Dive Brief:
- With technical skills in high demand across industries, 42% of software developers are considering leaving their current jobs, data from Digital Ocean show. The company surveyed 2,500 developers globally between April and May.
- Higher compensation is the top allure. Compensation was a key factor for 27% of developers who started a new job in the past year. Remote work environments, better benefits or starting a company were also top reasons for fleeing.
- Among developers who had been in the workforce for at least a year, more than one-quarter changed jobs in the past 12 months.
Dive Insight:
Little surprise: High demand for technical skills and historic inflation are pushing salaries and attrition rates up.
"We're seeing positions that are open for six months or longer," John-David Lovelock, distinguished research VP at Gartner, told CIO Dive. "We're seeing hiring bonuses of two-times annual salary; salary increases, for certain positions, of 25-plus percent annually."
Despite a recent — and probably outlier — spike in tech layoffs, global demand for tech workers remains hot. Employees with technical backgrounds have the upper hand in negotiations as companies seek to fill roles.
While some sectors or companies may be easing up on hiring, demand elsewhere will trump, Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a press release.
Recent trends in hiring and talent demand speak to the "broad-based nature of the tech workforce,” Herbert noted.
Unemployment rates in technology occupations reached 2.1% in May, up slightly from 1.7% in April, according to a CompTIA review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The tech unemployment rate, which has remained relatively stable in the past six months, trailed the overall national unemployment rate in May, which sat at 3.6%.
Tech workers are about 10% less likely to stay in their current roles than non-IT employees, according to a Gartner report.