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Community

Let’s Talk About Developer Wellness

Twice per year we run our global surveys with developers like you including professional developers, hobbyists, students, no-code software creators and as always we invite you to leave feedback, which we love to read!

For a long time we have been focusing on developer research aiming to shape the developer ecosystem, and improve the tools and platforms you are using everyday.  Listening to your feedback, we realised that there are a lot of you out there facing anxiety, feeling burned out and trying to find ways to improve your overall health and wellbeing. 

You asked, we listened! The State of Developer Wellness Survey is our first 5-min survey dedicated to your wellbeing.

For each completed response, we’ll be donating $1 USD with an aim to donate up to $1,000 to the Turkey / Syria Earthquake Appeal. What’s more, we’ll be running a prize draw for swag and sharing our inaugural State of Developer Wellness Report in Q2 with you. 

We are confident that the report will help raise awareness around the importance of work well-being for software developers. It is also expected to contribute to our understanding of the Developer Nation community and the challenges that our members are facing so that we can better support them with our content and community offerings.

If you’ve taken the survey and want to be notified when the report is published, sign up here. If you’ve not yet taken the survey, you can participate now!

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Community Tips

How Much Does It Cost To Appoint iOS Programmers?

If we consider the current scenario, then people nowadays utilize different categories of solutions to satisfy their purposes. Especially after the COVID – 19 pandemic, usage of smartphones has been bolstered to a considerable level. As a result, there was a massive rise witnessed in the utilization of applications among users. Since then, the usage pace has never slowed, and it has continued increasing till the current date.

It’s a truth to be told that Android devices are utilized in maximum numbers, but Apple devices are no more behind, as they stand second in global usage of smartphones. Over the past few years, the utilization of iOS applications has increased tremendously, and it’s because more than 1 billion users use iPhones, as per 2022 statistics. 

You might be fascinated to hire iOS programmers from an IT company for creating your business solutions and grab an advantage of rising requirements for iOS applications among users, which you might have derived from the figures mentioned earlier. 

So, refer to some things that should be kept in mind while hiring iOS developers and the cost of appointing them are discussed further in this post. Reading all those sections would reduce your hassles significantly for hiring them from firms to get an application for your enterprise ready.

Qualities To Be Considered While Hiring iOS Coders

When appointing iOS coders, you, as an entrepreneur, must ensure that they possess several characteristics to create your iOS solution for an enterprise. Which are those? They are stated below:

Must Possess Knowledge of Swift 3.0

It is an object-oriented programming language by Apple, which has a simpler syntax to access specific functions, making it easier for programmers to adopt. The iOS developers using Swift programming language can create a dynamic application loaded with demystifying features. So, you should appoint iOS coders having knowledge of Swift 3.0 and must be capable enough to deliver you the solution for your business with top-notch performance.

Experience in Xcode

You, as a startup owner, should know that the iOS coder you are looking to hire must possess Xcode IDE(Integrated Development Environment) in their skill sets. It is a solution that contains tools for debugging, interpretation, compiling, automation, and programming procedures streamlined for iOS developers while creating your application. By appointing iOS programmers to develop a solution for your business, you will also be charged a lesser fee for developing and deploying the platform, as Xcode makes such processes much more straightforward. It suggests that hiring iOS coders can assist you in building a platform with fewer expenses.

Problem-Solving Skills

Receiving the solution created by iOS developers is fine, but they should also be capable enough to quickly solve problems with any level of complexity. It is a must that you, as an entrepreneur, must appoint those iOS programmers who possess sufficient knowledge to get rid of any issue popping up in your application rapidly. 

Secured Application

You might be aware that the ios app store doesn’t allow an application to get published if it doesn’t match their set security standards. Hence, as an entrepreneur, ensure that the iOS coder you hire delivers a safe and secure platform to you or not for launching it in an application store.

By keeping all these things mentioned above in your mind, as a startup owner, you can look for iOS developers to hire from specific companies able to provide you with a helpful solution for your enterprise. It will assist you in appointing a perfect iOS programmer who is dedicated and skilled to offer you desirable and practical application for your venture.

Cost To Appoint iOS Programmers

Now, after knowing the several elements to remember while hiring iOS developers, you should see the cost of appointing them. There are numerous parameters that play a vital role in the costs of recruiting iOS programmers, out of which a few of them are mentioned below. Refer to each of them before analyzing the prices of iOS coders:

Complicacy

It is an essential component contributing to the cost of appointing an iOS coder to build a solution for your venture. The complicacy of an application includes:

  • The number and types of features.
  • The design of a platform.
  • Third-party apps to be integrated.
  • The specific database you select for storing user data of your application.

So, if you are thinking of building your iOS solution, then consider all these things about your app to be created. It will assist you in saving additional expenses after appointing iOS programmers.

Number of Coders

The cost also depends on a number of iOS programmers tenant by specific technology partners. The companies need to pay a certain amount to developers occupied working on your project, which relates to your application’s complexity, as discussed earlier. The rates of hiring iOS coders would likely be high if you want more attributes in your solution to be implemented, as a specific number of developers hired by you would not be able to work on other pending projects of the firm.

Experience

Based on how experienced an iOS programmer you have hired, the fees would be charged to you by them accordingly. It is because they will help you to avoid specific issues during and after creating the application for your business from their side. In addition, they will also provide you with a bugless application so that you don’t need to spend more money in the future to maintain your solution. Therefore, it’s suggestible that you should appoint a well-versed iOS developer that doesn’t charge much higher nor too lower fees for building your app.

Development Location

At last, along with covering all these factors, the cost to hire an iOS programmer is finally decided by the company, based on the development location. The charges for appointing an iOS developer from any specific country are determined based on their costs of living, hosting charges, and fees charged to them for accessing a particular function. Following are the rates of hiring iOS coders from different countries mentioned. Consider the table below to get an idea about appointing them from a specific location.

CountriesHourly Costs of iOS Developers(in $)
Australia$45 – $65
India$20 – $60
USA$60 – $90
Switzerland$55 – $80
Netherlands$50 – $75
Canada$35 – $70

Final Verdict

In the last few years, usage of iOS devices has skyrocketed to the next level, so numerous ventures have launched solutions in an Apple store to receive the advantages of increasing demand for its apps among people. Apart from this, many startup owners are planning to build their iOS applications for their enterprises, and if you are one of those, then refer to some qualities while appointing iOS programmers and the cost to select them mentioned in a post. It would help you in getting a clearer vision for hiring them.

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Community Tips

Debugging Techniques For Python Developers

Debugging is an essential skill for any programmer. Mastering this skill can help you identify problems quickly and effectively in your Python code. Without knowing how to debug code, developers will face endless hours of frustration trying to solve problems.

Fortunately, Python’s built-in tools and debugging techniques make it easy for developers to identify and fix errors without wasting too much time. To help you get the most out of your Python coding experience, this article contains a list of the top debugging techniques for Python developers. But first, you must know the importance of debugging and its practical use cases in the developer community.

The Importance of Debugging

As mentioned, debugging is among the essential Python skills that all developers need to know. A common misconception of debugging is that it’s only necessary for complex projects. In reality, debugging should be part of the development cycle of any project, regardless of its size or complexity. 

This process helps you identify and fix bugs in your code quickly and efficiently. It can also help you better understand the program’s flow of execution, which enables you to make more informed decisions about improvements or modifications to the code. 

Debugging Use Cases

A common mistake of new developers is to assume that debugging is only done to correct errors in code. In reality, debugging is used for more than just fixing errors. Here are some of the most common use cases:

  • Handling Python code errors that occur during program execution. Errors can be caused by incorrect syntax, type errors, name errors, etc. Different types of errors can occur in each code, and good debugging skills can get you out of a jam.
  • Investigating problems with code logic or implementation. This could include issues such as unintended infinite loops or unexpected output from functions. Debugging can help programmers determine the root cause of these issues and identify solutions.
  • Testing code for desired behavior. Debugging can be used to test if the code is working as intended. This could include checking for outcomes from functions, or ensuring that calculations are performed correctly.
  • Locating and removing code that is no longer necessary. As a developer, you should know that code can become obsolete over time. Debugging allows you to identify and remove obsolete or redundant code from your project. This could include dead code, duplicate functions, or redundant variables. 
  • Identifying potential performance issues in your program. Poorly written code can significantly slow the running time of a program. Thus, accurately tracking and diagnosing these problems is essential for efficiency. And yes, debugging can help with that.

Common Debugging Techniques For Python Developers

Now that you understand the importance of debugging and its various use cases, here are some of the most helpful techniques for Python developers:

The “print()” Function

The simplest way to debug a program is by using the print() function. This can be used to debug programs by displaying values in real time. But how, you may ask? This function allows you to print out variables and values to gain insight into what is going on with your program. It also helps you identify errors that appear during the execution of your code. Through this function, you can easily track the program’s flow of execution and identify any potential problems along the way.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

An IDE provides a suite of tools to help debug code more effectively. With features such as syntax highlighting, auto-completion, debugging consoles, and breakpoints, it allows you to quickly identify and fix errors without having to search through your code manually.

An IDE is present in almost every programming language, and Python is no exception. Popular IDEs include PyCharm and Visual Studio Code as the go-to choices for many developers. If you have the resources, you can try out different IDEs and find the one that works best for you.

Debugger

A debugger is a powerful tool used to step through code line by line. It can be used to inspect variables, set breakpoints, and trace functions as they execute in real-time. This helps you identify the exact source of an issue quickly and easily.

The Python debugger, known as pdb, comes installed with Python. It allows you to inspect the flow of control in your code. You can also set breakpoints with pdb which allows you to pause at specific points during program execution so that you can investigate what is going on at that time.

Logging

Logging can be used to keep track of errors and detect any unexpected behavior during the program’s runtime. This provides you with a record of events that can be used for further investigation into the cause of an issue. Many seasoned developers use logging as a reliable way to track errors and identify improvement points.

The logging module in Python allows you to create basic loggers that can be used for debugging purposes. This module also includes more advanced features such as custom levels, filtering, and formatting, making it even more powerful!

Conclusion

Debugging is one of the most critical aspects of development that every professional developer should learn. You can quickly identify and solve problems in Python code by learning and mastering the debugging techniques listed above. Remember, debugging is an essential part of the development process, so learning how to use these techniques efficiently will help you become a more productive and successful developer!

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Community

Spotlight on Salesforce Users

 Help improve the developer experience with Salesforce solutions.

Developer Nation is running a short survey with our friends at Salesforce. If you are currently using any Salesforce solutions (incl. Tableau, Heroku, MuleSoft, Slack, etc.), you can share your experience and help Salesforce improve its products. 

The State of Building & Developing on Salesforce is your opportunity to help Salesforce better understand how you build and develop using their platform so that they can improve your experience.

Previous developer surveys have provided great insight into who Salesforce Developers are and how developers learn and use Salesforce, which led to informed improvements. For instance, we learned that the developer community loves and engages with videos from Salesforce developer advocates, especially on platforms like YouTube. In particular, they prefer short video content that helps them solve tricky challenges. Based on these two helpful pieces of data, a YouTube playlist was created called Developer Quick Takes, demonstrating clever solutions in short-form videos.

This is for developers but also admins, architects, analysts, and more. 

In the past, the survey has been focused on developers only, but now it is welcoming anyone who builds and develops in the Salesforce ecosystem to participate. As the  Salesforce product portfolio has grown, the community that builds using them has also grown. In an effort to be inclusive, the survey is now open across several communities to include admins, developers, architects, analysts, and more. This survey covers products from the entire Salesforce ecosystem, including Heroku, Slack, Tableau, MuleSoft, and many others. Whether you use Salesforce low-code builders every day, write Apex code occasionally, or build in the Salesforce ecosystem in another way, we want to hear from you!

Have your voice heard and help shape the future of software 

At Developer Nation, we partner with tech companies to help them gain insights and thus equip their product teams with the right tools to create improved customer and product experiences.  Your feedback will be put to good use and shall inform product improvements and the future of building and developing Salesforce. We will also, share some key insights and an impressive list of prizes waiting to be claimed by the survey participants.

Take the survey now!

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Tips Tools

Integrating Test Automation In Small Tech Business: Advantages And Disadvantages

Software testing verifies that the software or product meets the technical requirements of the project and works as expected. It checks for bugs and errors to ensure that the product delivers an ideal user experience. Software testing is vital to the success of the project. However, it could be time-consuming and stressful to execute without using automation tools. Simply reviewing the entire project manually could be a massive burden on the testing team, especially in the case of heavy-duty software.

It has become increasingly important for small tech businesses to integrate software automation testing in their development process. Testing automation tools allow testers to perform the tests with greater accuracy and efficiency. The tools handle the bulk of the grunt work so the testers can devote their time and attention to more critical tasks. 

This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of test automation for small businesses.

Advantages of Test Automation for Small Tech Businesses

Test automation can help small tech businesses in various ways. For starters, it can help them to streamline their operation and improve the quality of their product or service. Here are some more advantages of test automation to small businesses.

Increased Efficiency 

Automation testing helps the testing team to save time and be more efficient in the testing process. For instance, In manual testing, the testing process is entirely left to the testers, so testing can only happen during working hours. On the other hand, a test automation approach does not require manual intervention, so it can be executed around the clock; the testers can set it on the schedule, thus saving  time and getting conclusive test results faster.

Test automation could also be run on multiple devices simultaneously, further speeding up the testing process and reducing the testing time.

Improved Accuracy 

Small tech businesses looking to perform more thorough testing can benefit from the improved accuracy of test automation. During manual testing, you have to rely on the expertise and exposure of the testers. They could make mistakes, especially when they have to perform repetitive tasks. The quality of the tests could decline as the project becomes complicated. On the other hand, automation tests are highly repeatable and consistent; you can run automated tests severally without any reduction in thoroughness.

Test automation can reduce the risk of human error so you can get the best quality results.

Better Coverage 

Performing end-to-end tests on lengthy projects can be challenging with manual testing. The testers and developers may be unable to efficiently cover all memory contents, data tables, internal program states, and file contents to ascertain if the software works as expected. 

With test automation, you can increase the depth and scope of tests to review all parts of the software. It can help you to create more complex test cases, test more features, and improve the overall quality of your software.

Early Identification of Issues 

Test automation can help you to detect bugs and errors earlier in the development process. This helps to speed up the development process while ensuring that smaller problems are attended to before they transform into more complicated issues. 

The earlier the defect is identified, the easier it is to fix it and the more cost-effective it is to resolve the issue. According to IBM Science Institute, a bug discovered in the testing phase costs fifteen times more than a bug discovered in the design phase, and a bug discovered in the implementation phase costs a hundred times more to fix than a bug in the design phase. You will save more money if you can uncover all the hidden errors earlier in the production process.

Disadvantages of Test Automation for Small Tech Businesses

As the famous saying goes, “every coin has two sides”. The same goes for test automation. Test automation may offer some disadvantages for small businesses. Here are some of the possible disadvantages of test automation.

Initial Cost 

Small businesses may be unable to afford the high initial setup and implementation costs. However, this depends on the scope and complexity of the project. Larger projects require more time and resources, which may cause a tremendous financial strain for small tech businesses.

Maintenance Cost 

They also have to deal with the cost of maintenance. Automated tests must be constantly modified and maintained as the product changes to ensure that they continue to function effectively. For example, suppose there is a modification to the software’s user interface. In that case, the testers must update the test scripts to reflect the new change. This can be time-consuming for the testing team.

Lack of Flexibility 

Automation testing is not as flexible as manual testing. As automated tests are designed to test specific scenarios or situations, they may have difficulty adapting to changes or unexpected results.

Not Suitable for Open-Ended Testing

Open-ended and exploratory testing involves randomly testing the products to check how they behave under different conditions and uncover unforeseen issues. Automated tests have a defined purpose, making them unsuitable for tests that need to be performed randomly.. 

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Community

24th Developer Nation Survey Prize Draw Winners

The 24th Developer Nation Survey is live, here’s a look at the winners so far!

What are the Developer Nation Prize draws?

We run weekly prize draws throughout the survey period (December 8th 2022 to February 3rd 2023) for developers who have taken our survey. You can take a peek at the full list of prizes on offer here. In addition, developers earn 100 points for every survey completed, plus 10 points for providing their feedback about the survey.

For existing community members who have reached over 301 points, they are also included in exclusive prize draws!

We’ll be updating this blog throughout the survey period.  

ThinkPad L15 Gen 3 (15″ Intel)

Aleksandar of Serbia

Chaitanya of India

Arduino Explore IoT Kit

Intjar of India

Developer Nation Certified Artificial Intelligence (AI) Practitioner course powered by CertNexus (find out more here)

a************@h******.f* of France

Cristian of Colombia
P of United States

Developer Nation Certified Data Science Practitioner course powered by CertNexus (find out more here)

A of India

j**********@g****.c** of United States

s*******.s@g****.c** of India

CoPilot or Tabnine yearly licence

J of Philippines

Marco B

Deepam of India
Abiodun of Nigeria

SitePoint Premium Subscription

t***********@g****.c** of Kenya

Aleksei of Belgium

$100 towards an exam voucher of the winners choice

n********@g****.c** of India

r**********@g****.c** of India

Aaron of Australia

n******************@o******.c** of UK

IDE licence up to $100 in value

f*********@h******.c*.u* of United Kingdom

AER Tech Organiser Kit – Cable Kit 2

q******************@s**********.c** of United States

$50 Udemy course credits

Jachson of Philippines

Adafruit.io $50 gift card

a***********@g****.c** of India

$50 gift cards

Ravi shankar of India
Marius of Norway
Dawam of Indonesia
Dineshkumar of India

$30 Udemy course credits

Stuart of Czech Republic

Leonardo of Portugal

$20 gift cards

David of New Zealand

Adam of Australia

o********************@g****.c** of Nigeria

m**********@g****.c** of Philippines

c*************@g****.c** of India

Jose of Mexico

Angelo of Canada

Angie of Philippines

Csaba of United States

Deepam of India

m**********@g****.c** of India

Kabir of Nigeria

k**************@g****.c** of Kenya

l*******@h******.c** of Turkey

r***********@g****.c** of Romania

a**************@g****.c** of Turkey

Dejan of North Macedonia

Gabriel Jephter of Nigeria

M of Turkey

Dominik of Croatia

Andy of Canada

r******.p******@g****.c** of United States

a**********@g****.c** of Nigeria

Crezel of Philippines

Arcy of United States

g*******@m**.b******.n*.j* of Japan

k*******@g****.c** of Tanzania

e********@g****.c** of India

Ruri of Indonesia

Olalelekan of Nigeria

Sai Sirisha of India

b***********@g****.c** of Indonesia

b*****.r********@g****.c** of Indonesia

Utkarsh of India

Varuna of India

a*******@f*****.o** of Singapore

Argenis useche of Venezuela

Mahammad of Nigeria

Markus of Germany

Afnan of Pakistan

L of Denmark

Jithya of Australia

李文君 of China

c******@g****.c** of Nigeria

Dharanidharan B of India

c*******.d**.9*@g****.c** of Vietnam

n*******@g****.c** of Vietnam

n***********@g****.c** of India

p****@h******.c** of China

Savio of Brazil

m******************@g****.c** of Philippines

g**************@g****.c** of Argentina

c***********@g****.c** of Philippines

j********************@g****.c** of Philippines

f*******.a*****@z**.c**.b* of Brazil

a**********@g****.c** of Panama

J**********@g****.c** of United States

m************@g****.c**  of Kenya

$10 Gift Cards

Adeola of Nigeria

Christoffer of Sweden

Swag Packs

Tomokazusuzuki of Japan

H of Turkey

Menchie of Philippines

Etienne of Canada

Ernesto of México

Charmaine of Philippines

k***************@g****.c** of Philippines

j*******@s****.c** of Turkey

d*********@g****.c** of Nigeria

k*********@h******.c** of Colombia

p*******************@g****.c** of India

r******************@g****.c** of India

a****************@g****.c** of Philippines

s*********@g****.c** of India

Soul of New Machine book

s**************@g****.c** of United Kingdom

Community Draws

ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 (13″ Intel)

Chaitanya of India

iPad Air

Camille of United States

Swag Packs

J of United States

m**************@g****.c** of United States

Evan of United States

r***********@y****.c** of India

Richard of United Kingdom

s***********@g****.c** of Spain

B of United States

s********@g****.c** of India

Mandeep of India

m**************@g****.c** of India

r***********@y****.c** of India

s***********@g****.c** of India

Kashif of Pakistan

s********@g****.c** of Pakistan

i***********@g****.c** of Turkey

L of United States

Shane of United States

C of United States

Brian of United States

r***********@y****.c** of United States

Emily of United States

g*******@l***.c** of Netherlands

l**************@g****.c** of Israel

o**************@g****.c** of Germany

Agustín of Spain

b*******@g****.c** of Netherlands

N of Ireland

m******@g****.c** of Denmark

Aurelien of France

M of India

Pankaj of India

A of India

Prerna of India

b**********@g****.c** of India

Gael of Benin

s***********@g****.c** of Bangladesh

Ioannis of Greece

a*********@i*****.c** of Mauritius

M of Germany

Alan of United States

N of Italy

Jorge of Portugal

Jakub of Poland

Michael of Israel

Jaldhar of United States

Paweł of Poland

J of United Kingdom

l****@c*******.d* of United States

Brendan of United States

Deborah of United States

Arian of United States

t**************@g****.c** of United States

Serafino of Italy

A of Sweden

Naveen of India

Peter of Australia

Igor of Georgia

Bruno Blanco of Uruguay

Agustín of Spain

Javier of Spain

i**********@y****.c** of India

V of India

Jignesh of India

Puneet of India

Akshay of India

Shahroz of Pakistan

Oswaldo of Brazil

Martin of Sweden

Damith of Sri Lanka

Mats Tage of Greece

S of Germany

$50 Udemy Gift Cards

Gabriel of Indonesia

Volkan of Turkey

Morgan of France

d****.s*******@g****.c** of Australia

k***********@h******.c** of United Kingdom

Alexandre of Belgium

Jack of United States

A of Philippines

Paul of Malawi

Chris of New Zealand

$15 Gift Cards

Hamilton of Australia

Keith of United States

Lenin of South Africa

Nick of United States

Kenneth of Sweden

Jae H of Korea, South

Toluwalase of Nigeria

a****.e*******@l***.c** of Indonesia

Ernitia of Indonesia

P of South Korea

r*****.c****.g*******@g****.c** of Venezuela

j***************@y****.c** of Mexico

a.g*******@g****.c** of Egypt

Yohanes of Indonesia

Mavis of South Africa

Wawan of Indonesia

Nicolas of France

Onoriode of Nigeria

Adewale of Nigeria

v****@h*****.c** of India

K of Indonesia

Michael of New Zealand

h*********@h******.c** of Japan

Tang Ing Kai of Singapore

Mike of Canada

Constantine of Canada

Nicolas of Greece

Abraham Mathew Saji of Malaysia

Dinar of Indonesia

7th State of ARVR Survey

Meta Quest 2

Kunal of India

$20 gift card

Prince Thakkar of India

Raffaele of Italy

External hard drive

Suman of India

Referral Program Winners

Thanks to everyone who took on the challenge! If you want to test your influencer abilities in our next survey, make sure you join our Referral Program. Here are the top 50 winners:

What happens now?

We’ve reached out to all winners directly via email. 👀 If you don’t see your name on the list, don’t worry, we’ll have more surveys in the future.

To ensure that you are notified when our next survey is live, sign up. Don’t forget to make sure the survey notification option is ticked.

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Community News and Resources

The Art of Community: Why Developers Contribute to Vendor-Owned Open Source Projects

Why Developers Contribute to Vendor-Owned Open Source Projects

Open source software (OSS) development is deeply ingrained in the developer culture, representing a distinct and inclusive collaborative ecosystem. In this chapter, we will explore the motivations behind vendor-owned OSS contributions through the lenses of experience, global region, and the use of Stack Overflow. 

OSS projects represent the power of community: collaborative efforts to develop code and software which positively impacts a wider audience than the individuals involved. Vendor-owned OSSprojects, e.g. TensorFlow and Visual Studio Code, combine this sense of community with financial backing from the world’s largest tech companies – a powerful combination of stability and open cooperation. 

For every developer involved in vendor-owned OSS, there is a different motivating factor – why do developers contribute to these projects? The big picture is that the top-three motivators for vendor-owned OSS contributors are: wanting to learn how to code better (38%), to improve the software that they use (29%),and to contribute to something bigger than themselves (22%).

How does experience affect vendor-owned OSS contribution?

When compared to beginners, those with six years of experience or more are around 13 percentage points more likely to contribute in order to improve a software they use. These experienced and improvement-focussed developers are also much more likely to hold specialist roles compared to their less experienced peers. For example, they are six times more likely tobe software architects and five times more likely to be either tech/engineering team leads or site reliability engineers. They not only believe that the software they use can be improved, but that they also have the capability and skills to improve it.

Experienced developers devote significant attention to enhancing the open-source software (OSS) provided by vendors, which they actively use and rely on

In fact, improving software seems to be the main motivation for many senior developers – those with 16 years of experience or more are the least likely to contribute for the majority of the other reasons we list. Learning to code better, getting noticed by their company, and getting their code reviewed are much lower priorities among seasoned developers. This is to be expected given the amount of expertise and recognition they have typically accumulated by that stage of their career.

At the other end of the scale, those most willing to contribute for their own education are developers with 1-2 years of experience. Compared to those with even less experience,these developers are 58% more likely to be exclusively professionals and 48% less likely to be exclusively students. In other words, at this stage of their careers, they have enough professional know-how and confidence to contribute to vendor-owned OSS software – yet are pursuing further education for their coding skills by giving back to the community.

Vendor-owned OSS contribution around the world

According to our data, 73% of developers contribute to vendor-owned OSS globally, but the level of contribution varies around the world. Developers in South Asia are the most likely to contribute (85%), while those in Eastern Europe are the least likely (67%). As for the two largest regional developer communities, North America and Western Europe,78% and 70% of developers contribute to corporate OSS projects, respectively.

South Asia and the Middle East and Africa are hotspots for developers contributing to vendor – owned OSS projects in order to level up their coding skills

As for specific motivations, there are a couple of hotspot regions that stand out from the crowd. Nearly half (47%) of OSS contributors in the Middle East and Africa and SouthAsia are motivated by learning to code better and similarly, about one in four by the opportunity to have their code reviewed by more experienced colleagues: 10 and 5 percentage points above the global average, respectively. 

Tying in with our previous analysis: these regions also hold the two largest shares of developers with less than two years of experience – 52% for the Middle East and Africa and 73% for South Asia.

However, to see how motivations towards vendor-owned OSS change across the globe, we take a wider perspective. In doing so, we group motivations into three broad categories: individual-focussed (getting noticed by the company, learning to code better, etc), collaboration-focussed (getting their code reviewed by knowledgeable people, etc.), and business-focussed (building community support around a corporate open source software project). In this manner, we can get a view of how sentiments towards vendor-owned OSS change around the world.

For instance, we see that developers in Oceania are at least 5 percentage points more likely than any other region to have business-focussed motivations when contributing to vendor-owned OSS projects. This may be linked to the financial success/focus of developers in this region – 9% of OSS contributors in Oceania report that they or their organisation generate more than $1M of revenue every month on average,compared to the global average of 4%.

Female developers are considerably more likely to be business-focussed when contributing to vendor-owned OSS

An interesting note on gender: we see that globally, female developers are 26% more likely than male developers to be business-focussed in their approach to vendor-owned OSS contribution. This observation is particularly strong in Europe: 54%of female developers in Western and Eastern Europe are business-focussed, compared to 33% of male developers. However, as the proportion of OSS-contributing female developers (22%) is only slightly higher than the global proportion (21%), it’s unlikely that they drive business-focussed regional behaviour. 

How do OSS contributors useStack Overflow?

Let’s look at the usage of a website that is synonymous with cooperation in programming and software development and see how the proportion of OSS contributors changes with varying levels of interaction. For users of Stack Overflow, we see a behavioural trend–those who are more active on the website are more likely to contribute to vendor-owned OSS.

Diving into the specific usage patterns of Stack Overflow,those who don’t use or visit the site are the least likely to contribute to vendor-owned OSS for any reason, compared to those who use the site at any level. This is again related to experience: 39% of those who don’t use Stack Overflow havel ess than a year of software development experience and only 5% have an account with a badge; these developers are the least likely to contribute to vendor-owned OSS projects, after those with more than 16 years of experience.

Likewise, there are differences in motivations to contribute to vendor-owned OSS between those with or without StackOverflow badges. For example, only 28% of OSS-contributing developers without a badge want to improve the software they use, in contrast to 40% of developers with badges. A possible driver here is professional status – 74% of those without a badge are professionals. For those with a badge, 91% are professionals: these developers are not only more focussed on improvement, they are more willing to engage with the community to do so.

The strength of community shines through in vendor-owned OSS projects, where collaborative efforts to develop software have the remarkable ability to create positive impacts on a broader audience beyond the individuals directly involved. Here, we’ve shown that developers involved in vendor-owned OSS have different motivations depending on their experience, gender, and region, which in turn reflects how they use collaborative environments like Stack Overflow. 

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Tips

Top career aspirations amongst student developers

career aspirations amongst student

Having long-term career aspirations can provide students with a sense of direction and help them make appropriate choices in their pursuit of knowledge. In turn, this speeds up their professional development and increases the likelihood of them achieving a successful career. In this chapter, we will take a closer look at the top career aspirations of developers who self-identify as students.

Solving problems is the top career aspiration among student developers, mentioned by nearly a third (32%) of them. This is closely followed by becoming an expert in a domain or technology (29%), building innovative products or services(27%), and working on challenging projects (26%). These findings suggest that, despite an apparent financial appeal,curiosity and chasing innovation are the primary motivators for students in their journeys to becoming professional software developers.

However, it is worth noting that maximising their earning potential is important for students too, ranking sixth on the list of top career aspirations.

Having good problem-solving skills when working on challenging projects is usually the key to building innovative products and services. As such, it is no surprise that these aspirations are frequently mentioned together by students who want to become professional developers.Those who want to build innovative products or services show an above-average level of interest in becoming entrepreneurs or working at esteemed companies. Furtheranalysis reveals that aspiring entrepreneurs are more likely to focus on maximising their impact on society, while those who express a desire to work for acclaimed companies show more interest in pursuing challenging projects.

Students who seek to become tech executives or company leaders place significantly lower importance than average on the most popular career aspirations. Instead, they prioritise building their own businesses while also showing an above-average level of interest in getting a specific job title. This is likely due to them being naturally career-focussed and prioritising pathways that will allow them to achieve their long term goals. On the other end of the spectrum, those who want to maximise their impact on society show a similar level of interest in building their own businesses. These developers are the most likely to aspire to build innovative products or services while also showing a high level of interest in mentoring and helping others grow.

As with most other topics, regional differences in culture and socio-economic circumstances manifest themselves as significant differentiators in career aspirations amongst student developers. For instance, South Asia is the region with the highest concentration of developers who self-identify as students (40%). In this region, 30% of students aspire to work on challenging projects -their top motivation-but are significantly less likely than students in other regions to show an interest in solving problems (26%) or building innovative products/services (22%). Instead, South Asian students are the most likely to prioritise obtaining a specific job title (16%) while also showing an above-average level of interest in becoming tech executives or company leaders (15%).

Students in South America, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe show the highest levels of interest in the global top-four career aspirations. However, while European students are significantly more focussed than average on maximising their earning potential (>30%), only 21% of their South American counterparts prioritise this when planning their careers. Instead, South American students are highly focussed on securing job opportunities at esteemed companies/organisations. In turn,they may be more likely to accept junior positions and lower salaries in exchange for job security and a promising career path.

East Asian students are the least likely to express a specific interest in becoming professional software developers. This suggests that students in this region have doubts about pursuing careers in software development and may be looking at other, unrelated jobs. Similarly, students from theGreater China area show below-average levels of interest in many of the top choices. In particular, we find that only 6% of them prioritise building their own businesses or becoming entrepreneurs, which is 19 percentage points below the average of the other regions. However, maximising their earning potential appears to be the key driving force behind why 33% of the students from the Greater China area want to become professional developers.

In North America, a high portion of students aim to become entrepreneurs while also showing the highest level of interest in maximising their impact on society. This is likely due to the highly prominent startup culture in this region. This effect is most apparent in Silicon Valley, which has established itself as the nexus of technological innovation and is home to many tech giants and startups. Similarly, students from the MiddleEast and Africa also show high entrepreneurial spirit in a region that is primed for a booming startup scene. In addition to this, the students in this region are the most likely to prioritise transferring their knowledge and experience to the next generation (28%).

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Community

Make the most out of 24th Edition of Developer Nation Survey – a CheatSheet

developer nation survey

The 24th Edition of Developer Nation survey is now live and this blog post is your cheat-sheet to know everything this survey wave has to offer and how to make most out of your experience as a survey participant. 

What is the Developer Nation Survey ?

If you have never participated in a Developer Nation survey before, this section is for you. 

It is our most complete global survey that we have ever created for professional developers, hobbyists, students, and no-code software creators. It is intended to shape the key trends among developers and software eco-system for 2023. 

When you participate in this survey you’re supporting the developer research which is used by companies and organisations creating developer centric products to provide for a better developer experience and as a bonus, you also get to win some amazing prizes and support the charities and causes you care about by donating to them. 

PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

The Prizes

When you participate in the survey you’re eligible and automatically enters to win prizes from a pool worth  $19,000+ 

General prize draw: For every participant we have 250 prizes including:

  • 2 x ThinkPad L15 Gen 3, 
  • ThinkPad L13 Gen 3, 
  • iPad Air, 
  • DiY IoT kits, 
  • choice of gifts cards or crypto, 
  • Github CoPilot or Tabnine yearly licences, 
  • IDE licences, 
  • courses, 
  • Swag bags, 
  • cloud credits, and 
  • tech accessories.

Special prizes for Developer Nation community members: 

For our Developer Nation community members, alongside General Prize pool we also additionally have extra:

  • ThinkPad L13 Gen 3, 
  • iPad Air, 
  • swag bags, 
  • $15 vouchers.

You can choose to join the community during the survey sign up process or by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter at: https://developernation.net/subscribe . As a community member you’ll be part of 70,000+ developers around the world and will be getting regular updates about :

All this is powered by the survey results intended to help our community members grow in their career journey and connect with like-minded people.

ARVR prize draw: 

As part of this global survey, we’ve a special section calling all Augmented (AR), Virtual(VR), Mixed(MR) and Extended(ER) Reality developers, designers and creators. 

Let us know what do you think the future holds for creators of these immersive technologies which will only take 10 mins to participate and make you eligible for additional prize draw pool including :

  • iPad Air 
  • ThinkPad L15 Gen 3
  • Meta Quest 2, 
  • KODAK PIXPRO SP360 4K PREMIER Pack, 
  • Crypto and Gift Cards 

Check more about winners from previous surveys in the blog here .

Donations

By participating in the survey, you can also support a cause you care about by donating to one of the following organisation or non-profit :

  • Girls Who Code
  • CoderDojo 
  • Free Code Camp
  • WWF
  • Raspberry pi foundation

You can read more about this in our last donation blog here .

So what’s Next?

The survey is live and will be running from December 8th 2022 till February 3rd 2023. You can pause the survey and finish it at your convenience, within the deadline. 

It is available in English + 8 additional languages including Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Russian, Japanese, and Korean

Participate and let your voices be heard. We’re excited to learn what has changed in the developer world these last 6 months. Which tools and platforms are you using now and if JavaScript still rules the world of programming? 

All these answers unveil along with the prize distribution with the 24th Edition of Developer Nation survey.

PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY

If you’ve any questions feel free to drop it in the comments or reach us back on any social media channels : https://developernation.net/links.

We can’t wait to hear from you. 

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Community

Why Python is the perfect choice for AI & ML project

With most companies using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technology, it’s significant to use a programming language that reduces the code complexity and offers simple implementation. 

Though developers have ample opportunity to use different programming languages, Python gives them an edge over other available languages. Python offers a large number of libraries with simple and flexible tools, which makes the job easier. 

Plus, it is one of the leading solutions that can work for ML and AI. Python has gained an extensive advantage over different programming languages and is being used for different projects. You can hire Python developers to know more about compatibility. 

Let’s dive deep and look into what makes Python an ideal choice. 

1. Huge frameworks and libraries 

Building different ML and AI projects can be time-consuming. And at times, the coding process can be a complex one. However, many libraries are prewritten and compatible with Python, so developers prefer it over other languages. 

The libraries available in the stock make the process seamless for new developers. Developers can pick a library based on the need of the project. For instance, the Pybrain is used for machine learning, and Scipy is specifically used for advanced computing. 

Also, programmers can save a lot of time by using the approach, which is a unique library. 

2. Flexible platform 

Python is a highly flexible platform and is suitable for every purpose. The programming language offers the benefit of choosing between scripting and OOPS. Plus, you can consider recompiling the source code in project development. 

It’s easier to bring any changes, which saves time. Additionally, it allows the developers to choose from different programming styles, following which they can combine various styles to create better projects. 

The language is suitable for linking different data structures and offers perfect backend solutions for programmers. Moreover, it’s the most feasible choice for programmers who are often stuck between different algorithms – providing them with the power to check the code.

3. Its quite popular 

Python is quite popular among the developer community for creating projects. It’s one of the top programming languages, and most developers love to use it for simple stacks and tools. 

Moreover, it is one of the most commonly used languages for new developers. Developers can easily choose from the many Python packages available online. With a wide choice of packages, choosing the one for the project becomes simple. 

Leading companies have been using the language for years, so it’s the most preferred choice for the AI community. It is also the number one choice for developers who work on machine learning projects.

4. Platform-independent nature

Python has a platform-independent nature and that’s why most developers prefer the language. It makes the entire process of building solutions more seamless and simple. 

Developers can work on multiple platforms without errors. By tweaking the codes, they can make the applications ready to run or go live in no time. Additionally, they can run the apps on different OS. 

By choosing Python, developers can save a lot of time they otherwise waste on testing applications. The flexibility of coding is the main feature of Python. 

5. Better visualization options 

As discussed earlier, Python comes with a variety of libraries that are available online, and those libraries come with visualization features and tools. Moreover, when it comes to AI, the developers need to develop visuals for a project. 

They need to highlight the visuals for accuracy and attention. Plus, it plays a vital role in presenting the data. For instance, libraries like Matplotlib can be helpful for programmers and data scientists. 

It allows creating of different charts and histograms and – creating plots for data comprehension. The tools help in visualization and representation, which helps the developers to build better reports. 

6. Clear readability 

With Python, you will get the benefit of readability, which is an important aspect of technology. It is a simple language, easy to use, and beginners can change the code. 

Unlike other programming languages, Python is not complex. Besides, ease of use plays a vital part in exchanging ideas, algorithms, and tools. As a result, AI professionals can use the language to bring minor or big changes to the project at any given time. 

Apart from the readability, there are tools available to create an interactive design. The external tools can help in debugging and tab completion. It can also help in testing. Additionally, it also plays a part in facilitating the work schedule. 

7. Rapid development and community support 

Python offers the benefit of prototyping, and if the developers are familiar with stacks, it saves time. Also, the developers don’t have to waste time in the integration of AI. Most developers consider Python simple as far as readability and writing are concerned. You won’t need to learn the complicated codes. 

Python offers extensive community support – backed by experts and professionals in the field. Additionally, it provides the developers with all the essential resources they need to work on. 

New developers can work quickly and hassle-free. Besides, the experts are always preparing to rescue new developers if they are stuck with the project. In every phase of the development cycle, you can take the help of experts. 

Wrapping up,  

AI and ML technology is constantly evolving and bridging gaps between companies. Implementation and integration can help increase efficiency and productivity. 

Additionally, the use of Python for the two technologies is providing solutions to real-life problems. Plus, you can expect a customised user experience with Python.