State of Software Development2018

Published by

3 Introduction

4 Cool Partners

5 Managing Software Development

11 Tools

15 Hiring Talents

20 SoftwareOutsourcing

23 Performance Measurement

Welcome to the State of Software Development 2018 report!

We’re excited to show you the current state of software development.

This year, we took this report to the next level. The number of participants more than doubled and we closely collaborated with 9 awesome partners to promote the survey.

This year’s report will give you the data you need to benchmark your activities against other 300+ survey participants, get some insights to further improve your developer team and keep up with the rapidly changing industry.

Software development is a fast-changing field. A tool or framework used today might be obsolete tomorrow. Our intention is to track the evolution of the industry, take a snapshot of its current state, and make educated predic-tions about where it's heading.

The first part of the report uncovers the biggest challenges software teams are facing and also some tips on how they try to overcome these challenges.

This section also shows the most popular and trending programming languages, agile methods and the current state of remote work.

Hiring is among the biggest challenges tech companies are facing. This part of the report shows the most effective ways software teams hire and retain talents. You will also see the difference between high and average performing teams.

The last chapter focuses on performance management, showing how soft-ware teams measure performance and ensure code quality. You will see the causes of delivery problems from a developer and manager point of view.

I hope you will enjoy scrolling through the report and get some interesting insights you can apply right away.

Thank you,Tamas TorokHead of Online Marketing, Coding Sans

Feel free to share the statistics by clicking on the logo.

INTRODUCTION

https://ctt.ec/FoT0k

COOLPARTNERSPublishing this report wouldn’t have been possible without the close collaboration with these cool companies. If you want to take your software project to the next level, make sure to check them out.

https://apiumhub.com

https://clutch.co/https://instabug.com

https://www.gitkraken.comhttps://usersnap.comhttps://www.stridenyc.com/

https://codeship.comhttps://codegiant.io/

https://www.shippable.com

MANAGINGSOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTThe biggest challenge tech companies are facing is related to capacity: delivering working software while the backlog is full and capacity is limited. This challenge is closely followed by hiring. We can confidently say that attracting and retaining talent is a huge problem in software development.

In this section you'll see the biggest challenges respond-ents identified, and the differences in the types of chal-lenges developers and managers face. Is there any signifi-cant difference? See the answers below.

Capacity Hiringtalent

Sharingknowledge

Timemgmt.

Employeeretention

Selectingtechnology

Other

26.16%

23.84%

14.57%13.91%

13.25%

3.31% 3.31%

1.66%

Prioritizingdev.

https://ctt.ec/nc203What is your biggest challenge in software development?

What have you done to overcome these challenges?

CAPACITY

The most popular way to overcome this chal-lenge is to optimise team’s workflows and perform the work more effectively. After that comes relentless prioritization and increasing the number of people working on the project. Also, applying agile methods is a common way to tackle capacity challenges.

HIRING

So what do software teams do to overcome the hiring challenge? The most popular way to do it is by hiring in-house recruiters, external headhunters or agencies to get in touch with potential candidates. Another method tech companies use is to run an internship program where they can capture talent early. This method takes time until your interns become juniors and seniors, but this works exceptionally well since interns learn super fast and usually convince their friends to join the team as well. Excited? Keep scrolling and make sure to check out the hiring part of this report.

https://ctt.ec/ERcbS

https://ctt.ec/ERcbS Seeing an aggregated picture of the challenges is a cool thing, but once we started to dig deeper into the data we got really excited. We decided to group our survey partici-pants into two groups: developers and managers (managing developer teams).

Is there any notable difference? Yes, there is!

After filtering the data it was clear that the challenges devel-opers and managers are facing are different. The biggest challenge for developers are dealing with limited capacity and time management and also sharing knowledge between the team members.

But the picture is a bit different when we take a look at managers. Their biggest challenge is hiring developers and also dealing with capacity issues.

33.55%

28.29%

14.47%

11.84%

7.24%

3.29%1.32%

11.90%

24.60%

15.87%

18.25%

21.43%

2.38%

5.56%

Hiring talent Capacity Prioritizingdevelopment

Sharingknowledge

Timemanagement

Employeeretention

Selectingtechnology

What is your biggest challenge in software development?

Manager

Developer

https://ctt.ec/s86jb

Scrum

Kanban

We don’t use agile methodology

Lean software development

Agile modeling

Extreme programming (XP)

Scrumban

Feature-driven development (FDD)

Rapid application development

Disciplined agile delivery

Adaptive software development (ASD)

Agile Unified Process (AUP)

Dynamic systems development method (DSDM)

58.09%

38.94%

15.18%

14.19%

13.86%

11.55%

11.55%

8.58%

8.25%

3.30%

2.31%

2.31%

0.66%

Crystal Clear methods 0.33%

Do you use any of these agile soft-ware development methodologies?*

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/_sy80

https://ctt.ec/QcbYO

What are your company’s primary programming languages?*

What new programming languages are you considering to use in the next 12 months?*

JavaScript

Java

Python

C#

PHP

TypeScript

Ruby

C++

Swift

Other

Go

C

Objective C

Scala

Kotlin

Perl

60.73%

30.03%

25.41%

24.42%

20.46%

11.22%

9.57%

9.24%

8.91%

7.59%

5.94%

4.95%

3.96%

3.30%

2.97%

0.33% Not considering any new languages

Python

Go

JavaScript

TypeScript

Kotlin

Other

Java

Swift

C#

Scala

PHP

C++

Ruby

Objective C

C

36.63%

18.15%

16.83%

16.17%

14.85%

9.24%

7.92%

7.26%

6.93%

4.95%

4.95%

3.96%

3.30%

3.30%

1.65%

1.32%

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/D6fPv

74.92%Yes

Yes

No

I don’t know

7.89%

51.32%

25.08%

40.79%

NoIs remote work allowed

at your company?

Are you planning to allow remote work in the next 12

months?https://ctt.ec/D6fPv

This section shows the most popular tools devel-oper teams use for testing, project management, version control and communication. The data clearly shows that teams use a wide variety of tools, especially when it comes to testing and project management.

TOOLS

Do you use any tools for software testing?

What are the factors that are limiting you from using one?

What tool(s) do you use for testing?Yes

No

69.97%

30.03%Budge

t / co

sts

We don

’t nee

d it ye

t

I’m not

sure

how to

use it

Time t

o res

earch

Time t

o use

Other

18.68%17.58%

10.99%

19.78%

6.59%

Selenium

Jenkins

Mocha

Jest

JUnit

Cucumber

Phpunit

Nunit

Browserstack

Pytest

CircleCI

Jmeter

Karma

Jasmine

12.54%

6.27%

5.94%

5.94%

5.61%

4.95%

4.95%

2.97%

2.97%

2.97%

2.64%

2.64%

2.31%

2.31%

26.37%

Other 42.90%

https://ctt.ec/LH3Vs

https://ctt.ec/LH3Vs

https://ctt.ec/LH3Vs

Jira

Other

GitHub

Trello

Asana

Not using any tool

TFS

Pivotal Tracker

Redmine

VSTS

BitBucket

44.88%

16.17%

12.21%

9.24%

3.63%

2.64%

2.64%

2.31%

1.98%

1.32%

1.32%

Git SVN TFS SCM Not using any

Other

7.92% 3.96% 1.32% 0.66%2.64%

Default i

nterfac

e

GitKrak

en

Source

Tree

GitHub D

eskto

pTo

wer

Torto

iseGit

Smart

GitGitU

pGitla

b

BitBuck

etOth

er

31.68%

27.72%

23.43%

14.52% 14.19%

4.62% 4.29% 3.96% 2.97%1.65% 1.65%

What tool do you use for project management?*

What version control system do you use?*

What SCM tool(s) do you use?*

94.72%

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/4D1k5 https://ctt.ec/R3w02

https://ctt.ec/ee7em

Slack Email Jira Skype Go to meeting

GoogleHangouts Other Trello Hipchat Zoom Telegram Discord Webex

64.03%

54.46%

34.98%

26.40%

18.48%15.18% 14.52% 13.86%

5.94%

1.98% 1.65% 1.32% 1.32% 0.99%

Matter-most

What tools do you use to communicate during a project?*

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/baRe2

In general, hiring is the second biggest challenge among software teams, and the first for managers. This chapter sheds some light on the hiring practices of tech companies, including hiring methods, criteria, and attracting and motivating talent. But instead of just looking at the whole picture, we filtered the data, showing the difference between the top and average performing teams. What an exciting thing!

HIRING TALENTS

Employ

ee

referr

als

In-hou

se

recru

iter(s

)

Profes

sional

connec

tions

No spec

ific w

ay

Haven

’t hire

d talen

t for

softw

are dev

elopm

ent

Recru

itmen

t age

ncy or

headhunter

Linke

din

Online

HR portal

sOth

er

Internsh

ip/ Cam

pus

Recru

itmen

t

25.08%

16.83%

12.87%11.88%

10.89%9.57%

6.93%

2.97%1.98%

0.99%

What’s your most e�cient method to hire talent for software development? https://ctt.ec/g6pui

Willingness to learn 44.55%

Cultural fit 39.60%

Work experience 37.62%

Technical skill evaluation (tests) 37.62%

Test project or task 17.16%

Side projects (apps, libraries, frameworks etc.) 12.21%

Soft skills 7.26%

College Degree 5.28%

Certifications (i.e. AWS) 1.98%

Other 2.64%

What are your most important hiring criteria?*

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/KUnG4

Interesting/challenging taskTeam (team spirit, culture)

Company’s potential

Growth opportunity (professional)Flexible working hours

Remote workSalary (higher than their previous)Self-management/independence

Stock optionDon't know

None

Stability

44.88%44.88%

28.38%26.73%

25.74%22.77%

20.46%18.81%

4.29%0.99%

0.66%0.33%

Challenging/engaging work

Team (team spirit, culture)

Autonomy

Exciting product

Variety of tasks

Money

Extra benefits

Trainings

Carrier path

Stock options

None

Conferences

60.40%

59.41%

35.64%

31.35%

28.38%

18.15%

16.50%

13.86%

13.53%

7.59%

0.66%

0.33%

How do you attract new software developers?*

How do you keep software developers motivated?*

*Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/2XdeA

https://ctt.ec/2XdeA

Challen

ging/e

ngagin

g wor

k

Team

(team

spirit

, cultu

re)

Autonom

y

Excitin

g pro

duct

Varie

ty of

tasks

Money

Extra b

enefi

ts

Trainings

Carrier

path

Stoc

k optio

nsNon

e

Confer

ence

s

68.38%

60.29%

34.56%

36.03%

28.75%

23.13%

35.29%

16.91% 18.75

%

13.75%

11.88%

19.12%

16.18%

13.24%13.75

%

6.88%8.09%

1.47%

0.00%0.00%

0.74%

How do you keep software developers motivated?*

53.75% 59.38%

37.50%

Top performers

Average performers

*Top and average separation is based on a self-evaluating question from page 24. Compared to the whole sample (n=303).

https://ctt.ec/Ijw46

Since dealing with capacity issues is one of the biggest challenges along with hiring talents, outsourcing could be a quick fix. But some horror stories about software outsourcing could keep companies away. What do they think about software outsourcing? Were they satisfied or dissatisfied?

SOFTWARE OUTSOURCING

Have you ever outsourced software development fully or partly?

NO

47.5%

YES

52.5%

Freelancer

Both

18.24%

37.11%

Software development

company

44.65%

Absolutelysatisfied

Somewhatsatisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Somewhatdissatisfied

Absolutelydissatisfied

10.06%

51.57%

16.98%11.95%

9.43%

How satisfied were you with the results?

To whom?

https://ctt.ec/10UFd

Yes

No

I don't know

4.86%

81.25%

13.89%

Are you planning to outsource software projects

in the next 12 months?

What are the differences between top and average performing teams? In this section we dig deeper into how software teams measure performance, success of software development managers and what are the number one cause of delivery prob-lems. This part also shows how developer teams ensure code quality.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.33% 0.66% 1.98%3.30%

7.92%

15.18%

26.07%

33.00%

7.59%

3.96%

How effective is software development at your company?*

*Sample is divided into three groups, based on the repondents’ answer on this self-evaluating question.

Top performersAverage performersLow performers

What metrics do you use to measure developer performance?*

What metrics do you use to measure developer performance?

Number of bugs

Test coverage

46.94%

50.00%

23.81%

27.89%

20.07%

22.11%

20.07%

5.44%

3.4%

1.70%

Working software

Completed tasks

Code readability

We don’t use any metrics

Speed of developer

Other

Third-party scoring/grading

Lines of code written

Top performers

Average performers

Working software

Completed tasks

Code readability

We don’t use any metrics

Speed of developer

Number of bugs

Test coverage

Other

Third-party scoring/grading

Lines of code written

29.63%18.24%

28.15% 26.42%

17.61%21.48%

21.48%22.01%

19.26%20.75%

5.93%2.52%

7.4%3.78%

1.48%1.89%

42.22%

47.41% 43.40%

54.09%

*Top and average separation is based on a self-evaluating question from page 24.

https://ctt.ec/Qc0xv https://ctt.ec/Qc0xv

Measuring code quality is di�-cult. There is no metric that could accurately indicate code quality. The most popular method teams use to decide if the code meets the quality standards is by reviewing the code and making sure it’s clear, commented and follows the best practices. Also, using linters can help a lot making the code easy to read and understand.

How do you measure it?

Code Readability

The most popular way soft-ware teams measure devel-opers’ speed is simply meas-uring the time a given task takes to complete. Some measure the number of story points per sprint and also tt100 (time to 100 = the amount of time it takes an engineer to write 100 productive lines of code) is a method to measure the speed of a developer.

Speed of developerHow do you measure it?

22.22% 27.67%

20.00% 22.64%

22.96%19.50%

5.93%6.92%

8.89%4.40%

5.19%5.66%

5.19%5.03%

2.22%3.77%

3.70%3.14%

3.70%1.26%

Working software

On time delivery

Ticket/Feature throughput

360-reviews

Defect rates

Budget management

Other

25.08%

21.45%

21.12%

6.60%

6.60%

5.28%

4.95%

3.30%

3.30%

2.31%

What is the #1 measured criteria for success of software development managers?*

What is the #1 measured criteria for success of software development managers?

Not measured by any concrete criteria

NPS or similar stakeholder satisfaction score

Customer or stake-holder survey results

Working software

On time delivery

Ticket/Feature throughput

360-reviews

Defect rates

Budget management

Other

NPS or similar stakeholder satisfaction score

Customer or stake-holder survey results

Top performers

Average performers

*Top and average separation is based on a self-evaluating question from page 24.

Not measured by any concrete criteria

https://ctt.ec/d02ab https://ctt.ec/d02ab

What is the #1 cause of delivery problems for your team?

14.85%Unrealistic expectations

14.52%Estimation

12.21%Lack of clearly defined deliverables

11.22%Requirements prioritization

9.90%Lack of well-defined success criteria

9.24%Ever changing landscape

6.93%Lack of team experience

3.96%Missing key skills on team

3.63%Lack of management commitment and experience

2.97%Failure to coordinate with outside teams

Lack of budget 2.64%

Team turnover 2.31%

Poor tooling 1.98%

Other 1.32%

Lack of team members 0.99%

0.66%Infrastructure complexity

0.66%Ongoing trouble with outsourced vendors

https://ctt.ec/d02ab

Unrealistic expectations

Lack of clearly defined deliverables

Ever changing landscape

Estimation

Requirements prioritization

Lack of well-defined success criteria

Lack of team experience

Failure to coordinate with outside teams

Missing key skills on team

Lack of budget

Poor tooling

Ongoing troublewith outsourced vendors

Team turnover

Infrastructure complexity

Technical debt

Lack of team members

Other

17.32%

12.60%

12.60%

11.81%

9.45%

7.87%

5.51%

4.72%

4.72%

3.94%

3.15%

2.36%

1.57%

0.79%

0.79%

0.79%

0.00%

0.00%

11.11%

11.76%

7.84%

16.99%

11.76%

11.11%

2.61%

8.50%

1.31%

4.58%

2.61%

1.96%

0.00%

3.92%

0.65%

0.00%

1.31%

1.96%

What is the #1 cause of delivery problems for your team?

What is the #1 cause of delivery problems for your team?

Developers Managers

Lack of managementcommitment and experience

https://ctt.ec/d02ab https://ctt.ec/d02ab

What is the #1 cause of delivery problems for your team?*

Unrealistic expectations

Estimation

Lack of clearly defined deliverables

Requirements prioritization

Lack of well-defined success criteria

Ever changing landscape

Lack of team experience

Missing key skills on team

Lack of management commitment and experience

Failure to coordinate with outside teams

Lack of budget

Team turnover

Poor tooling

Other

Lack of team members

Infrastructure complexity

Ongoing trouble with outsourced vendors

Top performersAverage performers

17.04%

16.30%

11.85%

13.33%

11.11%

10.37%

2.96%

2.96%

4.44%

2.96%

0.74%

0.74%

1.48%

0.00%

0.00%

2.22%

1.48%

13.84%

13.84%

11.95%

9.43%

8.81%

8.18%

10.69%

6.29%

3.77%

1.89%

1.26%

3.14%

1.89%

1.89%

0.63%

1.26%

1.26%

*Top and average separation is based on a self-evaluating question from page 24.

https://ctt.ec/d02ab

Peer review CI and TDD Commentingwithin the code

Documentation Using industrystyle guide

No specific way Other

67.66%

45.21%

20.13% 20.13% 19.47%

12.54%

1.32%

How do you ensure code quality? https://ctt.ec/e2B3J

Peer review CI and TDD Commentingwithin the code

Documentation Using industrystyle guide

No specific way Other

73.53%

63.52%

47.79%

42.77%

22.06% 17.61%

22.06%18.24%

20.59%18.24%

4.41%

16.98%

0.74% 1.89%

How do you ensure code quality?*

Top performers

Average performers*Top and average separation is based on a self-evaluating question from page 24.

https://ctt.ec/e2B3J

This year’s State of Software Development survey had the largest number of respondents, 303 pro-fessionals from 48 countries participated. This chapter provides more info about who they are, what kind of company they work for and where they’re based.

ABOUT THIS SURVEY

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B2B

B2C

Other B2G

64.36%

27.72%

5.61%2.31%

To whom does your company primarily sell?

Europe

North America

Asia & Australia

Central & South America

Middle East, Africa

40.59%

39.93%

7.92%

6.93%

4.62%

Where are you based?

14.52

%

6.93%

4.95%

4.95%

3.96%

2.64%

2.64%

2.31%

2.31%

1.98%

1.98%

1.65%

1.65%

1.32%

1.32%

1.32%

1.32%

0.99

%

0.66

%

0.66

%

0.66

%

0.33

%

0.33

%

38.61

%

Softw

are/Te

chnolo

gy

IT Se

rvice

s/Con

sultin

g

Finan

cial S

ervic

es

Marketi

ng, PR or

Adve

rtisin

g

Arts & Enter

tainm

ent

Media

/ Publis

hing

Health

care

Govern

men

t

Consu

mer

Goods

Manufac

turin

g

Non-p

rofit

Insuran

ce

Utilitie

s

Hospita

lity

Industrial

Goo

ds

Real E

state

Accou

nting S

ervic

es

Human

Res

ource

s

Autom

otive

Trave

l & To

urism

Retail

Telec

omm

unicatio

ns

Educatio

nOth

er

What industry are you in?

Chief Technology O�cer

Developer40.59%

19.47%

Other7.26%

Head of Engineering6.60%

Engineering Director6.60%

Product owner5.61%

VP of Engineering4.29%

CEO2.97%

Chief Information o�cer1.98%

Engineering Team Lead1.32%

Engineering Manager0.99%

Owner or Founder0.99%

Architect0.66%

Agile coach0.66%

What’s your role in your company?

0-5 6-10 11-20 41-100 101+

16.17%

10.89%13.86%

21-40

12.21%

17.16%

29.70%

0-5 6-10 11-20 21-40

32.34%

25.74%

18.15%

11.88%

41-100

8.25%

101+

3.63%

How many full-time employees does your company have?

How big is your software team?

Coding Sans fielded an online survey in cooperation with 10 partner companies from the end of January 2018 until 12th of March 2018. The survey was available in English and consisted of 37 questions. The responses were sourced via email invitations, social media and newsletter promotion with other companies. No personal information was collected within the survey, and a book was offered as a prize for one lucky participant.

BYLINES ANDMETHODOLOGIES

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Coding Sans is a software development agency, build-ing serverless mobile and web applications.

We’re based in Hungary working for companies all around the world.

Let’s connect:

Our Facebook pageYes, TwitterOur Linkedin page

Say hi here: info@codingsans.comTalk with a human: Matt Wohlmuth +36-30-281-5252Questions & Feedback: tamas@codingsans.comSnail mail: 1051 Budapest, Arany János u. 10., HungaryWebsite: www.codingsans.com

NICE TO MEET YOUhttps://www.facebook.com/CodingSans/https://twitter.com/codingsans

https://www.linkedin.com/company/coding-sans/

http://codingsans.com/?utm_source=SOS2018