Web log: Stack Overflow survey profiles developers

Developers are often young, self-taught males with no computer science degree

Stack Overflow, a question and answer website for developers, recently conducted a large survey of its users, receiving more than 26,000 responses. In some respects, the results were not hugely surprising: 92 per cent of these devs were male and most were aged between 20 and 29.

What was surprising, however, was the fact that 42 per cent identified as self-taught and 48 per cent had never received a degree in computer science. In terms of where operating system loyalty lies, year-on-year Mac OS X seems to be gaining in popularity while Linux stagnates and Windows remains the most widely used.

The final, quirky, question was about consumption of caffeinated beverages and it was found that the Norwegians and Dutch pound back more coffee than other nations’ coders.