What careers do developers want to pursue?

What career paths do developers want to take? According to the Stack Overflow Developers Study, conducted in 2018, most of those surveyed either want to start their own business or work in a more specialized role than they are doing right now.

More specifically, 33.9 percent of the developers surveyed claim that they want to work in either a different or more technical role in the next five years. Another 25.7 percent intend to start their own company in the next five years, either alone or in a team.

19.4 percent of the developers surveyed aim to do the same job in the next half decade. Which of course speaks for a general satisfaction. In the same survey, on the other hand, 36.5 percent of developers stated that they were only “moderately satisfied”. 18 percent are “very satisfied” and 17 percent are “slightly satisfied” with their current careers.

Only 6.6 percent of developers aim for a career as a product or project manager. Leading other people is generally not a career goal for these IT professionals, as only 9.9 percent aspire to a management or leadership role. Only 2.8 percent plan to switch to a completely different industry in the next five years.

The attached report from the “Stack Overflow Study” also shows that job satisfaction does not necessarily depend on the industry. However, job satisfaction is lowest among developers working in financial services. Happiest in their career status are developers who are 50+ and those who have 20+ years of solid work experience. In contrast, direct job satisfaction is highest among 35 to 44 year olds.

Happy developers are of course a great thing. However, even lucky programmers can think about further career steps or skills they need to increase their earning potential.