Software developer shortage remains top challenge in 2023

Even amidst recent layoffs in the tech industry, recruiting developers with the right skills remains the top challenge for 2023, according to the new Reveal survey of 2,228 software developers and IT professionals released by Infragistics. More than a third of respondents (37.5%) indicated that they would continue to have trouble finding skilled developers in 2023 with DevOps Engineer, Data Analytics Developer, and IT Security Engineer identified as the hardest jobs to fill.

Developer shortage remains the top challenge for two years in a row, according to 2023 Reveal annual software developer survey

While nearly all developers (88.8%) work with a designer or design team, nearly half of a developer’s time (43.4%) is spent on coding an app, the survey found. The lack of skilled developers is being solved by the use of low-code/no-code tools in three-quarters (76.8%) of organizations.

"The industry continues to face a struggle in filling skilled software development positions as we race to digitize the business world. Organizations are turning to new solutions like low code/no code tools that require little to no up-front hand-coding to address insufficient skills, solve problems and save money," said Casey McGuigan, Reveal and Slingshot Product Manager, Infragistics.

Developers face communication and collaboration difficulties in 2023

Other key pain points in 2023 are the communication and collaboration difficulties within remote and hybrid teams. Now that many organizations have moved to remote/hybrid teams and downsized their physical presence with only 18.6% of software developers and IT professionals working entirely on-site, difficulties communicating and collaborating with team members in the new digital environment have arisen.

While more than half of respondents (57.9%) said they have more time to complete work projects due to reduced commuting time, four in ten (42%) have trouble keeping track of projects and a third (31.9%) said they are less productive in the hybrid environment.

A third of software developers (31.5%) incorporated new software for remote/hybrid workers in 2022 as they struggled to identify the best ways to ensure optimal productivity. More than half (54.4%) want to use one tool where everyone can collaborate and resolve issues. Another 47.5% would like to automate workflows and processes and 43.7% prefer to eliminate manual file sharing.

"The remote/hybrid workplace has resulted in a myriad of issues as software developers installed new online collaboration tools and sought ways to improve productivity. This is where all-in-one digital workplace tools benefit organizations by eliminating time-consuming app switching, incorporating project and task management, content management, collaboration, data analytics, and data catalog capabilities, allowing teams to manage workloads more intelligently, stay on top of deadlines, and make smarter business decisions that are backed up by hard facts," explained McGuigan.

2023 software development challenges

Keeping pace with innovation in developer tools, managing workload, security threats, and project management were also identified as pain points for 2023.

The Reveal survey found that software developers plan to better utilize their resources in 2023 by improving project management (30%), improving designer/developer collaboration (30%), using software that will work for citizen developers (27%), utilizing remote staff (25%), and incorporating a data catalog/analytics catalog (25%).

Other major challenges in 2023 will be an inability to keep pace with innovation in developer tools (27.7%), difficulty with third-party integration (26.70%), struggles to manage workload (26.2%), security threats (26.10%), project management (26.10%) and client expectations too high (26%).

Embedded analytics is still on the rise

Embedded analytics and business intelligence continue to rise in popularity with eight in ten software developers (80.8%) incorporating these analytics tools into their products in 2022, a 3% gain over 2021.

The demand for embedded analytics in apps developed for clients is also burgeoning with 48% of developers embedding analytics into client apps in 2022, compared to 30.8% in 2021. And 74.9% of software developers expect their organization’s focus on business intelligence to increase in 2023.

"Embedded analytics help end users uncover insights without the help of data analytics experts. More and more organizations will be embracing embedded analytics tools in 2023 because they are the key to improving productivity, increasing sales/revenue, understanding business problems, and making better business decisions," said McGuigan.

Business took a downturn in 2022

The data shows that there has been a slight decrease in revenue growth with just 18.8% of respondents reporting an increase in revenue in 2022, compared to 25% in 2021. The percentage of developers who took on new projects dropped slightly in 2022 with 33.3% reporting new endeavors, compared to 36.22% in 2021. Just a quarter (25%) expanded into new markets, a drop of 8% over the previous year. Requests for proposals also declined in 2022, with a 12% decrease over 2021.

"Tech companies expanded rapidly during the pandemic and although some are restructuring and belt-tightening in the wake of overexpansion, digital transformation initiatives provide new opportunities for growth and revenue. During the slowdown, businesses will continue to invest in IT infrastructure, applications, customer experience, and digital transformation initiatives," said McGuigan.