Study finds Pandemic Worsens Effects of Developer Burnout

The number of software developers who have felt burnout from work increased by 8% this year, according to a new study. Research from Haystack Analytics found that 83% of developers feel burned out and 81% reported an increase in feelings of working outside their abilities because of the pandemic.

The analytics firm has published its findings on the disruption COVID-19 has had on developers in a report.

Of the people surveyed, 47% believed they had a high workload, 31% felt inefficient processes were in place at their job, and 29% believed that unclear goals were set.

The study also showed that 83% developers are worried about software reliability at their workplaces, with 20% being extremely concerned.

Haystack Analytics consultant Junade Ali said:

"Whether allowing us to stay connected or building vaccine booking systems, software developers have played a key role during the pandemic. The results show that developer burnout is far worse than I imagined when I designed this study."

"Given the ever-greater role software plays in society and the high rate of concern developers have for software reliability in their workplaces, this raises serious concerns about the quality of software that plays an integral role in our everyday lives and critical national infrastructure," he added.

Haystack believes the importance of well-being is underscored by a growing number of software developers being needed to sustain today’s technology industry. Statista found 408,000 software developers in the UK alone. By 2024, estimates are that there will be 27.7 million globally connected designers and people who create solutions for digital devices including smartphones,

Commenting on the study, Kathryn Koehler, director of developer productivity at Netflix, said: "This is a good set of questions. You can't capture the productivity of a team in one metric."

Koehler went on to talk about how Netflix was starting to develop their own approach to measuring developer productivity internally by "starting small, but starting on something that is impactful; and then not stopping there – continuing to think about productivity, satisfaction and the other stuff in context."