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Stack Overflow Survey Finds 74% of Developers are 'Actively' Looking or 'Open to' a New Job (zdnet.com) 54

Stack Overflow has the announced the results of its annual survey of developers. ZDNet reports: Almost three-quarters (74%) of developers are actively looking for new roles or are open to fresh opportunities, according to research.... The highest percentage of active job seekers is in the 20-24 year-old cohort (27%), with 21% for 25-34 year-olds, 17% for 35-44 year-olds, and only 12% for 45-54 year-olds.

Additionally, the percentage of younger developers actively searching for their next role increased nine points year over year, according to the survey of 2,600 developers by StackOverflow....

Some 54% of respondents to the StackOverflow survey said a better salary is the largest motivator when considering a new opportunity. The biggest factors that stop developers from looking for new jobs are flexibility (58%), salary (54%), and learning opportunities (54%). Developers also want flexibility and the option to work from home, with 46% citing starting/ending the day at a precise time or being expected to work from an office (44%) as the top drawbacks in their current roles.

"Regardless of the economy, it's clear salary is important but it's not everything," says StackOverflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar.

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Stack Overflow Survey Finds 74% of Developers are 'Actively' Looking or 'Open to' a New Job

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  • I bet there is a point to be made about who responds to surveys on stackoverflow. How many answers came far ChatGPT ;-)
    • More than likely it is completed by workers who earn a large salary and have been targeted by MBAs looking to cut cost and taking the easy way out by targeting highly paid software developers and opening the door to contract labor

      It has created an environment of employees with very little loyalty to the company and the ability to go out and find more money elsewhere

      imo, it is the worn out bag of tricks that MBAs draw from and, in the long run they gut the companies of talent

  • D'juh! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Latent Heat ( 558884 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @03:53PM (#63140748)

    That 74% of developers responding to a survey on Stack Overflow are looking for a job.

    Stack Overflow -- is that surprising?

    • Given how toxic stack overflow is, I'm not surprised they're unhireable.
    • Re:D'juh! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @04:21PM (#63140820) Homepage Journal
      None of this is surprising to me.

      I mean, as a youngster just hitting the workforce...the ONLY way you get meaningful salary increases IS to job hop a few times.

      After that, if you are actually good....and did you due diligence of networking with people over the years...get out of W2 work and go 1099 contracting. Incorporate yourself so you can do true corp-to-corp 1099 work and be your own boss and make a good bill rate.

      But even if you stay W2...you job hop till your get up near max salary and well, by then you find jobs you like, etc...and as you get older, you tend to stop hopping.

      What about this doesn't make sense?

      • The ONLY times I actually got a raise was when I switched jobs.

        If you keep a job longer than 3 years, you only have yourself to blame.

        • by jbengt ( 874751 )

          The ONLY times I actually got a raise was when I switched jobs.

          I've gotten a pay raise almost every year without switching jobs. Granted, in times of high inflation it was occasionally less than the inflation rate, but at other times it was significantly more than inflation. One of the two times I switched jobs, I took a pay cut along with a cut in hours.

          If you keep a job longer than 3 years, you only have yourself to blame.

          Not counting the first 6 years or so of your career, if you switch jobs every th

          • I guess that depends on the job and on the industry in general. Of course, if you're seen as a job-hopper who changes positions every 3 months, there's a very low chance I'd be interested in hiring you. By the time you get useful, you're gone. So why bother?

            On the other hand, someone working for 5+ years in the same job tells me that he's lazy enough that he doesn't care what he does and is also de facto a no-go candidate because I have no use for lazy people who don't want to stretch.

    • by ranton ( 36917 )

      The headline is horrible. It should say "Stack Overflow Survey Finds 26% of Developers are too set in their ways and/or lazy to consider a new job." You should almost always be willing to consider a new job. I'm in a great job right now, and just got two past coworkers to join my current company in my department within the last six months, but I'm still open to a new position. It would be very hard to "poach" me, but it's possible. It would include paying me considerably above my market rate and having the

    • I fill out the Stack Overflow survey every year, no matter if I'm looking for a job or not... why would it help you find a job to fill out the Stack Overflow survey?

    • Almost three-quarters (74%) of developers are actively looking for new roles or are open to fresh opportunities

      There's a huge difference between actively looking for a new job and "open" to new opportunities. I love my current job and am not looking at all for a new job. However, if someone is willing to increase my current salary by 10x, I'm "open" to that new job.

      Younger developers are more likely to be actively looking for their next role. We see the highest percentage of active job seekers with the 20-24 year-old cohort (27%), 21% for 25-34 year olds, 17% for 35-44 year olds, and only 12% for 45-54 year olds.

      Ahh, as expected, the number of workers actively looking for new jobs is a small fraction of the 74% in the clickbait. And that's without considering how the 2600+ survey respondents were chosen, which might bias the results.

  • One thing I have always loved about what I do is handing off, and moving on to something new.
  • It might as well say "People with jobs are open to taking better jobs".

    • It might as well say "People with jobs are open to taking better jobs".

      It's probably true of most of the population. Everyone is either fed up, burned out, or realizing that jumping jobs == more money and respect.

      Same reason a ton of people took early retirement.

      The company dream was :

      1. lay off all the workers;
      2. replace them with machines and independent contractors;
      3. PROFIT.

      Problem is, if you're an independent contractor, there's nothing tying you to any particular business, so might as well be truly independent and look at who gives the best right now, for fr

  • Offer me something and I'll at least look at it?

    Considering that they're basically pampering security staff right now you better come along with something that at least has me carried in by 4 managers in a sedan and some C-Level to serve as my footrest during the interview, but I'm listening...

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @04:16PM (#63140800)

    Would it somehow surprise anyone to learn that the vast majority of people *might* be "open to" a new job? Even if someone is not looking - if something amazing fell in their lap, they'd be a fool not to at least consider it.

    "Actively looking" and "open to" are worlds apart.

    • Yup, there are two kinds of people:
      1. Those considering a new job.
      2. Fools

      You never know what opportunities might be out there.
  • companies promote by hiring from outside the company and give 2% raises during 7% inflation. Gee, I wonder why? They must have disloyalty in their hearts!
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They know that people hate changing jobs, and figure that the long run benefit of paying below inflation wage increases is greater than the damage done by people leaving.

      Inflation is 13% in the UK, so the calculation is even less favourable here.

  • I have a friend running a tech company in Henderson, Nevada. He is having a hard time holding on to his best people. He pays them upwards of $150K-200K, and AWS and game companies headhunt them and recruit them with $400K salaries plus a $50K signing bonus.

    No way to compete with that. A giga-scale company can afford that but almost nobody else can.

    But you don't get offers like that if you are in the market and not currently employed. They simply won't bother with you no matter what your resume lo

    • by ranton ( 36917 )

      game companies headhunt them and recruit them with $400K salaries plus a $50K signing bonus.

      I didn't know game companies paid that well.

      But this is something any companies needs to deal with by having a decent enough bench of employees. The company I currently work with has very low turnover in my department (3 out of 45 this year), but 2/3 of them went to $100+ billion market cap tech companies. If you are good at hiring then that will eventually happen, and if you're lucky you can hire them back in 5 years at some Sr Director position. Large consultancies and large tech companies function as ver

    • When the recession hits next year your friend won't have a problem. I remember 2009 like it was yesterday when developers fought tooth and nail for $25/hr coding jobs or 55k a year with no benefits!

      Shoot I remember a colleague putting an add for a Cisco CCNA certified network engineer for $10/hr and he had over 80 applicants and 7 we're qualified desperate for any job.

      I bet today he could hire a laid off Facebook, Twitter, or Intel engineer who is going thru eviction and about to get his car repod for under

    • Is it in the gaming industry? Cause I've heard stories about what it's like to tech work in such a highly regulated environment and it sounds soul-sucking.

      If that's the case, maybe going for the best, most creative people is counter-productive.

  • If you are interested in the developer market, this Fireship video about tech interviews [youtube.com] is recommended viewing.

    If nothing else, a few minutes of entertainment.

    • Having gone through some interview rounds successful recently, I can verify for the full and complete accuracy of that video... including the very end.

      The tips are actually pretty good, especially talking as you code. Luckily I had done a lot of coding presentations in the past so I was used to that, it helped quite a bit...

      Also I never did run into FizzBuzz in any real interviews. Though I did run into many other problems straight outta LeetCode. Recommend NeetCode.io [neetcode.io] which boils down LeetCode questions

  • by GruntboyX ( 753706 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @04:39PM (#63140862)
    I stayed with the same company since undergrad. As people âoehoppedâ I moved up. Now I had to work hard and make myself valuable but I was never motivated to leave because I was still learning. Advantage of not job hopping is that I didnâ(TM)t accrue cost of living penalties by turning my house over to move around. Now I am debt free⦠own my house and have crazy seniority. I know I can get more money elsewhere but I really donâ(TM)t need it. My needs are met. Now I want time which is what seniority can give me so I can spend it with my family. Job hopping doesnâ(TM)t give me that. Oh and if the economy goes down the tube I am the last that will be let go. Hop if you want but if you can find a solid company. There is value in staying and news flash fortune 500 is not the only location for a good company Maybe I did it wrong â¦
    • by Teckla ( 630646 )

      Oh and if the economy goes down the tube I am the last that will be let go.

      Oh you sweet summer child.

  • to that position that pay $10m a year. Why wouldn't I.

  • by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @04:54PM (#63140894)

    First job out of school....stayed about 8 months. Left for a more interesting job...more pay was just a bonus.

    Second job out of school....got promoted twice and had a staff when I left about 8 years later.

    Left there to take a job for slightly better pay and not having to manage 11 people.

    Left that job to go independent. That was a disaster. Never should have done that.

    Ended up buying a local retail business. Mistake. Did some bullshit work...eventually got a contract job as a technical writer. Big pay cut from what I used to make. Was there for a year or two.

    Left there to get a better job as a tech writer, plus the business was clearly going down the tubes. Got out before getting laid off.

    Left there to relocate 5000 miles at wife's request. Was unemployed for a month. Got a temp job a process analyst. Paid same as last job. Did that for a year.

    Was unemployed for a month. Got a job with my current company. Paid same as last job. Got promoted twice. Been here...8 years now. Probably be here until I did since I have stage 4 cancer. Not a good time to change jobs.

    I currently have a very easy job. It's not hard. The company is too busy making other mistakes to worry about anything I'm doing. I make $121k/year. I could make more elsewhere, in exchange for working a lot harder. Fuck that. I make enough money. What I really need is more time....sadly, I don't think I'm going to get it.

    • Sounds similar to me, with differences here and there.

      But I'm sorry to hear about your cancer. I hope everyone that cares for you is somewhat provided for after you're gone, and that your last bit of time with us is peaceful.
  • 74% of Slashdotters are actively looking to retire.

    • 74% of Slashdotters are actively looking to retire.

      So the rest of us are retired. Sounds about right.

      • by vyvepe ( 809573 )
        You are doing well if you are already retired with such a high ID :-)
        • Had a 5-digit one, lost almost all my sight and couldn't use a computer for a decade, which is why, when big screen UHD smart TV technology finally caught up to what I needed, I built a prototype proof of concept, which I completed in July. I've been continuously evolving it into the current 4 x 50" 4k beast with 3 keyboards (up to 3 users can work simultaneously off one box in a pinch, though it's optimized for 2).

          So obviously, no way of recovering any old accounts a decade and 4 phones (and 2 sim shrin

  • A recruit reached out to me last week asking if I'd be interested in joining some widget company, I said sure.

    We talked for a bit then they asked what I was interested in, ballpark wise, I said 450K.

    A short silence on the other end, and they said they'll get back to me.

    I wonder if they can actually afford to hire?

  • by khchung ( 462899 ) on Sunday December 18, 2022 @08:49PM (#63141384) Journal

    Are you telling me that 26% of developers will NOT, under any circumstances, even consider moving to another job? Even if it pays more and have a fantastic company culture and the project is very interesting? How else would one answer not even "open to" a new job?

    26%?! Really? Are these people married to their job? Or are they so traumatized that they are afraid to go anywhere else?

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I had to eat Sheryl Sandberg's pussy every day for year to get this cushy job and there is no way I'm leaving.

    • If you haven't noticed a doubling cost of homes plus a double interest rates means many people are upside down and will need to sell their home at a loss. Even ghetto homes that cost $900 a month in 2019 now cost $1900 a month due to higher interest rates and sellers who are stubborn

      • by jabuzz ( 182671 )

        Because every new job opportunity requires you to sell up and relocate. Oh wait they don't so what was your point?

    • If you like your job, leaving introduces a level of risk that the new job sucks. So, money only works so well. If you're making $150k and like what you do, it's gonna be hard to even get your attention.

  • That's a ridiculous question; almost anybody would be "open" to a new job.

    I'm near the end of my tech career, in a low-stress 32h/week fully-remote job. But let's say someone offered me a low-stress 8h/week fully-remote job for the same pay... of course I'd take it. :)

    Realistically, that won't happen. But it's an illustration of how meaningless the question is.

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