In just five years, the proportion of application developers within IT departments has declined sharply from nearly a quarter of the entire IT staff to just over one-tenth. But this notable shift is not necessarily a sign of mass layoffs among application developers. In fact, we have seen no evidence to suggest that fewer developers are working in IT departments. Rather, it signals a change in the overall composition of IT teams and an evolving role for application developers within the organization.
As shown in Figure 1 from our full report, Application Developer Staffing Ratios, there has been a steady decline. Application developers comprised 11.7% of the total IT staff at the median in 2024, down from 14.2% in 2023 and 15.7% in 2022. In 2020, the ratio stood at 22.0%, nearly 11 percentage points higher than it was in 2024.
So, if the number of developers has not dwindled, what is causing this decline? For one, application developers are not the only ones building and maintaining software. The rise of low-code/no-code platforms and citizen developers empowers non-technical individuals to create simple applications, reducing the need for developers on basic tasks. AI coding partners are also making application developers more productive. These AI coders can eliminate repetitive work, freeing developers for more creative and innovative work.
The decrease is also partly attributed to the inclusion of very large companies in our 2024 data. Due to their highly diversified IT departments, which encompass numerous specialized roles, very large enterprises typically maintain a smaller percentage of application developers relative to their overall IT staff. This, coupled with the need for cost-effective scaling of business application development and management, drives them to extensively leverage outsourcing and global capability centers (GCCs).
Moreover, organizations are building smaller, leaner teams of highly skilled specialists focusing on developers with specialized skills in AI, ML, cloud computing, and data science instead of a large team of generalists. These specialized skills are usually limited in supply and accompanied by high wages. Agile development and DevOps are also a part of this trend.
In recent years, there has also been an increase in IT job functions outside the development group, such as data scientists and cybersecurity analysts. As digital transformation, data analytics, and AI become a larger part of the IT workload, other roles, including analysts and project managers, are required to meet the strategic needs of the enterprise. As head count in these positions increases, it tends to hold down application developers as a percentage of the total IT staff.
“The traditional app developer’s role is evolving, not diminishing,” said Asif Cassim, principal analyst for Avasant Research, based in Los Angeles. “They are now strategic innovators, amplified by the rise of low-code platforms and AI coding partners.”
In light of these trends, what is the typical application development staffing level today? Our full report uses three metrics to make that assessment: application developers as a percentage of the IT staff, users per application developer, and applications per developer. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample by organization size and sector. We also provide a benchmark for the larger application group, which also includes personnel engaged in web development and support, quality assurance and testing, data management, business systems analysis, and DevOps.
This Research Byte provides a brief overview of our report, Application Developer Staffing Ratios. The full report is available at no charge for subscribers.