Six thousand developers from around the world, 76% of programmers aged between 21 and 39 and 46 % even between 21 and 29 years, participated in the Developer Ecosystem Survey 2018. In addition to technical and professional data, the survey also revealed how programmers spend their free time. The main findings include:
- 64% of respondents chose JavaScript as the most frequently used programming language.
- 62% of programmers work in the Windows operating system.
- More than half of respondents plan to move from self-service and local cloud solutions to large cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
- Nearly two thirds of programmers (59%) don't have sleep problems because they sleep 7 hours a day or more.
- 77% of programmers regularly listen to music at work, and electronic music is the most popular.
- 57% of programmers prefer coffee and 33% tea.
"In the Czech Republic, programmers are very demanded in the labor market. Our regular survey among the world community of programmers helps us not only better understand their technological background but also their work-related requirements. For example, this year's findings on working time help us better adapt working conditions and the environment in our office in Prague," says Martina Brozova, HR Manager at JetBrains.
Working tools
The most frequently used programming languages are JavaScript (64% ) and Java (51%). There are also other popular languages like SQL, Python, PHP or C # in the top ten.
One of the tools most used by software engineers is, like last year, the IDE development environment. Up to 82% of respondents normally work using these tools. The second most widely used environment includes source code collaboration tools (such as GitHub or Bitbucket) which are used by 77% of developers. Most respondents also prefer personal settings, only 12% don't adapt their IDE.
More than half of respondents (58%) work on backend applications and less than half (48%) on the frontend ones. The third largest group of programmers (23%) are mobile application developers. Most of them develop applications for Android devices (86%), compared to 48% for iOS.
It is also interesting to find out which operating systems respondents work in most often. An overwhelming majority (62%) works in Windows. 49% of developers are use Unix / Linux systems and 44% use macOS.
Working environment
While most (64%) of today's programmers prefer office work, the number of respondents who prefer working from home (31%) is also growing. Alternative work environments such as co-working centers and cafes are used by 4% of programmers.
Up to 77% of developers listen to music at work. Programmers, System Analysts, Product Managers, Team Leaders, Quality Assurance Engineers, Data Analysts and DevOps engineers (37% of all respondents) prefer electronic music. By contrast, positions such as Database Analysts, UX / UI Designers and architects prefer rock. Technical support workers, Business Analysts, CIOs, CTOs and CEOs prefer classical music. A third of respondents like pop. The least popular musical styles among programmers are punk rock and R&B.
The last year's survey showed that many programmers are passionate computer games players. This year, the survey focused on personal energy recharging and the results showed that most respondents prefer coffee (57%) over tea (33%).
"The working rhythm of the programmers is very specific, and we are trying to make the most for them. We have adapted not only the working time which is very flexible, but also our offices. We have several relaxation zones, tables and chairs tailored for everyone and our users have a relaxation room called power-nap-room available. If one of our colleagues is tired after long programming, they can always close themselves in a soundproof room and relax in a hammock," commented Martina Brozova, HR Manager at JetBrains.
Working hours
Questions focused on the amount of time spent coding have revealed how much free time programmers have left. Most software developers (37%) spend more than 32 hours a week coding at work. 25% of respondents are involved in coding at work for 17 to 32 hours a week. Developers most often spend 3 to 8 hours of coding private projects a week.
The overwhelming majority (85%) of respondents also admit to active coding during weekends. Half of the respondents mostly work in teams ranging in size from two to seven people. Only 9% of developers work in teams of more than 21 people.
