The last two decades have witnessed an exponential growth in the information technology and communications industry. At the core of this growth has been an army of web developers, code writers, and engineers, who toiled hard to usher in the digital revolution. With the rules and paradigm of the digital world continually evolving, it is critical to look at the skills and comprehend the habits of this massive workforce. The ‘2018 Developers Skill Report’ by HackerRank does just that and provides interesting and insightful information on developers around the world. The report surveyed a total of 39,441 professional and student developers between October and November 2017. In this article, we take a look at some of the Indian-specific findings:
- 77% of Indian hiring managers rely on resumes to evaluate developers in the initial stage of the hiring process, but many (55%) agree that actually measuring the skill is the toughest part of the process.
- Other challenges include time-consuming interviews (48%), talent shortage (36%) and lack of diversity in candidates (31%).
- Half the developers are of the view that resumes do not reflect their abilities.
- 33% of the developers in India are exclusively self-taught. 76% have a computer science degree, and almost 37% say that they are ‘partially’ self-taught.
- Nearly 60% of the developers in India learned how to code between the ages of 16 and 20 years.
- A whopping 97% of the developers in India have a college degree, or plan to obtain the same; the results also indicate that they are constantly learning, even after graduating.
- A majority of the developers know C, Java, and C++, and 43% of the respondents named Python as the next language they wish to learn.
- Python also happens to be the most popular language globally and is also the most loved by Indian developers. Node.js is the most loved framework. However, the preference of language and framework has a clear generational divide.
- Internet beat books as a source for learning and 86% of the developers report that Stack Overflow is the place they head to for learning a new skill or tool. YouTube came second with 77%.
- Surprisingly, developers look at perks and stock options as one of the least important priorities while joining a new organization. Growth and learning opportunities (65%) comes at the top position, followed by a good work-life balance (58%). Interesting problems to solve (48%) and smart people/teams (44%) come next.
Globally, the report underlines interesting trends in the interests, patterns, and knowledge of developers. In tune with the general developments of the new age workplace, developers value work-life balance and flexibility in their work more than anything else. Furthermore, the results of the report also show that personal projects and portfolios are a lot more valuable than resumes during interviews. The results must be reviewed and understood by employers, leaders and hiring managers, especially in the domain of technology. The report serves as an informative and data-rich guide to the likes, dislikes, interests, and priorities of the developer of today, and, in turn, becomes an invaluable and timely resource for anyone in the field of technology, hiring, skilling, and entrepreneurship.
Vivek Ravisankar, co-founder, and CEO of HackeRank sums up the essence of the report in a quote, “2018 will mark the end of the resume for developers. As more and more companies across all industries are hiring software engineers, it's more important than ever to truly take the time to understand who developers are, what they’re interested in, what drives them, and what they look for in a job. Without this, hiring managers will always struggle to find the best technical people. With this report, we’re helping companies become more developer-focused, Very few companies are doing tech hiring well because there's a gap in developer knowledge.”
You can access the complete report here.
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