In just five years, application developers as a percentage of IT staff have gone from making up nearly a quarter of the entire IT staff (23.1%) to only 14.2%. This significant drop is not necessarily a sign of mass layoffs of application developers. In fact, we have seen no evidence that fewer application developers are working in IT departments. However, it does signal a change in the overall makeup of IT departments and the changing role of the application developer.
As shown in Figure 1 from our full report, Application Developer Staffing Ratios, the ratio is 14.2% of the total IT staff at the median in 2023, down from 15.7% in 2022 and 19.0% in 2021. In 2019, the ratio stood at 23.1%, nearly nine percentage points higher than it is today. The decline is steady and pronounced.
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 the developer for more creative and innovative work.
Moreover, organizations are building smaller, lean 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.
Additionally, in recent years, there has 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 decline in application developers as a percentage of IT staff reflects a shift toward specialized roles and increased automation, not a job loss,” said Asif Cassim, principal analyst for Avasant Research, based in Los Angeles. “Organizations are prioritizing AI, ML, and cloud expertise while empowering non-developers to build applications.”
In light of these trends, what is the typical application development staffing level today? Our 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, or it may be purchased by non-clients directly from our website. (Click for pricing.)