Top 5 Trends in Software Development for 2019

Everything is moving extremely quickly in the software industry, so it requires a lot of effort just to keep up. This is exactly why we, at Coding Sans, publish the State of Software Development survey every year. To learn what is happening in the industry at the moment, and see how trends are forming over time.

In 2019, software development didn’t slow down at all, so we took the top 5 most interesting trends highlighted by the survey and laid them out for you.

Let’s see what we have to show!

Quickest growing programming languages

The top programming language on the scene is JavaScript, as it has been for years at this point, and that hasn’t changed. It’s so far ahead of everything else that any fluctuation going on seems marginal, so let’s move on to others.

Python seems to be on an upward trajectory, which makes it a super valuable language to have right now. Our own survey shows it’s #3 most popular behind Java, but others report Python has grown enough to overtake second place.

Typescript is the other top up-and-comer, gaining more popularity significantly and continuously over the last three years. It is making massive progress, and it’s not about to stop, as it basically does everything JavaScript can, but it’s easier to use for developers.

Most in-demand programming languages

No surprises here: Python has the highest demand level. It seems obvious, as it’s growing the quickest, so naturally, the demand for good Python developers is skyrocketing.

JavaScript is in second place, but again, it’s so widespread, the fact it’s in demand is basically trivial.

Go is far more interesting, as it’s similar to Typescript in the sense that it’s also hanging on to JavaScript’s wide-spread usage, and it’s growing superbly quickly. Typescript is also close behind on demand levels, so they’re both spreading like wildfire. The competition between them will likely be decided over the coming years, and it will certainly be interesting to watch.

Top challenges in software development

The top two challenges are basically the same for both developers and managers involved in the industry. It’s really interesting, how they feel the top challenges are reversed on their importance, showing some disparity between devs and their managers.

Capacity

Capacity is something managers are more worried about. Apparently, they feel they could get more done if they had more manpower to throw against a problem. Developers are somewhat less concerned with it, even though it is the second priority challenge for them.

Sharing knowledge

Sharing knowledge is the biggest challenge for developers. It seems devs feel like knowledge is more valuable than raw manpower. It does make sense since more people aren’t exactly useful unless there is the necessary knowledge behind them. For managers, hiring is the second biggest challenge; sharing knowledge only comes third.

Outsourcing is more common

Outsourcing became significantly more common in 2019 compared to the previous year. In 2018, barely above 50% said they used outside help, and by this year, it went as high as 66%.

Of all the outsourcing, nearly 60% goes to software development agencies, a good 20% works with freelancers, and another roughly 20% works with both. So, agencies are a hot commodity these days, and the demand will likely keep rising. Good developers are always hard to find, and many company’s projects do not justify keeping up a full team in the long run.

Outsourcing is becoming an important part of everyday life, not only in the tech field but for just about any company dealing with software. So maybe it's a good idea to look into the fine details of it, as you might end up in need of it soon.

Conclusion

We’ve been through some key things, shifting among programming languages, checking the top challenges and the disparity between managers and developers, and touching on outsourcing a bit.

Naturally, there is a lot going on we couldn’t get to this time around, so if you want to read more, check out our survey.