About 50% of developers start coding before they turn 20: Report

Durba Ghosh

Even though 76 percent of Indian developers have a computer science degree, around 37 percent are partially self-taught, according to a Developer Skills Report released this week by tech startup HackerRank.

About three out of every five developers learn to code while they are between 16-20 years old, said the report, indicating that coding is often a hobby and a passion for most geeks than a profession.

Of the roughly 39,000 developers surveyed across all professional levels, 21.1 percent of developers wrote their first piece of code before they were 16 years old while about 50 percent started coding between the age of 16 and 20.

“Since programming is centered upon solving new challenges based on independent research, self-teaching is a major part of being a successful developer,” the report said. Therefore, over 90 percent of employers, across small and large companies, give less importance to college degrees compared to proficiency in skills and experience.

Around 88 percent of these developers, across all age groups, rely on forums such as Stack Overflow to learn new coding languages. “This is true across age groups. Indian developers value step-by-step advice from peers who came, saw, and conquered challenges before them,” Vivek Ravisankar, co-founder and CEO of HackerRank, said in the report.

There is, however, a clear age group divide between YouTube and books as the second favourite resource for learning to code. “We are on the cusp of an evolution in coding education. The very nature of learning is changing. Younger generations are flocking to YouTube while older generations prefer books to learn new skills,” Ravisankar said.

More specifically, when learning a new tool, 65 percent of millennials log onto YouTube while 85 percent of Gen X prefers book to learn new skills.

Python gaining popularity

Majority of Indian developers know C, Java and C++ with 43 percent developers saying that Python will be the next language they wish to learn.

“Python is universally the most popular language and is most loved by Indian developers while Node.js is the most loved framework,” the report says.

However, popularity of a language depends on generation divide. While millennials generally like JavaScript and dislike Go, the opposite is true among 45-54 year olds.

Younger developers prefer newer frameworks like AngularJS and React, while older developers prefer Vue.js.

Increasingly, companies are looking at GitHub and projects to supplement resumes and evaluate skills better. “When we filtered the data by roles, we found that those in a C-level position, including founders, CTOs and VPs, valued GitHub projects more than years of experience. Prestige of degree dropped even further in importance for these folks,” he said.

On the other hand, developers prefer offbeat perks from stock options, in return of their service. In India, 65 percent people surveyed said professional growth and learning opportunities was an important factor in choosing a company, while 58 percent said it was work-life balance.

The findings provide a roadmap for companies and hiring managers to improve the way they hire developers. While 77 percent of hiring managers in India primarily rely on resumes to evaluate developers at the first stage of the recruiting process, nearly all say assessing skills is the hardest part of the process. While, about half of developers say that resumes are not a good reflection of their abilities.

“2018 will mark the end of the resume for developers. As more and more companies across all industries are hiring software engineers, it's more important than ever to truly take the time to understand who developers are, what they’re interested in, what drives them, and what they look for in a job. Without this, hiring managers will always struggle to find the best technical people,” he said.