The stack overflow Developer Survey results for 2017 proved fairly interesting, somewhat confirming, slight surprising and a semi-overwhelming.
You can read the results yourself to decide what’s interesting. There’s a few things I felt noteworthy to me…
FREEDOM!
When I went solo I had a few intentions: no physical product, no physical location, no set hours, no employees… and 1 other I can’t remember, but I’ve stayed true to those. The freedom and flexibility of being a tiger in the jungle is better than 3 square meals in a zoo (aka cage).
Freedom at the expense of (perceived) security.
I’d like to think these results back that up as a common desire of developers…
Don’t get me wrong – having a job with an office at a location has it’s benefits. I’m not a zealot. Also, if necessary, I’d take a job – I’m not going to make my kids starve because I that proud. But if possible, I’d like to stay working on projects for various clients. I reserve the right to change my mind at any point. 🙂
Articulate and Responsible
My best clients are those who tried to go another route first. Maybe they hired that genius college student who knows everything or went off source for the promise of all they wanted for pennies on the dollar.
Or they found someone who couldn’t communicate their ideas or just went AWOL half the time. Whatever it is, they now value someone who can communicate well and does what they say they’ll do. Unfortunately, I often have to apologize for my predecessors: many developers aren’t great at these things.
Which is why it’s so valued – and should be. Being able to communicate and deliver is important in any job space including software. Many people can be trained to developed, but some traits are more about personality.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say.
GIF
The real question – something that matters. How do you pronounce GIF? This survey backs up my opinion in the matter.
It’s an interesting survey. It was pretty cool to see the thoughts and opinions of other developers. But also the potential trends in languages and technologies.
