often (by four percentage points).

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

76%

Learning new programming languages and technologies

55%

Learning how to use development tools more effectively

49%

Developing my soft skills

42%

Self-organization and self-discipline

36%

Developing myself as a leader

4%

I do not set such goals

1%

Other

Education

What is the highest level of formal education that you’ve completed?

10%

Secondary school

19%

Some college/university study without earning a bachelor’s degree

48%

Bachelor’s degree

17%

Master’s degree

2%

Professional degree

2%

Doctoral degree

1%

Other

Which of the following educational institutions or resources allowed you to take your first step toward becoming a developer?

58%

Formal education

10%

Books

10%

Free online courses or code schools

7%

Blogs, community forums

6%

Offline courses, code schools

4%

Paid online courses or code schools

2%

Codecamps, user groups, meetups

3%

Other

Respondents aged 30–39 began their developer training at universities (34%) or massive open online courses (MOOCs) (18% for free courses, 11% for paid courses). The situation is very similar for respondents in their twenties: 34% for universities, 23% for free MOOCs, and 11% for paid MOOCs. The top three programming languages preferred by such respondents were Python, JavaScript, and Java.

What programming languages have you started learning or continued to learn in the past 12 months?

27%

Python

24%

JavaScript

21%

Java

19%

TypeScript

16%

Rust

15%

Go

12%

C#

What is your motivation for learning a new language?

56%

Out of interest

44%

Work on personal projects

43%

Keep up with the latest trends

41%

Grow in my current role

27%

Complete a certain task

23%

Find new job / switch roles

21%

Migrate to another technology

20%

Become a developer

1%

Other

TechRepublic

techrepublic.com

The survey results show that respondents are serious about learning in both intentional and casual ways throughout their workdays. Respondents showed a high interest in learning new languages, with Python, JavaScript, and Java leading the list of languages they have started or continue to learn. Over 50% of those who are learning new languages do so out of interest, while 44% and 43% of learners are motivated by personal projects and keeping up with the latest trends, respectively. Python’s popularity is confirmed by the TIOBE Index, and the ongoing explosions in AI, automation, data analysis, and data visualization needs across many organizations make it a useful language for any developer.

TechRepublic empowers professionals to lead their organizations through technology with news stories, insights, features, tutorials, and product recommendations they can trust.

What have you used to learn new tools, technologies, or programming languages in the past 12 months?

67%

Documentation and APIs

53%

Blogs / forums

40%

Books

25%

Online coding schools

21%

MOOCs

4%

Personal teacher / consultant

6%

Offline educational organizations

6%

Other

7%

I have not tried to learn anything new in the past 12 months

75%

of respondents have quit a course or program before coming back to finish it.

If you’ve ever quit a learning course or program, what were your reasons?

46%

I didn’t have enough time

39%

The learning content was not interesting enough

29%

I didn’t think the learning content was useful

26%

The learning content did not have enough practical exercises

24%

My reasons for learning or my learning goals changed

21%

The content was too easy and I lost my motivation

20%

I learned everything I wanted to

16%

There was a lack of theory and I lost my motivation

16%

The content was harder than expected and I lost my motivation

4%

Other

TechRepublic

techrepublic.com

The survey responses also show that a majority of developers (67%) like to learn through documentation and APIs. No surprise there, since 75% of respondents said they have quit learning courses or programs before finishing them, with 46% citing not enough time and 39% saying the course wasn’t interesting enough. These stats may indicate that programmers like to get a handle on the basics through traditional means before researching use cases similar to their project goals.

TechRepublic empowers professionals to lead their organizations through technology with news stories, insights, features, tutorials, and product recommendations they can trust.

How much time per week do you spend learning new tools, technologies, or programming languages?

9%

Less than 1 hour a week

30%

1–2 hours a week

41%

3–8 hours a week

13%

9–16 hours a week

4%

17–32 hours a week

3%

32 hours a week or more

What kind of learning content do you prefer?

53%

Written

45%

Video

1%

Audio

2%

Other

Written content is still the most often used to study computer science, even among zoomers. Respondents aged 21–29 who are switching their primary field to IT tend to prefer video learning content (52%) more than text (44%). However, there is no significant difference for respondents in their thirties. Respondents whose primary field was IT tend to prefer text, with the difference slightly more pronounced for ages 30–39 (56% for text vs. 44% for videos) than for ages 21–29 (52% vs. 47%). Among zoomers, the overall ratio of video/text is close to 50/50.

Mental well-being

Sadly, almost three-quarters of our respondents have experienced burnout at some point in their careers. The good news is that close to half attend to their mental health, mostly by practicing psychological techniques on their own. This year, we decided to examine the interplay between burnout, mental well-being, and lifestyles.

Do you take care of your mental health?

Please select all that apply.

51%

No

34%

Yes, I use psychological techniques and practices on my own

9%

Yes, I visit a therapist

7%

Yes, I take prescribed medications

4%

Yes, I take over-the-counter medications

4%

Other

Have you ever experienced burnout?

Respondents who have experienced burnout are seven percentage points more actively interested in their mental health.

How familiar are you with the concept of mental health?

44%

I’m actively interested in this topic

26%

I’m vaguely aware of it

25%

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

5%

I’ve never heard of it

47%

of those familiar with burnout use self-monitoring apps or devices to track their physical activity, sleep quality, and other health parameters, compared with 41% of those who have never experienced the affliction.

Do you use any self-monitoring apps or devices to track physical activity, sleep quality, health, and so on?

Which of the following statements best describes you?

8%

23%

I rarely feel tired

23%

28%

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

41%

38%

I sometimes feel tired while working

16%

7%

I often feel tired while working

11%

5%

I always feel tired

Tip: If you are not watching your mental health closely, but you feel tired frequently, or even all the time, you might be on the brink of a burnout. Use caution and take care of yourself!

Those who have experienced burnout feel tired more often.

Which of the following helps you feel productive at work?

Please select all that apply.

49%

Seeing that the results of my work are of use

47%

Salary increase

39%

Pleasure from the work process

26%

Personal thanks from colleagues

24%

Personal praise from a colleague of higher status

23%

Objective indicators and metrics / KPIs

19%

Achievement of goals I've set for myself personally

17%

Promotion

Apart from pay raises, appreciation from colleagues, seeing that one’s work makes a difference, and enjoying the work itself are our respondents’ top three reasons to feel productive. This indicates, to us, that software development is more about working with people than with technologies.

More than half of developers (56%) say that learning how to use their IDE increases their daily coding productivity.

Interestingly, developers who have experienced burnout more frequently say that their daily coding productivity is boosted by factors connected with mental health, self-organization, and time management (46% vs. 42% of those who haven’t experienced burnout), as well as managing emotional state (25% vs. 15%), but less frequently report that their coding productivity is boosted by tooling.

Meanwhile, those who haven’t encountered burnout point more often to factors like learning the IDE (59% vs. 55% of those who are familiar with burnout), organization of work and processes (31% vs. 28%), and upgrading their IDE’s functionality (37% vs. 32%).

Which of the following increase your daily coding productivity?

55%

59%

Learning how to use my IDE more effectively

46%

42%

Self-organization and time management

35%

34%

Hardware upgrades

32%

37%

Upgrading my IDE’s functionality

28%

30%

Organization of work and processes in my team / company

Daily Routine

When I start my workday, the first thing I open is:

68%

Work chats

58%

IDE / Another dev tool

58%

Mailbox

36%

Calendar

7%

News outlet

6%

Refrigerator or cupboard

6%

YouTube

How much of your working time do you spend in meetings and work-related chats?

16%

Less than 10%

30%

10%-20%

25%

21%-30%

13%

31%-40%

7%

41%-50%

4%

51%-60%

2%

61%-70%

How much of your working time do you spend on code-related activity?

5%

Less than 10%

6%

10%-20%

9%

21%-30%

11%

31%-40%

12%

41%-50%

13%

51%-60%

15%

61%-70%

While working, how often do you find yourself in a state of focused concentration that prevents you from noticing what’s happening around you and how much time has passed?

8%

Almost always

24%

Very often

28%

Often

32%

Sometimes

8%

Rarely

1%

Never

When my IDE freezes, I think to myself:

32%

Let me just take a break and wait for it to unfreeze.

28%

Oops, did I do something wrong? How can I fix it?

20%

Ah, you froze again! How many times is this going to happen?

13%

Ugh, this IDE can't even handle basic functionality!

7%

Something else

Do you code on weekends?

70%

Yes, for fun

29%

Yes, for work

19%

No

Less than one-fifth of developers stay away from coding on weekends.

Which devices do you use for development?

82%

Laptop

47%

Desktop

7%

Smartphone

4%

Tablet

2%

Chromebook or similar device

How many monitors do you use for your work?

30%

1

56%

2

12%

3

2%

4

How much RAM do you have on the computer you use most often?

2%

I don’t know

1%

512 MB – 1 GB

1%

1 GB – 2 GB

2%

2 GB – 4 GB

6%

4 GB – 8 GB

29%

8 GB – 16 GB

37%

16 GB – 32 GB

16%

32 GB – 64 GB

5%

64 GB – 128 GB

1%

More than 128 GB

What disc type do you use most often for your work?

81%

SSD

11%

I use both SSD and HDD equally

6%

HDD

2%

I don't know

Digital Life

TechRepublic

techrepublic.com

When consuming IT-focused articles online, 62% of respondents consider tutorials to be useful to their work, followed by news (55%) and trends (54%). Developers tend to access IT news on social media (50%), IT-focused websites (48%), and YouTube (45%), where experts and practitioners tend to provide much of the content. Of the social sites, respondents reported that they actively use accounts on GitHub (76%), X (formerly Twitter), (48%), LinkedIn (48%), and Stack Overflow (47%). With the possible exception of X, these platforms are directly tied to professional improvement and learning. Developers are seeking professional content that makes them better at their jobs, ready to find the next one, and prepared for the next new thing.

TechRepublic empowers professionals to lead their organizations through technology with news stories, insights, features, tutorials, and product recommendations they can trust.

Where do you get IT news?

50%

Social media

48%

IT-focused websites

45%

YouTube

38%

Aggregated news sites

36%

Blogs

26%

Newsletters

25%

Community forums

14%

Podcasts

3%

Print media

2%

Other

6%

I don’t follow IT news

What types of IT-focused articles do you find most useful to your work?

62%

Tutorials

55%

News

54%

Trends

25%

Reports

18%

Whitepapers

16%

Thought leadership

1%

Other

How do you prefer to consume IT news?

66%

Digital media

53%

Videos

45%

Social media

18%

Podcasts

10%

Print media

Do you have and actively use accounts on the following websites?

Please check all that apply.

76%

GitHub

48%

X

48%

LinkedIn

47%

Stack Overflow

38%

Reddit

36%

Instagram

29%

Facebook

21%

Medium

Do you agree to send anonymized usage statistics for the tools you use?

20%

I agree to send anonymized statistics for all my tools

26%

I agree to send anonymized statistics for most of my tools

35%

I agree to send anonymized statistics only for a few of my tools

19%

I don’t agree to send anonymized statistics for any of my tools

How do you feel about personal data collection?

13%

I don’t care one way or another

43%

I am concerned with how my personal data is collected and used, but I don’t make a lot of effort to influence this

44%

I am concerned with how my personal data is collected and used, and I do take steps to make sure it stays private

1%

I’m not sure what you mean

Do you play video games?

73%

of respondents play video games, with age being a definite factor: 85% of under 21s partake of the hobby, but this number drops to 33% for those over 60.

Do you play video games?

18–2021–2930–3940–4950–5960 or older
85%79%72%66%44%33%Yes, of course!
15%21%28%34%56%67%No
15%85%

Which game genres do you like the most?

46%

Action

46%

Role-playing

45%

Action-adventure

42%

Strategy

34%

Adventure

32%

Simulation

30%

Casual

16%

Sports

6%

Other

Developers’ Lifestyles:

2023

Thank you for your time!

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