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Hiring statistics

30 industry insights for hiring developers

Hiring statistics

Recruiting developers takes a lot of skill because majority of them are passive candidates. As a tech recruiter, you’re constantly forced to learn new things. The more educated you are, the faster you can make informed decisions to outperform your competitors. We’ve gone through research from leading organizations including The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Stack Overflow, Manpower Group, Evans Data Corporation and Vision Mobile to give you 30 industry insights for hiring developers. We’ve compiled the data into an easy-to-read list you can go over while enjoying your morning coffee. Enjoy!

Love for job

developers job satisfactionSource: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

Job satisfaction

are developers satisfied with their jobsSource: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

Openness to new opportunities

Only 24.8% of software engineers are not at all interested in new job opportunities.current job status developersSource: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

Time spent searching for jobs

25% of them don’t devote any time to that activity.

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

How developers find their jobs

31% of developers discovered their most recent job opportunity “through a recruiter of some sort”.

developer job discovery statisticsSource: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

Power of referrals

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

Software developers worldwide

Asia boasts an increasingly large population of software developers (34% of all developers in the world) “both through western outsourcing and the evolution of local markets”.

software developers geography

Source: Developer Economics Survey

Software developers and sectors

Developers typically work across sectors (mobile, Internet of Things, desktop and cloud), with 36% working in 2 sectors.

developers work across sectors

Source: Developer Economics Survey

The cost of hiring

The cost of hiring a software developer with in-house recruiters reaches $22,562 and $31, 970 for agency recruiters. With productivity loss and constructor cover these costs may exceed $60,000 – see the maths behind the calculation in this post.

cost of hiring software developers

Source: Payscale, Quarsh, Wanted Analytics via DevSkiller

Things that should matter in recruitment process according to developers

Based on feedback gathered from developers, communication skills, reputation for getting-things-done, and knowledge of algorithms and data structures along with experience with specific toolsshould be most important in the recruitment process. The surveyed group claimed educational credentials, previous job titles and Stack Overflow reputation score were less significant in the process of hiring a great developer.

tips for tech hiring

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

How developers learn their skills

with 45.4% of them completing online courses and 41.2% listing on-the-job training as their education background.

self taught developers

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

This suggests tech recruiters shouldn’t consider formal education as a must-have requirement. Remember about this next time you’re working on the job description. Why is this important? Look at #12.

Talent pool & job criteria on LinkedIn

According to LinkedIn Talent Solutions, removing or altering just one job criterion increases the talent pool more than 6 times.

talent pool criteriaSource: LinkedIn Talent Solutions

Software engineers & degree

Approximately a quarter have a graduate degree.

developers educational background

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

Importance of formal education

importance of formal education

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

Developers & LinkedIn account

Source: Stack Overflow

Talent shortage

talent shortage Manpower

Source: Manpower Group

Global Developer Population and Demographics

By 2025, this number is expected to grow to 25 million. India is projected to have the biggest population of software engineers by 2021.

developer demographics

Source: Evans Data Corporation

Software experience

Developer population “grows from the bottom” which means there are many less experienced software engineers.

developer population grows

Source: Developer Economics Survey

Diversity

male and female developers

Source: Developer Economics Survey

Projected employment

From 2014 to 2024, 9.8 million jobs are projected to be added in the United States.

wage and education chart bureau of labor statistics

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Projected employment

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, employment of software developers is “projected to grow 17% from 2014 to 2024” significantly faster than the average for all occupations due to high demand for computer software.

software developers projected percentage of employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Software Engineer annual pay

payscale data developer paySource: PayScale

Software Engineer median annual pay

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, median annual pay for software engineers equals $102,280 and $49.17% hourly rate.

software developer pay

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Software Engineer mean wage by state

Annual mean wage varies significantly across states with Washington topping the list ($129,940) and Puerto Rico coming last ($55,480).

annual mean wage

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Location quotient of software developers, applications by state

Washington, New Jersey and Colorado are the top three states with the highest concentration of jobs and highest location quotients (2.83, 1.88 and 1.79 respectively). Puerto Rico comes last with a 0.09 location quotient.

location quotient software developers

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Coding as a hobby

programming as a hobby

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

How often developers change their job

While 32.3% of developers changed jobs less than a year ago, 20.8%  accepted a new position between 1 and 2 years ago.

time at current job developers

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2017

What developers look for in a new job opportunity

Salary (62.68%), work-life balance (50.41%) and company culture (41.78%) are the top three aspects of a new job opportunity considered by software engineers.

aspects of a new job opportunity

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

What annoys developers in recruitment process

They also point out writing and updating CVs (15.11%), and writing cover letters (14.46%) as annoying.

job search annoying aspectsSource: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

Ways to improve the recruitment process

From the perspective of the developers, top three ways to improve the recruitment process are as follows: introducing the candidate to the team (44.80%), showing more live code to the recruited developer (38.93%), presenting more space in which the person would potentially work (34.60%).

improving the recruitment process in it

Source: Stack Overflow Global Developer Hiring Landscape 2016

Conclusion

According to projections cited in the post, software development is expected to grow faster than other sectors in years to come, also outside of the United States (keep an eye on India!). Although the population of developers is growing, it grows from the bottom which means recruiting for senior positions is going to stay as difficult as it currently is.

Looking at the data, it’s also possible to see that as a professional group, software engineers are highly motivated – many of them are self-taught, continue to educate themselves, and code after working hours. Even though most developers are passive candidates, majority of them are not in a job they love. This gives tech recruiters hope, but remember – you need to make sure your recruitment process is impeccable and be the opposite of the stereotypical tech recruiters developers typically complain of. Keep learning!

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