Nearly half of developers could quit their jobs this year

Developers
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Not everyone is thrilled about returning to the office, with developers often more upset than others, new research has found.

A report from DigitalOcean discovered almost half (42%) are considering leaving their jobs or have already done so this year, which surveyed around 2,500 respondents from 94 countries including India, US, Germany, Canada and the UK.

In addition, over a quarter (27%) had already started a new job in the past year.

What’s irritating workers?

Almost a third - 28% - of developers considering leaving their job cited higher compensation as a motivator, while 21% cited full time remote and flexible work, and 16% cited better benefits.

With this in mind perhaps employers should look towards investing in better laptops for developers or in better remote collaboration tools.

Entrepreneurism was another big factor encouraging employees to seek out pastures new, and was cited by 8 per cent of developers who left their job and 9 per cent of those planning to.

DigitalOcean dubbed this phenomenon the “Great Redistribution,” where looser policies around remote working are inspiring employees to go it alone.

The most common complaints cited by developers were lack of time and resources to work through projects, while 11% called out turnover among team members as a problem.

But it’s not just concerns about pay that are making workers consider packing it all in.

“Attracting and retaining developer talent is evolving rapidly and companies need to adapt to the new landscape,” said Gabe Monroy, Chief Product Officer at DigitalOcean. “Businesses need to better understand developers and give them the tools, benefits, and pay they need to be successful – business survival in the digital era depends on it.”

The report comes soon after similar findings that found almost half of UK employees are concerned about the cost of going back to the office according to research from Slack which surveyed 1000 UK Office workers.        

These stressors include costs such as travel and food, at a time when almost 9 in 10 British adults are reporting a rise in their cost of living, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). 

Will McCurdy has been writing about technology for over five years. He has a wide range of specialities including cybersecurity, fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence, retail technology, and venture capital investment. He has previously written for AltFi, FStech, Retail Systems, and National Technology News and is an experienced podcast and webinar host, as well as an avid long-form feature writer.