Stack Overflow, a platform for developers and programmers to share knowledge and solve coding challenges, has published its annual developer survey. 

The analysis is vendor-neutral and covers a wide range of languages and platforms. The site is embedded in the workflow of many developers. 

Stack Overflow surveyed 70,0946 developers this year, and 91.88 percent of respondents identified as male, almost the same as last year.

In the 2022 survey, popular technologies were compared across three groups: All respondents, professional developers, and those learning to code.

Programming, scripting, and markup languages

2022 marks JavaScript’s tenth year as the most commonly used programming language in a row.

But, it’s a different picture for those learning to code. HTML/CSS, Javascript and Python are almost tied as the most popular languages for people learning to code. People learning to code are more likely than Professional Developers to report using Python (58 percent vs 44 percent), C++ (35 percent vs 20 percent), and C (32 percent vs 17 percent).

Compared to Professional Developers, those learning to code are less likely to report using SQL (38 percent vs 53 percent), TypeScript (15 percent vs 40 percent), and Bash/Shell (19 percent vs 29 percent).

Databases

For professional developers, PostgreSQL barely took over the first place spot from MySQL. Professional Developers are more likely than those learning to code to use Redis, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Elasticsearch. MongoDB is used by a similar percentage of professional developers and those learning to code, and it’s the second most popular database for those learning to code (behind MySQL). This makes sense since it supports many languages and application development platforms.

Cloud platforms

AWS remains the most used cloud platform for all respondents and professional developers. Azure took the second-place spot from Google Cloud.

Heroku is the most used platform for those learning to code (35 percent), significantly higher than professional developers (18 percent). We see similar differences with Google Cloud (31 percent learning to code; 26 percent professional developers), Firebase (30 percent learning to code; 21 percent professional developers), VMware (12 percent learning to code; 8 percent professional developers).

Web frameworks and technology

Node.js and React.js are the two most common web technologies used by professional developers and those learning to code. On the other hand, angular is used more by professional developers than those learning to code (23 percent vs 10 percent), same with ASP.NET (16 percent vs 10 percent) and ASP.NET Core (21 percent vs 10 percent).

Other tools

Last year we saw Git as a fundamental tool for being a developer. This year, Docker is becoming a similar fundamental tool for professional developers, increasing from 55 percent to 69 percent. 

People learning to code are more likely to be using 3D tools than professional developers – Unity 3D (23 percent vs 8 percent) and Unreal Engine (9 percent vs 3 percent) – teaching themselves skills for 3D VR and AR.

Integrated development environment

Visual Studio Code remains the preferred IDE across all developers. However, PyCharm is used more by people learning to code (26 percent vs 16 percent), while Vim is used more by professional developers (24percent vs 16 percent).

Asynchronous tools

Jira is most used by professional developers (49 percent) but only used by 15 percent of those learning to code. It’s a similar story with Confluence, the second most used tool by professional developers (43 percent) but only used by 8 percent of those learning to code. Few people starting their careers will have experience with these tools, potentially increasing their time to ramp up on how to use them.

Synchronous tools

The three most popular synchronous tools are universal among all respondents, professional developers, and people learning to code – Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.

For professional developers, the percentage of people using each tool is close – between 54-58 percent of respondents. However, for people learning to code, Zoom is used significantly more (67 percent) than Microsoft Teams (48 percent) and Slack (30 percent).

Operating system

Windows is the developers’ most popular operating system for personal and professional use. However, a Linux-based OS is more popular than macOS – speaking to the appeal of using open-source software.