What the Latest Global Survey Reveals About Software Development Trends in 2019

Due to rapid changes in software and technology, this report analyzes the state of U.S. tech teams in software development.

This year Apiumhub partnered with Coding Sans and several software companies—including Instabug, Clutch, Shippable, Code Giant, Stride, Codeship, Usersnap, and GitKraken—to conduct a global software development study, gathering over 300 responses from around the world.

Sneak Peek: Interesting Facts About Software Development

The software development industry evolves quickly; new languages, architectures, containers, and methodologies appear almost every year. Tools and languages popular today may become obsolete tomorrow. This article captures a snapshot of the current state and offers some predictions.

1. Challenges in Software Development

Technology companies face the biggest challenge of scaling work under limited capacity, which impacts delivery of software products. Recruiting is tightly linked to this challenge, and attracting and retaining talent is a major issue.

Teams often address capacity challenges by optimizing workflows, prioritizing tasks, and increasing staff. Agile methods are commonly used to manage limited capacity.

Recruitment solutions include hiring internal recruiters or headhunters and launching internship programs.

2. Programming Languages

The most widely used language is JavaScript, with a 60.73% share.

Interestingly, 36.63% of respondents said they do not plan to adopt any new programming language in the next 12 months.

3. Tools

The report shows that teams use a variety of tools, especially for testing and project management. The "Other" category is higher than any specific tool category.

4. Hiring and Retaining Talent

Hiring is the second biggest challenge for software development teams and the top challenge for managers. Companies focus on four key areas when recruiting: willingness to learn, cultural fit, work experience, and technical skill assessments.

Degrees are becoming less important; learning ability and motivation are prioritized in a fast‑changing world.

Retention factors highlighted by the data include challenging work and a strong team culture.

5. Software Outsourcing

Delivery and capacity issues are the biggest challenges for the outsourcing industry; outsourcing can be a quick solution. Most respondents are satisfied with the current state of outsourced software development services.

6. Performance Management

The report explains how software development teams measure performance and address delivery issues, emphasizing code quality.

Task completion and code readability are the most important metrics for project managers.

Unrealistic expectations, poor estimation, and undefined deliverables are the primary reasons projects fail.

Peer reviews and CI + TDD are the preferred practices for ensuring code quality.

Conclusion: Global Software Development Overview

This article presents only a small portion of the data collected in the survey. Readers are invited to share products or technologies they find interesting.

The data applies to this year; thoughts on how the software industry might differ in 2019 are welcome.