There’s Stack overflows data from their annual survey. But a lot of people using Stack overflow can’t code. Just look at the questions. Many are complete beginners, many have not worked on a production project.

To further strengthen the aspirational nature of the responders, one can consider development tools vs platforms – most used microsoft platform products such as Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio and Notepad ++ ( 50.7%, 31.5%, 30.5%), yet listed Linux as favorite development platform. One could wonder how much Linux they use daily, whether in production, development or deployment. 

However, out of professionals surveyed, male developers were less interested in company culture than women. Both genders despised meetings. Compensation is important, but so is opportunity to grow, the software stack, and not pulling overtime.

And developers hate open space offices. Give your teams the opportunity to have a space of max 7 people and put in noise booths and meeting rooms, and see their productivity and happiness improve. No, do a test, really. We did. I do not accept shared open space for my teams.

Many of those items can be offered with no financial expenditure on the employers part. Several software development frameworks allow  eliminating deadlines, and if You can offer life-work balance, there are developers valuing that quite highly.

The cult of the 10x developer so prevalent in America does not seem to have the same cachet in Europe. Perhaps it is thus not surprising that Spain has more happy developers than the US. Is it the siesta?

When working as a project manager in tech, the developers one gets are a crucial part of the puzzle. I prefer to work closely with HR, ideally not letting them filter out the resumes.  I don’t care about EQ if the code is good enough. Then again, a self-assigned genius can produce unmaintainable code and take down the team with them. So the answer, as always, is “It depends”. No profound insight there.

But no, just because the demon of FAANG offers a salary Your company cannot compete with does not mean You cannot find good developers. How often does Your organization ask “What do developers want?”

As far as competent programmers go, it is,  and shall continue to be, their market.  What can You offer to them that others can’t?