Overview
Every year we run a survey. This year, more developers answered more questions than ever before.
26,086 people from 157 countries participated in our 45-question survey. 6,800 identified as full-stack developers, 1,900 as mobile developers, 1,200 as front-end developers, 2 as farmers, and 12,000 as something else.
Code is everywhere, and just about every coder uses Stack Overflow. Every day more coders are finding great jobs on Stack Overflow Careers.
We conducted this survey to help us better understand our community and to help our community better understand itself. For 2 weeks in early February we ran ads for the survey on Stack Overflow, posted it on Meta Stack Overflow, and shared it across social media.
These results are not unbiased. Like the results of any survey, they are skewed by selection bias, language bias, and probably a few other biases. So take this for what it is: the most comprehensive developer survey ever conducted. Or at least the only one that asks devs about tabs vs. spaces.
Developer Profile
Who codes? Where do developers live? Are developers programmers and are programmers developers? Let's talk demographics.
There are now more than 7.2 billion people on planet Earth. About 32 million of them visit Stack Overflow monthly, and more than 25 million are return visitors. Return visitors land on Stack Overflow an average of 6 times every month. These are our Active Users in the map above.
This survey under represents developers who don't like to take English surveys. It's biased against devs in countries like China, Brazil, and Japan, who participate on Stack Overflow less than devs in other non-English speaking countries. It's for these devs that we've started to launch localized versions of Stack Overflow. Wherever you live, whatever language you speak, we want to help you build as efficiently and collaboratively as humanly possible.
| Country | Devs per 1,000 people | |
|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 39.8 | |
| Iceland | 35.0 | |
| Sweden | 35.0 | |
| Israel | 33.4 | |
| Finland | 33.0 | |
| Singapore | 31.7 |
Accounting for 25% of all sessions, the United States is the top traffic source to Stack Overflow. India is second (12.5%), followed by the UK (5.5%), and Germany (4.2%). But Luxembourg delivers more uniques per capita than any other country.
25,831 responses
The average developer is 28.9 years old. He or she was born in April 1986, just as the Chernobyl meltdown was taking place.
| Country | Developer Age (avg.) | |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 31.6 | |
| United Kingdom | 30.3 | |
| Canada | 30.3 | |
| France | 28.6 | |
| Germany | 29.0 | |
| Poland | 26.7 | |
| Russia | 26.6 | |
| India | 25.0 |
Programmers are especially young in developing countries like India, where the average developer is just 25 years old.
25,744 responses
Software development has a gender balance problem. Our internal stats suggest the imbalance isn't quite as severe as the survey results would make it seem, but there's no doubt everyone who codes needs to be more proactive welcoming women into the field.
24,827 responses
The programming field is growing extremely rapidly. In the United States, nearly 40% of doctors have 10+ years of professional experience. By contrast, only about 25% of developers worldwide have more than 10 years coding experience. Most of those veteran developers have probably been coding professionallymuch shorter than that.
Compared with men, women who code are nearly twice as likely to have less than 2 years programming experience. We hope this means more women are joining the industry and closing the gender gap.
FEMALE RESPONDENTS BY GEOGRAPHY
Developers in India are 3-times more likely to be female than developers in the United States.
There are many ways to learn how to code. 48% of respondents never received a degree in computer science. 33% of respondents never took a computer science university course. System administrators are most likely to be self-taught (52%). Enterprise level services developers are most likely to have an industry certification (13%). Machine learning developers and data scientists are 10 times more likely than any other developer type to have a PhD (15%).
16,522 responses
For many developers, programming is a labor of love. 70% of respondents reported that they spend 2 or more hours per week programming either as a hobby or working on open source software. 20% of respondents spend more than 10 hours programming away from work. The average developer spends more than 7 hours per week coding on the side.
Technology
The more things change, the more likely it is those things are written in JavaScript with NotePad++ on a Windows machine (theme: dark) using Git, and tabs instead of spaces.
21,982 responses
JavaScript remains the most-used programming language. Node.js and AngularJS are busting out. Java is still the #1 server side language (and the most frequently used tag on Stack Overflow). The C's continue to hold on strong.
% of devs who are developing with the language or tech that have expressed interest in continuing to develop with it.
We asked respondents what programming languages and technologies they've developed with over the past year and what languages and technologies they want to develop with. By comparing status quo vs. aspiration we can see how developers perceive available programming tools.
22,771 responses
For the third year in a row, we asked respondents which operating system they use the most. Windows maintains the lion's share of the developer operating system market, while Mac appears to have overtaken the Linuxes among active Stack Overflow devs.
Linux may be a small player on the consumer market, with just 1.5% of global desktop operating system share, but it's a go-to OS for developers.
THE LINUXES - DEV SHARE 2015
4,667 responses
Developer type influences choice of text editor. Either that or Emacs turns people into mathematics-focused developers. Data scientists and machine learning developers are about 3 times more likely to use Emacs than any other type of developer.
PREFERRED TEXT EDITOR BY OCCUPATION
| Occupation | Preferred text editor |
|---|---|
| Desktop Developers | NotePad++ |
| Front-end web developers | Sublime Text |
| DevOps & Sys admins | Vim |
| Full-stack developers | Notepad++ and Sublime Text |
Developers prefer working with a dark IDE theme. We did a little further mining and discovered desktop developers prefer a light theme, front-end developers prefer dark, and mobile developers are split down the middle.
16,694 responses
Source control is an industry standard tool. However, fun fact: about 10% of developers still don't use it.
25,807 responses
After millennia of heated debate, mercifully, at long last, we have an answer. Most developers prefer tabs to spaces.
Upon closer examination of the data, a trend emerges: Developers increasingly prefer spaces as they gain experience. Stack Overflow reputation correlates with a preference for spaces, too: users who have 10,000 rep or more prefer spaces to tabs at a ratio of 3 to 1.
| Country | Caffeinated beverages per day (avg.) | |
|---|---|---|
| Norway | 3.09 | |
| Netherlands | 3.04 | |
| Sweden | 2.94 | |
| Finland | 2.76 | |
| Iran | 2.74 | |
| Denmark | 2.70 | |
| South Africa | 2.59 | |
| United Kingdom | 2.54 | |
| Turkey | 2.50 | |
| Germany | 2.44 |
Like most working humans, developers demand caffeine. The average developer drinks 2.2 servings of coffee, tea, Surge, or other caffeinated beverage every day. Nordic devs drink much more coffee than most.
WHICH DEVELOPER TYPES DRINK THE MOST COFFEE?
| Occupation | Caffeinated beverages per day (avg.) |
|---|---|
| Product manager | 2.92 |
| Executive (VP of Eng., CTO, CIO, etc.) | 2.74 |
| Business intelligence or data warehousing expert | 2.67 |
| System administrator | 2.58 |
| Growth hacker | 2.49 |
Work
The labor landscape is constantly evolving for those who know how to code. New developer types are emerging. More developers are going remote (and getting better, higher-paying jobs because of it). More than most professions, developers enjoy what they do, and it shows: nearly every developer spends time coding on the side.
22,148 responses
We provided respondents with a list of 24 common developer types and asked them to choose the occupation that best describes what they do. For the third year in a row, "full-stack developer" was the most common response.
1,900 responses
Of more than 22,000 respondents, 1,900 said they are primarily a mobile developer. Android developers outnumber iOS developers 4 to 3. Just over 2% of mobile developers identify as Windows Phone developers. 20% of mobile developers don't identify with a particular mobile platform.
1,018 responses
We've been able to identify a number of emerging developer types by observing patterns in Stack Overflow users' browsing behavior. Developers with a stats and math background and machine learning developers are a couple of these new dev types. Data scientist is a related developer type that is slightly more established.
The spectrum of developer types is vast, and it's often unclear where one type ends and another begins. More than 300 respondents identified as DevOps, nearly 200 identified as business intelligence or data warehousing experts, and 59 identified as "growth hacker" – the smallest segment of developers among the multiple choice options.
"Other" developer types make the field even more interesting: nearly 1,600 respondents submitted a write-in response for occupation. Game developers and designers made up the largest segment among write-in dev types. More than 100 write-in respondents included multiple dev types in their occupation choice. Only one respondent wrote in that he/she works with lasers.
16,160 responses
Respondents from developed countries are more likely than others to say they work in an industry outside the traditional software powerhouses.
We asked respondents how much they earn in US dollars, including bonus. We cross tabulated compensation with competency in specific technologies to see which tech pays best.
Niche or emerging technologies pay big bucks. So does big data and cloud computing. This may reflect a shortage of certain skills in the workforce – companies are willing to pay more when hiring for cutting edge skillsets. It's also likely that developers with niche competencies are just better developers all around.
TOP PAYING TECHNOLOGIES
13,110 responses from top 35 responding countries. Average salary calculated per country.
| Country | How many Big Macs can you buy? | Average Salary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine | 21,825 | $26,190.48 | |
| South Africa | 19,215 | $42,658.23 | |
| United States | 18,712 | $89,631.68 | |
| Australia | 17,802 | $76,904.76 | |
| Russia | 17,571 | $23,897.28 | |
| United Kingdom | 15,757 | $68,860.59 | |
| Israel | 15,280 | $68,000 | |
| Canada | 14,711 | $68,262.48 | |
| Ireland | 14,661 | $62,456.14 | |
| New Zealand | 14,042 | $63,052.63 | |
| China | 13,803 | $38,235.29 |
When it comes to quality of life, dollars, Euros and Yen don't matter. Big Macs matter. The Economist's Big Mac Index is a measure of purchasing power parity that can be used to compare the true value of compensation between workers in different economies.
Where can an average developer eat the most (and live the best)? The survey says: Ukraine, where Big Macs cost only about $1.20.
Average salaries calculated per country among respondents from top 35 responding countries.
Remote work pays. Developers who work remotely full-time earn about 40% more than those who never work remote. The disparity is more pronounced in developing countries.
% average salary by country. 13,224 respondents from top 35 responding countries.
We always said participating on Stack Overflow is good for your career. Now we have proof.
In truth, we don't know that there's any causal link between reputation and compensation, but indulge us for a moment. If rep equals money, you could get a 10% raise just by going from 1 to 100 rep on Stack Overflow. If rep equals money, you would only reach average developer status once you earned between 200-499 rep. And you'd earn 135% average salary once you hit 10,000 rep. It may be a good time to hunt a bounty...
21,306 responses
If you're a software developer, you probably have a job. 97.5% of workforce respondents are employed in at least a part-time capacity.
And even if you work full-time, you probably code on the side. The average fully employed developer spends more than 6 hours every week working on open source, side- or hobby projects. Retired developers spend nearly 3 times as many hours on hobby projects. Code is life for most devs, and for many coding is a lifetime pursuit.
TIME SPENT CODING ON THE SIDE
We asked respondents how satisfied they are with their current job or jobs. 76% of developers report being at least satisfied with their job, and 36% love their job. Developers are generally more fulfilled by work than most employees.
And developers in Iran are more satisfied with their jobs than developers anywhere else. Stack Overflow Careers may not have any jobs available in Iran, but you can still move there and apply for one of our manyavailable remote jobs.
JOB SATISFACTION BY GEOGRAPHY
| Country | Average Satisfaction Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Iran | 3.78 | |
| Netherlands | 3.69 | |
| Norway | 3.68 | |
| Israel | 3.63 | |
| Denmark | 3.61 | |
| Switzerland | 3.58 |
16,288 responses
It feels good to be the boss. Executives are 16% more satisfied (on an arbitrary 5-point scale) than average (3.36). Product managers are generally the least satisfied with their jobs.
16,154 responses
29% of developers work at least part-time remote. This is up from 21% last year. More developers are choosing to work from home and more companies are embracing the remote workplace. (We're one of those companies.)
Code is breaking down cubicle walls. 50% of developers say working remote is at least somewhat important. Note to companies trying to hire: if your job listing doesn't include remote, you could be cutting your possible applicant pool in half. And you may be eliminating the most qualified developers from consideration. Stack Overflow users with 5,000+ rep are twice more likely than other developers to say "remote optional" is non-negotiable.
Community
Without people, Stack Overflow is just a pile of pixels. It's thanks to the devs who answer, upvote, edit, and ask that everyone benefits from the library of Q&A we've amassed since the first question was asked in 2008. Reputation and gamification is just a tiny part of what makes Stack Overflow work. Community is everything.
16,399 responses
16,519 responses
Stack Overflow users have saved their fellow developers millions of hours of work. We asked respondents how often the answers they find are are helpful. 86% of respondents say answers are usually or always helpful.
Two-thirds of respondents say they visit multiple times per day.
24,764 responses
We asked respondents how much Stack Overflow rep they have. (We double-checked responses vs. actual rep for users who provided account info – our users are remarkably honest people.) Whereas respondent rep distribution includes 100% of respondents, active user distribution includes only the ~5% of Stack Overflow visitors who are ever signed-in.
16,397 responses
We asked respondents why they use Stack Overflow, allowing for multiple answer selections. More than half of respondents use Stack Overflow to help other developers. Nearly 3 out of 4 developers are here to get help for their job. 2 out of 3 developers say they are motivated by a passion for learning new things.
15,980 responses
60% of survey respondents have provided an answer on Stack Overflow. What motivates answerers? More than any other motivation, developers answer because it feels good to help a fellow developer. More than half of respondents answer to leave artifacts that will help many developers in the future. And 6% of Stack Overflow answerers don't know why they answer – they just do.
Keep Stack Overflow flowing
Help fellow developers build by answering one of our unanswered questions. One answer helps one developer now, and many more developers in the future.
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