Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey has been tracking the sentiment of software developers for over a decade now. The survey data from 2011-2024 tells a story that most of us in tech hiring have been living through, but seeing it laid out like this makes for interesting reading.
Remote work jumped from 21% in 2014 to 85% partial remote by 2022. Developer salaries went up 23% between 2021-2022 alone. And if you’re still trying to hire people to work in an office full-time or wondering why your PHP developers are getting harder to find, well, the data might explain a few things.
A reality check? Six big issues are affecting how we hire developers. Remote work isn’t negotiable anymore. Developer pay saw massive growth through 2023, though whether that’s sustainable in 2025 is an open question. Diversity numbers are barely moving. Some technologies are becoming harder to hire for. And the rise of JavaScript and Python reflects broader shifts in how software gets built.
The Numbers
Before looking at the trends themselves, here are some response numbers to bear in mind.
Survey Participation Numbers:
- 2015: ~21,982 responses
- 2016: ~50,000+ responses (mentioned as “over 50,000”)
- 2017: 51,392 usable responses
- 2020: 65,000 qualified responses from 186 countries
- 2021: 83,439 qualified responses from 181 countries
- 2023: 89,184 qualified responses from 185 countries
- 2024: 65,437 responses from 185 countries
Top Responding Countries (consistently across years):
- United States (18-21% of responses)
- India (6-13% of responses)
- Germany (6-8% of responses)
- United Kingdom (5-6% of responses)
- Canada (3-4% of responses)
- France (3% of responses)
- Brazil (2-3% of responses)
- Poland (2% of responses)
- Netherlands (2% of responses)
- Australia (2% of responses)
Age Demographics:
- Peak age range: 25-34 years old (37-43% of respondents)
- Average developer age: ~28.9 years (2015 data)
- Age by country trends:
- US developers: Average 31.6 years.
- UK developers: Average 30.3 years.
- German developers: Average 29.0 years
- Indian developers: Average 25.0 years (youngest major market)
Experience Levels:
- Professional developers: 69.7% of all respondents (2021)
- Students learning to code: 14.42% of respondents (2021)
- Coding hobbyists: 5.91% of respondents
Gender (persistent across years):
- Male: ~90-92% of respondents
- Female: 6-7.6% of respondents
- Other/Non-binary: <1% of respondents
Geographic Distribution (2020 regional breakdown):
- Europe: 24,688 responses
- Asia: 16,400 responses
- North America: 15,570 responses
- South America: 3,070 responses
- Africa: 2,709 responses
- Australia/Oceania: 1,570 responses
Survey Quality Metrics:
- Median completion time: 10-26 minutes depending on year
- Response recruitment: Primarily through Stack Overflow channels (80%+ of responses)
- Global reach: Responses from almost every country on Earth
- Qualification criteria: Minimum 3 minutes spent on survey, completed required sections
These numbers show massive growth in participation from ~22K in 2015 to ~90K in 2023, while maintaining global reach across 180+ countries.
Go see the data for yourself at the Stack Overflow survey page
Remote Work: The Horse Has Bolted
The remote work numbers tell a story that’s pretty hard to argue with. 2014 saw 21% of developers working remotely at least some of the time. By 2015, that jumped to 29%. The 2017 survey showed something interesting: developers working remotely full-time reported the highest job satisfaction (6.97 out of 10 versus 6.63 for those who never worked remotely).
Then Covid happened. The pandemic forced a massive experiment in remote work that many companies weren’t prepared for. By 2022, 85% of developers were working for organisations that are “at least partially remote.” The 2023 data shows things have settled around 42% hybrid and 41% fully remote, with only about 16% working fully in the office.
While some high-profile companies have tried return-to-office mandates recently, the data suggests hybrid work is becoming the stable middle ground. Companies that went fully remote during the pandemic found it hard to reverse course, but equally, many discovered that some in-person collaboration has value. The hybrid model seems to be where things are landing for now.
What’s interesting is the geographic spread. Back in 2017, Russia led remote work adoption at nearly 23%, almost double the US rate of 13%. Countries like Argentina, Mexico, and Russia were way ahead of the curve, which created some real opportunities for companies willing to hire distributed teams.
The correlation between remote work and job satisfaction has been consistent across multiple surveys. If you’re trying to hire developers and you’re not offering remote options, you’re fishing in a much smaller pond than your competition.
The Great Developer Pay Rise
Developer compensation went through a remarkable period, particularly in the US market. The 2022 survey showed a 23% average increase in median salaries from the year before. That’s not a typo. Then 2023 kept going with another 10-11% increase.
It’s worth noting that this data reflects USD cash compensation, not total compensation packages with equity and benefits. The survey demographics aren’t entirely clear, but if these numbers skew towards junior to mid-level developers (which is likely given Stack Overflow’s user base), it would help explain such dramatic year-over-year growth in that segment.
Looking at specific technologies, the numbers are even more dramatic:
- JavaScript developers went from $54,049 in 2021 to $74,034 in 2023 (37% growth)
- Python developers: $59,454 to $78,331 (32% growth)
- PHP developers: $38,916 to $58,899 (51% growth)
Back in 2017, 56% of developers felt “somewhat or greatly underpaid.” Given these recent salary jumps, it looks like the market was correcting that perception through 2023.
The question now is whether this trend continues into 2025. With broader economic uncertainty and some high-profile tech layoffs, we might be seeing the end of this particular compensation bubble. If you’re planning budgets for developer hiring, it’s worth watching whether these double-digit increases are sustainable or if we’re heading for a correction.
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Diversity: Still Not Moving the Needle
The diversity numbers make for uncomfortable reading. Women represented 6% of Stack Overflow respondents in 2016, improved slightly to 7.6% in the US by 2017, and then… not much happened.
There’s a pattern that’s been consistent across multiple surveys: women are about twice as likely as men to have three years or less of coding experience. This suggests we’re not just struggling to get women into tech, we’re struggling to keep them there long enough to build senior careers.
The data shows women have higher representation in certain areas: data science, front-end development, QA, and design roles. But the overall numbers suggest that whatever we’re doing as an industry to improve diversity isn’t working very well.
For individual companies, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that the talent pool is smaller than it should be. The opportunity is that companies that figure out how to attract and retain women developers can tap into an underutilised talent pool while everyone else is fighting over the same candidates.
PHP and the Technology Treadmill
The PHP story is a cautionary tale about technology choices. The 2016 survey noted that “PHP appears to be falling out of favour as Node and Angular emerge.” By 2017, PHP was consistently appearing in the “Most Dreaded” technology rankings. By 2022, PHP usage had dropped to about 21%, while Node.js hit 47%.
What’s particularly telling is that across multiple surveys, PHP developers have been “disproportionately underpaid compared to other languages with the same experience.” When developers consistently say they don’t want to work with a technology and the market pays less for it, that’s usually a sign of where things are heading.
If you’ve got a large PHP codebase, you’re probably already feeling this. It’s getting harder to hire good PHP developers, and you might need to pay premiums to attract people to PHP projects. For enterprise companies, this might be manageable with a long-term migration plan.
Python’s Unstoppable March
Python tells the opposite story. Starting from 24% adoption in 2015, it hit 32% by 2017 (when it “overtook PHP for the first time in five years”), reached 44% by 2020, and got to 48% by 2021.
The driving force behind Python’s growth has been the explosion in data science and machine learning. Python became the language of choice for data analysis, with libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib making complex data manipulation accessible. Then, machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Scikit-learn cemented Python’s position as the go-to language for AI development.
With the recent boom in large language models and generative AI, Python’s dominance has only strengthened. Most AI research and development happens in Python, making it essential for companies looking to integrate AI capabilities. The language’s readable syntax and extensive ecosystem mean that data scientists and AI researchers can focus on solving problems rather than wrestling with complex language features.
Python developers consistently earn above-average compensation relative to their experience. The 2023 survey shows Python developers at about $78,000 median salary. More importantly, Python skills often translate directly to business competitive advantage through data-driven insights and AI capabilities.
For businesses, Python provides a relatively accessible entry point to advanced analytics and AI capabilities that used to require significant specialised infrastructure and expertise.
JavaScript Eating the World
JavaScript’s trajectory over the survey period is remarkable. From 37% adoption in 2013, it grew to 54% by 2015, hit nearly 68% by 2020, and has settled around 62-65% in recent years. It’s been the most-used programming language for ten consecutive years.
The reason for JavaScript’s dominance is partly historical accident, partly technical evolution. JavaScript started as the only programming language that could run in web browsers. As the web became the primary platform for software delivery, JavaScript became unavoidable. But what cemented its position was the development of Node.js, which brought JavaScript to server-side development, and the emergence of powerful frameworks that made complex web applications manageable.
JavaScript’s flexibility is both a strength and a weakness. It’s a dynamically typed language that allows rapid prototyping and iteration, but this same flexibility can lead to runtime errors and maintenance headaches. The rise of TypeScript (9.5% in 2017 to 35% in 2022) shows the community recognising these trade-offs and choosing type safety for larger applications.
The JavaScript ecosystem growth has been explosive:
- Node.js went from 13% in 2015 to 47% in 2022
- React emerged as the “most loved” framework by 2017 and reached 43% adoption by 2022
- TypeScript grew from 9.5% in 2017 to 35% in 2022
JavaScript consistently ranks highly in the “Most Loved” technology rankings, and React maintains top satisfaction ratings. This translates directly to talent availability and retention advantages.
The broad JavaScript talent pool provides good cost-efficiency for hiring. If you choose more niche technologies, you’ll probably face smaller talent pools and higher compensation requirements.
React vs Angular: How Framework Wars Affect Hiring
The React versus Angular story shows how early technology choices ripple through hiring for years. In 2017, React emerged as the “most loved” framework at 67% satisfaction, while the survey noted “more developers say they use React.js than Angular, a switch from last year.”
React’s popularity comes down to a few key factors. It introduced a component-based architecture that made complex user interfaces more manageable. The concept of “one-way data flow” made application state easier to reason about. Perhaps most importantly, React embraced functional programming concepts and made them accessible, leading to more predictable and testable code.
React also benefited from excellent timing. It emerged when single-page applications were becoming the norm, and it provided a clear mental model for building them. The ecosystem that grew around React, including tools like Redux for state management and a thriving community of third-party components, made it a compelling choice.
By 2021, React reached 40% adoption, surpassing jQuery as the most commonly used web framework. The 2022 survey confirmed React’s dominance at 43% versus Angular’s 20%. The 2023 data shows React maintaining 41% while Angular sits at 17%.
React consistently appears in “Most Loved” rankings across multiple years, while Angular shows declining enthusiasm. This directly correlates with talent availability and retention. React’s high satisfaction ratings suggest easier recruitment and lower turnover. If you’re committed to Angular, you’re probably dealing with progressively smaller talent pools and potentially higher compensation requirements
What This All Means for Hiring
If you’re hiring developers right now, the data suggests some pretty clear directions:
Get comfortable with remote. With 85% of developers expecting remote options, restricting yourself to local, office-based candidates means you’re competing for a much smaller talent pool. The job satisfaction correlation with remote work suggests this isn’t just about preference; it’s about retention too.
Budget for salary inflation. The 15-20% annual increases we’ve seen recently might not continue forever, but they’re certainly not slowing down yet. Factor this into your hiring plans and equity strategies.
Think carefully about technology choices. JavaScript ecosystem skills (React, Node.js, TypeScript) give you access to the largest talent pools. Python capabilities provide data science advantages. Legacy technologies like PHP are becoming harder and more expensive to hire for.
Don’t expect diversity to fix itself. The persistent low representation numbers suggest that passive diversity initiatives aren’t working. Companies that actively solve this problem gain access to underutilised talent during intense competition periods.
For startups specifically, some of these trends work in your favour. You naturally align with developer preferences for modern technology stacks without legacy migration costs. You’re probably already remote-first or at least remote-friendly. And developers consistently show a preference for smaller organisations (40% work for companies under 100 employees).
The Bottom Line
The Stack Overflow data from 2011-2024 shows technology talent market changes that most business planning cycles haven’t kept up with. Remote work is permanent. Compensation inflation is real. JavaScript dominance is absolute. Modern technology choices directly affect hiring efficiency.
The patterns are clear: companies aligning their talent strategies with demonstrated developer preferences get better recruitment outcomes, relatively lower compensation costs, and improved retention rates.
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