4 Work
Developers tell us about workplace trends and offer some transparency about salary for different roles and experience levels.
4.1Employment
Employment status
It's difficult to say whether one is connected to the other, but developers who fill out the Developer Survey are 70% likely to be employed. The employment rate has remained a consistent result in Stack Overflow surveys in recent years.This year we show you geographic differences among the top 5 responding countries: Germany (76%) and the UK (75%) show the highest rates of formal employment. India has a significantly larger student population (18%) among its respondents compared to the US (6%), Germany (11%), and the UK (5%).
Employment additional status
Developers self-employed or not working currently engage in the same amount of volunteer work. Both groups indicate 12% do volunteer work in addition to their employment status.
Work environment
Of the top-reporting countries in this year's survey, the US has the highest number of developers working remotely (45%). 21% of developers in Germany say the choice to go into the office or work remotely is completely up to them.
IC or PM
There are a few more managers in this year's results: 15% indicate being a people manager this year compared to 13% last year, most likely reflecting the growing number of more experienced respondents in this year's survey.
4.2Company info
Company size
Of respondents who identicated they were currently employed, 57% said they work for companies with fewer than 500 employees.
4.3Salary
Salary by developer type
Senior Executives ($139k), Engineering Managers ($130k), and Financial Analysts ($104k) have the highest median annual salaries globally.
The salary gap between the US and other countries is wide for higher paid roles. The median salary for an Engineering Manager in the US is $200,000, compared to $118,000 in Germany and just $52,000 in India.
Salary and experience by developer type
Despite having similar levels of experience (20 years, on average), Senior Executives and Engineering Managers report higher median salaries ($130k+) than Founders, Architects, or Product Managers ($92K - 104K).
4.4Technology purchases
Influence on technology purchases
Nearly half (48%) of developers either endorsed the use of, or influenced the purchase of, new technology in their organizations last year. Twenty percent of those respondents said they influenced the purchase of a substantial addition to their company’s tech stack.
What makes you a fan of specific tech tools
This focus on fundamentals is consistent. For work projects, developers prioritize APIs (Rank 1) and quality (Rank 2). For personal projects, cost management (Rank 4) becomes more important. Notably, AI integration ranks second to last (Rank 9) in importance for both work and personal projects.
The 2024 survey also highlighted the importance of APIs, noting that 75% of developers were more likely to endorse a technology if it provided good API access.
| Endorsement | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy-to-use API | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Robust and complete API | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Reputation for quality | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Reliability and low latency | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Costs are manageable | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Connected to an open-source project | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Customizable and manageable codebase | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Good brand and public image | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| AI integration or AI Agent capabilities | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Endorsement | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy-to-use API | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Robust and complete API | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Reputation for quality | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Costs are manageable | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Connected to an open-source project | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Reliability and low latency | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Customizable and manageable codebase | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Good brand and public image | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| AI integration or AI Agent capabilities | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Endorsement | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robust and complete API | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Reputation for quality | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Easy-to-use API | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Reliability and low latency | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Costs are manageable | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Connected to an open-source project | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| Customizable and manageable codebase | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Good brand and public image | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| AI integration or AI Agent capabilities | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Endorsement | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reputation for quality | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Easy-to-use API | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Robust and complete API | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Reliability and low latency | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Connected to an open-source project | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Costs are manageable | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Customizable and manageable codebase | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Good brand and public image | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| AI integration or AI Agent capabilities | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
How you lose interest in tech tools
The reasons to reject a technology are nearly universal. The top three deal-breakers for all developers are security or privacy concerns (Rank 1), prohibitive pricing (Rank 2), and the availability of better alternatives (Rank 3). The lack of AI is the least important factor (Rank 9).
| Detraction | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security or privacy concerns | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Prohibitive pricing | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Availability of better alternatives | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Poor usability | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Inefficient or time-costly | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Outdated or obsolete technology or features | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Ethical concerns | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of or sub-par API | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of AI or AI agents | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Detraction | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prohibitive pricing | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Security or privacy concerns | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Availability of better alternatives | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Poor usability | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Inefficient or time-costly | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Outdated or obsolete technology or features | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Ethical concerns | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of or sub-par API | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of AI or AI agents | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Detraction | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security or privacy concerns | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Prohibitive pricing | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Availability of better alternatives | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Poor usability | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Inefficient or time-costly | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Outdated or obsolete technology or features | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Ethical concerns | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of or sub-par API | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of AI or AI agents | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Detraction | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prohibitive pricing | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Security or privacy concerns | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Availability of better alternatives | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Poor usability | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Inefficient or time-costly | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Outdated or obsolete technology or features | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Ethical concerns | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of or sub-par API | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Lack of AI or AI agents | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Other | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Count of tools used to work
Developers have many tools at work, but we asked them to quantify them this year: 54% of respondents report using 6 or more tools to do their job.
Excluding general operating systems (like Windows or macOS) and web browsers,how many distinct software applications or platforms did you regularly use to create, analyze, manage, or share information in order to do your job?Please enter a whole number below with no punctuation, or leave blank.
Count of tools used to code outside of work
For projects outside of work, developers typically are using 5 or less tools (65%).
Excluding general operating systems and web browsers, how manydistinct software applications or platforms did you regularly use to do your job? Please enter a whole number below with no punctuation, or leave blank.
4.5Job Satisfaction
Looking for a new role
46% of developers are not looking for a new role.
Job satisfaction
More developers are happy at work this year (24% vs. 20% last year). This is likely related to that pay bump in the data for certain roles this year.
Ranked attributes contributing to or detracting from job satisfaction
The most important factors for job satisfaction are autonomy/trust, competitive pay and solving real-world problems (all ranked in the top 3). Interpersonal factors such as liking your manager rank much lower (Rank 9).
| Satisfaction Factors | Overall Rank | Median Rank | Mode Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomy and trust to manage your own tasks | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Competitive pay and benefits | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Solving real-world problems | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Innovation through solving challenging and complex problems | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| Control over the level of quality in projects | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Job stability and career growth with a single employer | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| Collaboration and support from a team | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Working with new technologies and tools | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| You like your manager | 9 | 8 | 14 |
| Developing specialized expertise | 10 | 8 | 11 |
| Recognition from peers for your work | 11 | 9 | 13 |
| Recognition from leadership for your work | 12 | 9 | 11 |
| Expert mentors | 13 | 10 | 14 |
| Opportunities to mentor and lead junior-level coworkers | 14 | 10 | 14 |
| Other | 15 | 15 | 15 |
Is AI a threat to your job?
Confidence is slipping among developers when it comes to the perceived threat of AI to their livelihood. 64% believe AI is not a threat to their job, a decrease from 68% last year.
