Lifestyle and Fun

Please note that not all questions presented here were asked in the lifestyle section directly; some of them were placed in randomly shown sections, so samples may differ across all the questions presented here.

This year, we again asked developers about their lifestyle. Developers were asked questions regarding their habits, patterns of behavior, and job satisfaction.

Respondents were given the choice of whether or not to complete this section, and about a half of them did.

Digital life

Unsurprisingly, social media platforms are mostly used by young developers: it was mentioned by 26% of those under 20 but only by 14% of those 50 or older. More interestingly, the younger a developer is, the more likely they are to read search results directly on the search page without going to the website. About 22% of those under 30 mentioned doing this, compared to just under 11% of those aged 50 and up.

What sources of information do you use in general?

What do you use each type of information source for?

Among developers, the most popular sources of entertaining content are YouTube, social media, and TV, while news is mostly found on news websites, TV, and radio. The top 3 sources of professional reading materials are books, wikis, and community forums, each being used by more than 93% of devs.

Do you use your smartphone to read professional materials?

Which smartphone do you use?

5%

of developers use both Android and iPhone smartphones.

Unsurprisingly, those who develop for macOS more often prefer iOS smartphones (58%). More interestingly, those who develop for Linux more often use Android (66%).

Do you have and actively use accounts on the following websites?

Please check all that apply.

74%

of surveyed developers use ad-blocking software. Such tools are popular across all countries, but their usage depends on age: younger developers are more likely to use ad blockers.

Generally, having accounts on most websites is only loosely related to developers’ age. However, younger developers tend to use Reddit, Twitch, TikTok, Zhihu, and QQ more often, whereas Facebook usage is more popular among older developers.

Privacy

How do you feel about personal data collection?

Those who develop security software more often take steps to make sure their personal data stays private (by a margin of 13 percentage points).

Of the 83% of developers who accept at least some cookies, 61% explore the consent preference options before doing so.

Do you agree to send anonymized statistics for your tools?

1 in 5 developers do not agree to share any anonymized statistics for any of the tools they use.

Life

What hobbies do you pursue in your free time?

Please check all that apply.

Interestingly, the “sleepiest” respondents are technical support specialists: 38% of them say sleeping is their hobby, and the least sleepy ones are C-level officers, among whom only 16% selected that answer.

While video games remain quite popular even after the pandemic, programming again became a top-ranked hobby like it was in 2019 and 2020. And, sadly, 1 in every 100 developers still does not have any spare time for hobbies.

26%

of surveyed developers say they have children.

How many kids do you have?

Cats or dogs?

When do you usually go to bed?

How many hours a day do you sleep?

Sadly, only 40% of developers sleep more than 7 hours a day. UX/UI designers are the most likely to be “long sleepers” (44% of them sleep more than 7 hours a day), and team leads are on the other end of the spectrum (only 34% sleep more than 7 hours).

Career

What time do you usually start your working day?

At what time do you usually stop working?

Among surveyed developers 9% start their working day at 7 am or earlier, and 6% finish working at 3 pm or earlier. What early birds!

How satisfied are you in your (main) job?

69%

of developers say they are satisfied with their work. Unsurprisingly, job satisfaction is closely connected to satisfaction with salary: The more satisfied respondents are with their salaries, the more they are satisfied with their jobs, and vice versa.

Which aspects of your job are important to you?

Despite the link between job satisfaction and salary satisfaction, the most important job aspect for developers is feeling like they can achieve something. Interestingly, having a responsible job is the lowest priority.

Where do you mainly work?

Cafes and coworking spaces are not so popular pandemic workplaces as you might expect: the share of people working in those places has not changed much over the last two years.

Have you attended any of the following types of events in 2021?

While the pandemic caused many events to move to online platforms as opposed to in-person venues, we seem to be trending back the other way compared to last year. Online meetups have dropped by 17 percentage points, and online conferences by 22 percentage points.

Which of the following kinds of events do you attend to help with your work?

Most often, developers attend events related to their jobs. Those who are less satisfied with their jobs more frequently attend events for technologies unrelated to their jobs, and generally are a bit less likely to attend any events.

How much of your working time do you spend on ...?

Among surveyed developers, 7% spend more than a half of their working time on meetings and work-related chats.

We can prove a well-known belief about the link between salary and frequency of meetings. Among the highest-paid third of the respondents, 12% spend more than a half of their working time on meetings and chats, while among respondents with middle and lower salaries, this share is 5% and 6%, respectively.

Confidence in professional skills grows as one rises through the ranks: 15% of junior employees say they are better than their peers, while among seniors this share is 34 percentage points higher, at 49%.

How many vacation days did you take last year?

31%

of developers spent only a week or less vacationing last year.

What helps you to be productive?

Those saying hobbies help them to be productive generally have more diversified hobbies.

How did you initially find out about your current job?

Interestingly, only 3% found out about their current job via social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Stack Overflow), and 28% from recruiters, while 30% were referred by their friends.