What the 2022 JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey Reveals About Programming Trends

JetBrains 2022 Developer Ecosystem Survey Highlights

JetBrains released the sixth annual State of Developer Ecosystem 2022 report, based on responses from over 38,000 developers, with 29,000 detailed feedback.

Key Findings

JavaScript remains the most popular language; TypeScript usage has nearly tripled from 12% in 2017 to 34% in 2022.

Developers view AI/ML, Rust, JavaScript, Go, Kotlin, and blockchain as promising technologies, with Rust ranked as the most promising language.

One in two developers plans to adopt a new language, favoring Go, Rust, Kotlin, TypeScript, and Python.

Languages losing popularity include PHP, Ruby, Objective‑C, and Scala.

TypeScript is the fastest‑growing language; Python holds a 55% share and now rivals Java, narrowing the gap with JavaScript.

The top five languages by overall popularity are Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, and Kotlin; when adjusted for user base, Kotlin, C#, Python, Rust, and Java lead.

The least liked languages are JavaScript, Java, PHP, C, and C++; relative to user numbers, Perl, Visual Basic, Delphi, and C have high dislike ratios.

76% of developers primarily work from home; 50% engage in remote pair programming.

69% are satisfied with their job, but only 57% are satisfied with their salary; achievement is the most important factor.

73% have experienced burnout, especially Developer Advocates (83%) and DBAs (80%).

Friend referrals are the most common job‑search method, used by 30% of respondents.

Developers prefer dogs over cats.

Additional Insights

Younger respondents (18‑20) favor Assembly, C, C++, Haskell, Lua, MATLAB, and Rust, reflecting university curricula, while older developers lean toward COBOL, Assembly, CoffeeScript, Perl, Delphi, and Visual Basic. Apart from Assembly, these languages have low adoption among developers under 30, and interest in Ruby is low among younger programmers.

Windows remains the dominant development environment (61%), followed by macOS (46%) and Linux (45%). Linux’s share rose from 47% to 45% year‑over‑year.

English is the primary work language for 15% of respondents, with Chinese (14%) and Hindi (13%) next. About 44% are actively interested in mental‑health topics and use technology to support well‑being.