DigitalOcean Report Finds Developers Quitting Over Compensation, Remote Work Policies

DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. announced the findings of as report, which shows that developer talent shortage has potential to worsen.

Over a quarter of developers who have been in the workforce for over a year started a new job in the past year, and 42% of those who didn’t are considering or may consider leaving their jobs this year. It’s clear that businesses of all sizes need to rethink their approach to attracting and retaining highly-skilled developer talent. The report also identified compensation and desire for fully remote or more flexible work environments as the top reasons developers are thinking about quitting, or already have.

“Attracting and retaining developer talent is evolving rapidly and companies need to adapt to the new landscape,” said Gabe Monroy, chief product officer. “Businesses need to better understand developers and give them the tools, benefits, and pay they need to be successful – business survival in the digital era depends on it.“

Key findings of the report include:

Job satisfaction among developers may be low, but entrepreneurship is high. 8% of developers who have both left their job and who are looking to leave are doing so to start their own companies.
In a challenging job market, developers are turning to the open source community. When asked what they have gained from contributing to open source, developers reported enhanced skills (35%), networking (19%) and job opportunities (11%).
Developers want to contribute to open source while on the clock. 64% of companies use open source code for more than half of their software. However, most businesses don’t give their developers time or compensation to contribute to open source projects. 79% of developers want to be able to contribute to open source during the workday, and a majority believe that they should be paid for those contributions.
Developers are not buying into Web3/blockchain hype: Despite the buzz around blockchain and Web3 technologies, 67% of developers do not use blockchain/Web3 yet. They also have mixed opinions about low-code – developers with fewer years of experience are more likely to see the value of low-code, while those with more experience believe low-code is overhyped.

Methodology
The survey was conducted through an online survey link from April 19, 2022 to May 19, 2022, and garnered 2,598 completed responses. The link was distributed to various sample sources, including DigitalOcean email lists and open source groups. Respondents all identified as having technical roles, including front end, back end, and full stack developers, system administrators, DevOps specialists, and more. Those without technical roles were screened out of the survey.

Respondents represent 94 countries, with 43% coming from the US, 15% from India, 6% from Germany, 3% from Canada, 3% from the UK, and the remaining 30% spread between other countries. The gender breakdown was 87% male, 8% female, 1% non-binary, and 4% who preferred not to say or preferred to self-describe. Respondents represent a range of ages, with 32% of respondents being 25-34, 25% ages 35-44, 21% under 24, and 22% 45 or older.

Read or download the full report (registration required).