Stack Overflow Survey 2024: 5 Useful Takeaways

Summary

The 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey reveals insights into coding habits, with 61% of developers using AI tools but distrusting their accuracy. Technical documentation is favored for learning to code, emphasizing its importance for developers. JavaScript remains dominant in web frameworks, with TypeScript gaining popularity. Entry-level roles like front-end and mobile development require less experience, while higher roles demand more expertise. Interestingly, only one in five developers are happy in their jobs, with most seeking improved code quality and learning opportunities.

Takeaways

• 📊 The 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey shows trends such as the popularity of Rust, Python, and JavaScript, and higher salaries in the US.
• 🔍 The speaker offers a free report on the tech market in 2024, covering programming languages, technologies in demand, salaries, and career paths.
• 📚 Learning to code through technical documentation is highlighted as beneficial, with the speaker advocating for developers to become proficient in navigating documentation.
• 🧠 The importance of understanding the basics from official tutorials and then delving into advanced concepts within documentation is emphasized for better programming skills.
• 🤖 61% of developers actively use AI tools, but 90% do not fully trust them, suggesting a need for caution when relying on AI-generated code.
• 🛠 AI tools are recommended for less complex tasks like code conversion or bug detection, rather than for complex problem-solving.
• 🌐 JavaScript remains prevalent across web development, with frameworks like React and Next.js being popular, and TypeScript is advised to learn alongside JavaScript.
• 💼 The survey indicates that roles like front-end developer and data analyst are good entry points for new developers with fewer years of experience.
• 💰 Salaries are influenced by the role and experience, with back-end roles in the US offering high pay, and front-end and mobile development also being well-compensated.
• 😐 Only one in five professional developers report being happy in their current job, with individual contributors expressing less satisfaction than managers.
• 💡 The top reasons for dissatisfaction among developers include the desire to improve code quality and developer environments, and to learn and use new technologies.

Q & A

What are the key findings from the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey discussed in the video?

The video discusses five key findings: 1) People are learning to code via technical documentation. 2) The accuracy of AI tools is still questioned by developers. 3) JavaScript remains prevalent in the developer community. 4) There is a correlation between experience, roles, and salary in the tech industry. 5) Only one in five professional developers are happy in their current job.

Why is learning to code from technical documentation considered beneficial according to the video?

Learning to code from technical documentation is beneficial because it teaches developers to navigate and understand the source material, which is a critical skill when dealing with new technologies or when needing to recall specific details.

What is the general sentiment towards AI tools among developers as per the survey?

61% of developers actively use AI tools, and 14% plan to, but 90% are unable to fully trust the output of these tools, indicating a significant level of distrust.

How does the video suggest using AI tools effectively in coding?

The video suggests using AI tools for less complex or more menial tasks, such as converting JSON to YAML, providing starting templates, or helping locate bugs in code, rather than relying on them for complex tasks or copying and pasting code without understanding.

What is the significance of JavaScript's popularity in the developer community as mentioned in the video?

JavaScript's popularity signifies its widespread use in web development, being the most popular language among professional developers and a top choice for those learning to code. It covers a significant part of the front-end spectrum and is often used in conjunction with frameworks like React and Node.js.

What advice does the video give for learning JavaScript and its ecosystem?

The video advises to get an overview of the JavaScript ecosystem but to find a specific area within it to specialize in, such as becoming an expert in the React ecosystem, due to its vastness and complexity.

What roles are considered good entry points for new developers according to the survey results?

Roles like front-end developer, mobile developer, data analyst, business analyst, and QA are considered good entry points as they require fewer years of coding experience and less material to learn.

How does the video describe the relationship between experience, roles, and salary in the tech industry?

The video describes a clear correlation where roles that require more technology knowledge and hands-on experience, such as developer advocate and site reliability engineer, are associated with more years of experience and higher salaries.

What are the top reasons developers are unhappy in their jobs according to the survey?

The top reasons for unhappiness among developers are the desire to improve the quality of code and developer environments, and the wish to learn and use new technology.

How does the video address the issue of job satisfaction among developers?

The video highlights that only one in five professional developers are happy in their current job and invites viewers to share their thoughts on why there is such a high level of dissatisfaction.

What additional resource is offered by the video for those interested in the tech market in 2024?

The video offers a free report on the tech market in 2024, which includes an analysis of programming languages, technologies in demand, viable career paths, and salary insights.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Emphasis on Learning to Code via Technical Documentation

The video discusses the 2024 Stack Overflow developer survey, highlighting the importance of learning to code through technical documentation. It differentiates between two types of learning methods: one where the teacher presents themselves as the source of truth and another that encourages learners to refer to official documentation. The speaker advocates for the latter, as it builds the ability to navigate documentation, a crucial skill for developers. They also suggest starting with introductory tutorials from official sources to understand the basics and then familiarizing oneself with the structure of the documentation for deeper understanding. The video emphasizes the value of wrestling with code issues directly from the documentation, which leads to a deeper understanding and better programming skills compared to relying on third-party solutions or AI-generated code without full comprehension.

05:00

🤖 AI Tools in Development: Trust and Utility

This paragraph delves into the use of AI tools among developers, noting that while 61% actively use them and 14% plan to, there's a significant distrust in the accuracy of AI outputs, with 90% unable to fully trust them. The video warns new developers against blindly copying AI-generated code due to the potential for misunderstanding and further complications. It suggests that AI is more useful for less complex tasks, such as code conversion or bug locating, rather than for solving intricate programming challenges. The paragraph also touches on the general sentiment that AI does not pose a job threat, providing some reassurance to developers.

🌐 JavaScript's Dominance and TypeScript's Rise

The speaker addresses the prevalence of JavaScript in the development world, noting its popularity among professional developers and its widespread use in web frameworks. JavaScript is also identified as a desired language and a key component in various frameworks. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of learning TypeScript alongside JavaScript, given its adoption in many companies. It also provides a brief on the evolution of the JavaScript ecosystem, from simpler times with vanilla JavaScript to the current complexity with libraries like React, which now offer more than just interactivity, including server components. The advice given is to gain an overview of the JavaScript landscape and then specialize within a specific area, such as becoming proficient in the React ecosystem.

💼 Experience, Roles, and Salary Insights

This section of the video script examines the correlation between experience, job roles, and salary, using data from the survey respondents. It suggests that roles like front-end developer, mobile developer, data analyst, and business analyst are good entry points due to the relatively fewer years of coding experience required. In contrast, roles such as developer advocate and site reliability engineer demand more experience and technical knowledge. The paragraph also discusses the salary differences, noting that in the US, back-end developers earn significantly more, while front-end and mobile developers earn more than full-stack developers. The video script ends with a surprising statistic that only one in five professional developers are happy in their current job, with the top reasons for dissatisfaction being the desire to improve code quality and developer environments.

Keywords

💡Stack Overflow Developer Survey

The Stack Overflow Developer Survey is an annual questionnaire conducted by Stack Overflow, a popular platform for developers to ask and answer programming questions. It gathers data on the developer community, including their preferences for programming languages, tools, and technologies. In the video, the survey results are referenced to discuss trends and insights about the developer landscape in 2024.

💡Technical Documentation

Technical documentation refers to the official manuals, guides, and reference materials provided by the creators of programming languages, frameworks, or software. It is a crucial resource for developers to understand the functionalities and best practices of a technology. The video emphasizes the importance of learning to navigate and utilize technical documentation as a foundational skill for developers, rather than relying solely on third-party tutorials or courses.

💡AI Tools

AI Tools in the context of the video refer to artificial intelligence applications that assist in coding or software development, such as code generation or debugging. The survey results indicate a significant portion of developers are using AI tools, but there is a general distrust in their accuracy and reliability. The video discusses the appropriate use of AI tools and the potential risks of over-reliance on them without a solid understanding of coding fundamentals.

💡JavaScript

JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted programming language commonly used for enhancing web pages with interactive elements. It is highlighted in the video as being pervasive in the developer community, ranking highly in popularity among professional developers and in web frameworks. The video suggests that JavaScript's widespread use and its ecosystem's complexity make it a valuable language for developers to learn and master.

💡TypeScript

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that adds optional static typing to the language. It is mentioned in the video as a recommended addition to JavaScript, as many companies are adopting it for its benefits in large-scale applications. The video advises learning TypeScript to stay current with industry trends and practices.

💡Web Frameworks

Web frameworks are sets of libraries or tools that make the development of web applications easier and more efficient. In the video, several web frameworks are mentioned, including React (number one), jQuery, Next.js, and Express, indicating their popularity and relevance in the current web development landscape.

💡Career Paths

Career paths refer to the possible routes or progressions one can take in their professional life. The video discusses various entry-level roles such as front-end developer, mobile developer, and data analyst, which require less experience and learning. It also touches on more advanced roles like site reliability engineer and full-stack developer, which demand deeper expertise and experience.

💡Salaries

Salaries in the context of the video represent the compensation developers receive for their work. The video provides insights into how different roles and locations can impact developer salaries, noting that back-end developers in the US, for example, are earning significantly more than their counterparts in other regions.

💡Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is the contentment or pleasure derived from one's work. The video reveals a surprising statistic that only one in five professional developers are happy in their current job, prompting a discussion about the reasons behind this dissatisfaction and the factors that contribute to a fulfilling career in software development.

💡Developer Advocate

A Developer Advocate is a professional who acts as a bridge between a company and its developer community. They often have a deep understanding of technology and are skilled at communication. The video mentions this role as one that requires more years of experience and knowledge, indicating its seniority and importance in the tech industry.

💡DevOps

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery of high-quality software. The video places DevOps roles as intermediate in terms of required experience, suggesting that they demand a broad skill set and versatility in various aspects of software production and deployment.

Highlights

2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey results indicate that Rust, Python, and JavaScript remain popular among developers.

Developers in the US make more money on average compared to other regions.

The presenter offers five personal insights from the survey, potentially valuable for viewers.

A study of the tech market in 2024 is available, covering programming languages, technologies in demand, and salary insights.

Learning to code via technical documentation is increasingly common and beneficial for developers.

Navigating documentation is a critical skill for developers, especially when learning new technologies.

The importance of understanding introductory tutorials and documentation for programming languages or frameworks.

Developers should use documentation as a primary resource rather than relying on third-party sites or AI for coding solutions.

AI tools are widely used by 61% of developers, but there is a significant lack of trust in their accuracy.

For complex coding tasks, AI is not yet reliable enough for professional developers.

AI is better suited for less complex or repetitive tasks, such as code conversion or bug detection.

Most developers are not concerned about AI being a threat to their jobs.

JavaScript continues to be the most popular language among professional developers and in web frameworks.

TypeScript is recommended as an addition to JavaScript, with many companies adopting it.

The JavaScript ecosystem is vast and evolving, with new features like server components.

Roles like front-end developer, mobile developer, and data analyst are good entry points for new developers.

Experienced roles such as developer advocate and site reliability engineer require more years of experience and expertise.

Salaries vary greatly depending on the role, with back-end developers in the US earning significantly more.

Only one in five professional developers report being happy in their current job, indicating potential job dissatisfaction.

Improving code quality and learning new technologies are top priorities for both happy and unhappy developers.

Transcripts

the 2024 stack Overflow developer survey

results are out I look through it and

much of it is more or less the same

stuff people love rust python JavaScript

are popular devs make more money in the

US stuff like that and there are a

number of videos out there already

analyzing it all but a few people have

asked me for my thoughts on it so in

this video I want to share five findings

from it that I think are interesting and

we can learn from and before we get

started I do want to mention that we've

put together our own study of the tech

Market in 2024 from how we got here

where we're headed what programming

languages and Technologies are in demand

a look at salaries viable career paths

and what's to come in the next few years

I'm going to put a link below where you

can grab this free report for yourself

so be sure to check that out now let's

get started number one people are

learning to code via technical

documentation this is good now a lot of

developers learn to code on udemy and

other sites like that there's nothing

wrong with this but there really are two

types of courses out there there's one

where the teacher teaches you the coding

language or framework out of thin a as

if you're supposed to remember it all

they give you the definitions and the

examples as if they are the source of

Truth like you need to come back to

their course if you forget something the

other teaches you from the documentation

maybe they don't actually open the

documentation but they are teaching you

from it and pointing you to it the best

courses will teach you the material from

the source so that you can also visit

there when you can't remember content

from the 79 hours you just watched being

a developer who can navigate

documentation overall is a superpower

and I say overall because you'll often

be asked to use new technology of some

sorts and feeling confident to jump into

documentation and make it work from

there is critical however when new

developers look up documentation there's

a tendency to become completely confused

ditch it and just Google the answer from

some third party site or now chat GPT

but forcing yourself to use technical

documentation will pay off in multiples

first many programming languages or

Frameworks have some sort of

introductory tutorial that covers the

basics that walks you through using it

and its most common features and terms

do that first if you're new to it take

time to understand that complete that

first for example let's say you're

learning goang their site has tutorials

Labs guided Journeys that will teach you

Hands-On specific features of that

language from The Source or a framework

like d jeno has a poll application that

teaches you all the basics of Jango to

get your feet wet and the links in that

tutorial will take you straight to the

documentation once to learn Docker same

thing react well react has a Tic-Tac toe

game as a tutorial it also has an entire

set section called learn react that

really helps with the technical ideas of

the library and some of these tutorials

may seem Elementary or even boring but

taking time to understand these Concepts

from the official documentation instead

of from third party blogs is invaluable

and then after you get through the

basics take a few minutes to look at how

the docs are structured so that you can

reference more deeper advanced concepts

as you need them years ago I was

determined to get good at react I

decided to create a note-taking

application using only the documentation

and I got stuck again and again and had

to really wrestle with why my code was

performing the way it was things like

why is use effect being called multiple

times or how can I cach the result of a

calculation between renders or how can I

control all these multiple layers of

props that I'm passing around and

usually the documentation goes into

depth on all these things and when you

wrestle with these issues and are forced

to read how these particular Concepts

work it gets burn deeper into your

memory and it makes you a better

programmer overall and this is much

better than coming across a solution on

stack Overflow saying to use the use ref

hook and copying and pasting it without

really understanding what it does

instead let the stack Overflow answer

lead you to how the documentation

defines us ref all right second finding

accuracy of AI tools 61% of developers

actively use AI tools and 14% plan to

and most were favorable to it however

like 90% are all together not able to

trust it fully even down here in the

challenges section 66% just don't trust

the answer or output that it gives at

face value and this is from professional

developers so based on this distrust by

professional developers if you're new

and you don't know how to code well or

understand the code it's generating for

you or you just plan to copy and paste

whatever it generates it may just get

you into more trouble than it will help

you I've heard so many people say I

tried such and such and I couldn't

figure it out so I went to Chad gbt and

tried all the things it said and I

regenerated the answer a bunch of times

to get something different but I still

can't get it to work well that kind of

hints that you don't really know what

you need to get done here learn to code

first such that you can at least

evaluate properly what it generates on

the other hand if you can code well and

at least discern what it spits out then

I think it can help you out it has

helped me out from time to time also the

same sentiment is felt when it comes to

complex tasks AI just isn't there yet

for the more difficult things like 75%

here are on the fence about this

capability so a better use case for it

for now is for Less complex or more

menial tasks like converting a lot of

Json to yaml or to provide starting

templates that save you initial steps or

outlines to certain functions or

repetitive coding tasks or to help

locate a difficult to pinpoint bug in

your code things like that and by the

way menial or boring or repetitive work

is a great thing for AI to replace

people in call centers they hate their

work they hate calling people and they

hate getting yelled at all day sure it's

a job but it's one that really will make

you a miserable person just let AI do it

and then finally most aren't concerned

about AI being a threat to their jobs

that's good to know number three

JavaScript is still absolutely

everywhere it's the most popular for

professional developers it's third on

the list for those learning to code it's

the most popular in web Frameworks with

no JS being number one react number two

jQuery number three nextjs number four

and then Express angular onto view it's

also the second most desired language

and the top Frameworks on the desired

list there's react node next View and so

forth and it's not really the language

itself it's the usage of it it's in

everything and used everywhere and it

covers much of the entire front-end

Spectrum alone and typescript follows

right behind it in popularity and I

would definitely recommend learning

typescript to add to your JavaScript as

many if not most companies are using it

don't let the whole squabble that

happened 6 months or so ago make you

think otherwise I have a brief video

that highlights the benefits if you're

new to it I'll link to it above now be

warned that the JavaScript ecosystem is

quite vast when I first learned it it

was largely vanilla and jery when I

learned react it was a great library

that allowed easier interactivity in

state handling and you could easily just

add it to your app but now it's much

more than an interactive Library we now

have server components and to me this

whole thing has become muddy so my

suggestion in learning it is to get an

overview of it all of course but find

your footing somewhere specific within

it like becoming an expert in the react

ecosystem all right number four

experience versus roles versus salary so

here's a good reminder for where you may

want to enter into this Market if you're

new from the respondents here all 65k or

however many there were roles like

front-end Dev mobile Dev data analyst

business analyst QA are probably the

best entry spots as these positions have

fewer years of coding under their belt a

less amount of material is needed to be

learned though I may be a bit hesitant

on the mobile Dev part now developer

Advocate developer experience srre these

are jobs that require you to know more

technology and to have real hands-on

experience to perform thus these roles

have responded with more years under

their belts a site reliability engineer

will need to know how to code how to

manage servers automate setup monitoring

and proper Incident Management that

takes years then roles like full stack

data engineer and devops are in the

middle I would say devops is a bit more

advanced because they are literally

asked to do everything and then of

course when we look at salaries the

order is almost exactly the same except

in the US things are a little different

back end is making big bucks and front

end is making more than full stack and

mobile is making even more than backend

we have Healthcare cost issues but make

good money here in the US while other

places have great Healthcare benefits

but make way less money what to do and

then number five only one in five

professional developers are actually

happy in their current job and this is

individual contributor not people

manager though the latter is only about

7% better first of all I don't see this

in last year's survey is this new to

this year if not it would be interesting

to see if this is a drastic difference

or not in the top reasons being out of

100 points improve improving quality of

code in developer environments that's 21

points and then learning and using new

tech that's 19 points and this one's

weird because the top five for happy

points are also the top five for unhappy

points so what are your thoughts on why

80% of developers are unhappy in their

jobs I'd love to hear about it below if

you found this video helpful give it a

thumbs up if you haven't subscribed to

the channel consider doing so and I'll

see you in the next video

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