swiss developer survey 2021 insights

In round three of the swiss developer survey, we see a stabilization of the answers in large parts: Freely interpreted, one could also say that 2020 and 2021 feel like one never-ending year. We often confuse these two years and are no longer sure exactly what happened when. We'll leave open whether this might have something to do with the pandemic.

Due to the continued high level of satisfaction among developers, it is difficult to speak of resignation here. Nevertheless, existing trends (see 2020 evaluation) have largely continued or have become entrenched at a certain level. 

Lack of change can also be interesting, however. For example, we noticed a 'non-trend' that we would definitely like to highlight: While there is constant talk in the media about the trend towards the cloud, this does not seem to have arrived among developers yet, or perhaps to have arrived at a contemporary level before the pandemic. While we see a clear growth in 'compulsory' tools such as Microsoft Teams, the changes in the public clouds of Amazon, Microsoft and Google are limited.

Nevertheless, we would like to highlight a few nuanced developments in detail:

• JavaScript (+7%) and TypeScript (+5%) have continued to grow strongly.
• Java has seen another dip, down 8% - a trend that has actually accelerated a bit since 2019.
• PHP, interestingly, has seen a surprising 5% increase. I wonder if Java developers have switched to TypeScript or PHP.
• At 1-2% plus each, the following languages continue to experience solid but slow growth: Python (29%), C# (25%), Kotlin (10%), and Go (8%).
• Excitingly, 14% of all developers would like to try Rust, but just 1.4% are working with it. 

• Node.js, and with it again JavaScript/TypeScript technologies, grow by 8%.
• Angular (+5%), Vue.js (+5%), and React (+3%) are moving in the same direction.
• There was little change here in Java-related items: Spring - 1%, Maven - 3%, Gradle + 2%, Java EE +/- 0%, etc.
• The top "newly desired" mentions are also JavaScript dominated: Vue.js (+ 3%), React (+ 2%) and Angular (+ 4%). 
• The biggest increase in "newly desired" technologies here is experienced by Flutter with + 8%.

• Open source databases such as MySQL (+ 3%), PostgreSQL (+ 9%), SQLite (+ 3%) and MariaDB (+ 2%) dominate the top 10 and continue to consolidate their presence strongly.
• Relatively few votes were cast for the "newly desired" databases. Developers seem to feel less motivation for new things here.
• PostgreSQL is the most "liked", even with an increase of 8%. As a result, this database leaves the field behind by a large margin.
• Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server in particular continue to be "disliked" or considered "to be replaced". 

• Kubernetes, Docker and Linux continue to gain ground in all questions.
• Windows Desktop or Server gained another 4% in the "disliked" mentions.
• Microsoft Teams has risen sharply in usage, but has also jumped to the top of the list of "disliked" and, above all, "to be replaced" solutions. Is management perhaps not asking developers enough about which tools they want?

On a personal level, there was movement above all in topics that are directly affected by the pandemic. For example, the percentage of developers who are extremely satisfied with their jobs rose from 34 to 41 percent. Right now, developers value what they have. 

This is also reflected in the increasing relevance of the home office option. The value rose from 12 to almost 15 percent.

In terms of benefits, the relevance of a budget for computers and office equipment dropped from 15 to 10 percent - after two years of pandemic, you might be equipped or not go to the office anyway.

At the same time, the desire for public training events rose from 15 to 25 percent, while interest in in-house training dropped from 40 to 30 percent. Perhaps this means that developers also want to get out and see other people. Who could blame them.

These are just a few excerpts from the extensive results. It's worth diving into the individual sections and browsing a bit. Ultimately, the interrelationships are complex and a simple perusal of listicles is of limited insight.

In this respect, have fun thinking!