Dev world, unplugged: 65,000+ developers’ survey results on code, AI, and burnout in 2024 (and why you should speak up in 2025)

Intro what 65,437 devs just told the world

Every year, Stack Overflow drops the developer equivalent of a world census and the 2024 edition is a wild one. With 65,437 responses from 185+ countries, this isn’t just a bunch of bar charts. It’s a raw snapshot of what it actually feels like to be a developer in 2024: the wins, the warnings, the WTFs.

This year’s data reads like a Slack rant from an overcaffeinated dev team:

• Rust is still winning “Most Loved” like it’s rigged.
• AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT are everywhere but not everyone’s sold.
• Burnout is no longer subtle. It’s loud. Especially for mid-career devs.
• WordPress lives. Angular survives. And yes, everyone still uses Python.

But beyond the numbers, the story is personal. You can see the tension: between learning and exhaustion, productivity and paranoia, hype and reality.

So if you’re wondering what tech stacks are getting real love, which roles are rising, how devs are actually using AI, and why more people are feeling tired than inspired this is your inside look.

Let’s plug into what dev life really looked like in 2024 and why your voice still matters going into 2025.

Section 2: 2024’s big plot twists rust rules, AI divides, burnout spikes

If 2023 was the year of AI hype, 2024 is when reality hit harder than a missing semicolon.

The Stack Overflow survey didn’t deliver just one big “aha!” moment it delivered three overlapping plotlines that defined the developer experience this year:

Rust is still the people’s champ

For the ninth year in a row, Rust ranked as the most loved language. At this point, it feels less like a trend and more like a personality trait. Devs keep choosing it not because they’re forced to, but because they want to.

Why? Memory safety without garbage collection. Great tooling. Strong community. Also, it makes you feel like a wizard when something compiles.

Meanwhile, Python and JavaScript remain the actual workhorses. Not as sexy. Still everywhere.

AI is in your repo but not fully in your workflow

AI tools saw massive adoption:

• 44% of devs now use AI assistants daily
• GitHub Copilot leads the pack, with ChatGPT close behind
• But only 31% of developers say AI tools make them more productive

Translation? Devs are using AI but they don’t fully trust it yet.

AI-generated code still needs debugging. The hallucinations aren’t funny anymore. And the fear of relying too much is real.

Burnout isn’t creeping it’s charging through the firewall

A big red flag this year: senior devs reported lower satisfaction than juniors.

That’s new.

Mid-career burnout seems to be peaking. People love building but they’re tired of sprint cycles, meetings, and side hustles that feel like second jobs. Even with remote work, the boundaries are blurry.

And yet? Most devs still code outside of work.

This year’s data isn’t just about what tools we use it’s about how we feel while using them.
In 2024, the dev world didn’t just evolve. It glitched and some of us are still trying to recover.

Section 3: loved, dreaded, wanted the tools we fight for (or against)

Developers are loyal. But only to the tools that don’t make them want to scream into the void at 3am.

Each year, Stack Overflow asks devs what technologies they love, dread, or wish they could use more and 2024’s answers are a mix of predictable champions, stubborn villains, and a few surprises you might have rage-uninstalled last week.

Most loved technologies

• Rust once again claims the crown. It’s the Beyoncé of programming languages everyone loves it, even if they’ve never used it in production.
• Docker remains a favorite in DevOps land. It just works (mostly), and developers trust it like an old command line friend.
• PostgreSQL takes top spot among databases. Respectable, reliable, not trying to reinvent the wheel.
• Python and JavaScript hold strong not always the most adored, but everywhere, especially in web dev and data science.

Most dreaded (a.k.a. “why is this still in my stack?”)

• WordPress and Angular top the “still used but mostly hated” charts. They’re like the legacy relatives you can’t remove from the family photo.
• Perl still lurks in the shadows, reminding everyone of pain past.
• Visual Basic somehow got responses in 2024. Enough said.

These aren’t just unpopular they’re often mandatory, especially in enterprise and legacy systems. And that’s where the dread creeps in: not because the tools are bad, but because you can’t escape them.

Most wanted (tools devs dream of using)

• Go, Rust, and Kotlin continue to top the wishlist.
• TypeScript still has massive pull even among devs who use plain JavaScript.
• Up-and-comers like Zig and Svelte are gaining traction with curious devs and side project warriors.

These are the tools developers want to love if only their boss’s 14-year-old WordPress site would let them.

Bottom line? Developers know what’s good, what’s bad, and what they wish they could use more.
But company stacks, project realities, and legacy anchors often force compromise.

That’s why “dreaded but still dominant” is the saddest genre of developer tooling.

AI usage is up but the vibes are off

AI is everywhere in dev land right now. In your IDE. In your terminal. In your Jira tickets (sadly). It’s writing code, generating tests, suggesting regex, and occasionally… hallucinating nonsense with the confidence of a senior engineer who didn’t read the docs.

According to the 2024 survey:

• 44% of professional developers use AI tools daily
• GitHub Copilot is the most-used assistant
• ChatGPT ranks second for day-to-day coding help
• But only 31% of devs say these tools actually make them more productive

That’s not a landslide endorsement — it’s a cautious “meh.”

Devs are using AI but they’re not sure they like it

AI tools are fast. But speed doesn’t always mean better.

Many developers report:

• Code suggestions that look good but don’t compile
• Over-reliance that erodes problem-solving skills
• Hallucinations that are hard to spot in large diffs
• “Fixing the AI’s code” becoming its own full-time job

One senior backend dev from Germany summed it up perfectly:

“I use ChatGPT and Copilot every day, but I still double-check everything. They help but don’t replace my logic.”

The trust gap

There’s a growing gap between usage and trust.

• Devs like having AI tools available but don’t believe in them yet
• Many are using AI to unblock ideas, write boilerplate, or explain unfamiliar syntax
• But when it comes to shipping real features? Manual review still rules

In other words, AI is a sidekick, not the hero.

AI tools are no longer optional. They’re part of the stack.
But that doesn’t mean they’re magic.
For now, developers are treating them like interns: useful, fast, and in need of supervision.

Burnout, side projects, and the myth of loving code

You’ve heard it: “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Cool idea. Until you’re juggling sprint tickets by day and debugging your side hustle at 2am wondering when “fun” turned into “fatigue.”

The 2024 survey put numbers behind that creeping feeling most developers have had for years: burnout isn’t rare it’s routine.

Mid-career slump is officially real

For the first time, senior developers reported lower job satisfaction than juniors.

That’s a twist.

Juniors are still wide-eyed, shipping their first builds, getting excited about cool libraries. Seniors? They’re the ones holding the production system together with zip ties and Terraform.

They aren’t just coding. They’re:

• Reviewing bad PRs
• Fixing AI-generated bugs
• Planning migrations no one will approve
• Writing documentation no one will read

It’s no wonder the joy dips as experience rises.

Side projects: creative outlet or second job?

Developers love to build. But the survey shows that many:

• Code outside work because they feel like they have to
• Worry they’re falling behind if they don’t have a GitHub side repo
• Use evenings and weekends to “stay relevant”

That’s not a hobby. That’s unpaid overtime.

The line between passion and pressure is thin and a lot of devs are quietly burned out from crossing it too many times.

Work-life balance ≠ remote work

Sure, most devs now work remotely or hybrid. That helps.
But Slack doesn’t care if you’re in bed. PagerDuty still rings at 3am. And async culture often means “always online.”

Remote doesn’t automatically mean balanced.

As one ML engineer from Canada put it:

“Burnout sneaks up when you’re doing side projects and sprints at work. There’s no off switch.”

Burnout isn’t a badge of honor.
And in 2024, it’s not subtle it’s systemic.
The real question isn’t “do you love code?”
It’s: “Can you keep loving it without burning out?”

Dev salaries, remote life, and job roles in 2024

Forget job titles on LinkedIn this section reveals where the real money flows, who’s working from where, and which roles are rising fast (while some quietly fade into the background).

The 2024 survey shows a dev world that’s mostly remote, still full-stack, and increasingly shaped by ML, DevOps, and niche high-ROI skills.

The money trail

• U.S. and Switzerland still top the salary charts (no surprises there).
• Developers who code in Rust, Zig, and Erlang earn the most per skill small communities, high impact.
• Languages like Python, JavaScript, and Java are still dominant but don’t always pay the best.

If you’re coding in Rust and living in Zurich, congratulations you’re probably doing fine.

Full-stack devs still rule the land

• Full-stack developers continue to be the most common job title by a long shot.
• DevOps engineers saw a big jump likely due to growing infrastructure complexity and platform demands.
• Machine Learning engineers also climbed, with AI hype now generating real job titles.
• Mobile developers and game developers are trending down slightly, possibly due to shifting market demand and tool evolution.

The generalist is still king but the ML-specialized and infra-focused devs are quickly catching up.

Remote work is here to stay (mostly)

• Over 75% of developers now work either remote or hybrid.
• Full-on return-to-office? Not happening.
• Most devs say remote work improves flexibility but they still crave better async communication and clearer boundaries.

The pandemic changed how developers work and it’s sticking.

Now it’s less about where you work and more about how well your stack handles Slack noise, meetings, and mental fatigue.

Bottom line:
The modern developer isn’t just shipping code they’re juggling tools, time zones, Terraform scripts, and burnout.
And whether you’re full-stack or deep in the ML trenches, your role in 2024 looks more hybrid, more cross-functional, and more exhausting than ever.

How devs learn in 2024 (hint: it’s not college)

If you still think you need a computer science degree to become a developer, the 2024 survey just hit you with a 404.

This year’s data makes it clear: developers don’t wait for permission to learn — they find the docs, hit YouTube, and figure it out in public.

The degree is optional if not obsolete

• Only 20% of respondents had a formal CS degree
• Bootcamp grads and self-taught developers now outnumber degree holders
• The fastest learners? Usually the ones who had to Google their way through their first error log

Nobody’s asking “Where did you study?” anymore.
They’re asking, “Can you ship this, and do you write good commits?”

Devs learn like gamers grind

According to the survey:

• 70% of developers prefer online resources like YouTube, Stack Overflow, and free documentation
• Interactive courses, Discord groups, open-source contributions, and Twitch coding streams are rising
• Offline study? Not so much.

Even universities are playing catch-up with what’s already happening on Dev.to, GitHub, and Reddit.

Real tools > theoretical knowledge

Learning in 2024 isn’t about memorizing Big O notation it’s about:

• Setting up a Docker container without rage-quitting
• Figuring out the difference between Prisma and Sequelize at 1am
• Knowing when to say “nah, we don’t need a blockchain for that”

The best developers don’t just know things. They know how to debug reality.

So if you’re wondering whether you’re “qualified” to be a dev in 2024…
You are if you’re willing to learn in public, Google with speed, and accept that the docs are your true professors.

Who are we? dev demographics unfiltered

The dev world is global, curious, and let’s be real still not nearly as diverse as it should be.

Stack Overflow’s 2024 survey gives us a clearer picture of who is writing the code that runs the world. And while some regions are rising, and more people are breaking in without degrees, the gaps in gender, access, and background are still very real.

Where devs are from

• India, Brazil, and Germany continue to climb in survey responses proof that global dev culture is thriving far beyond Silicon Valley.
• The U.S. still leads in volume, but the margin is shrinking as more devs from South Asia, South America, and Europe add their voice.
• Tools, languages, and even memes now have a global accent.

The gender gap is still glaring

• Only 7.5% of all respondents identified as women
• Non-binary and gender-diverse devs made up less than 2%

In 2024, this number feels especially disappointing not because women aren’t coding (they are), but because many still don’t feel seen, welcomed, or counted.

It’s not just about who writes the code. It’s about who feels comfortable in the room, in the repo, in the community thread.

Experience levels

• The average developer has 10.5 years of experience
• But over 33% have been coding for five years or less

This is a community with depth and fresh energy.
You’ve got seniors managing legacy C++ apps from the 2000s sitting right next to juniors pushing Rust to production for the first time.

The gap between “veteran” and “beginner” is wide but that’s what makes the dev world so dynamic.

Demographics aren’t just statistics.
They shape how docs are written, which tools succeed, and what kind of dev culture we build next.

We’ve made progress. But we’ve got a lot more lines of code (and culture) to refactor.

Real dev quotes that hit too hard

Survey data is great. But sometimes, a single sentence from a burned-out backend dev or a salty frontend engineer captures the entire vibe better than 20 graphs ever could.

These are the raw, real, painfully accurate developer quotes from the 2024 Stack Overflow survey that made us laugh, nod, and wince a little.

“I use ChatGPT and Copilot every day, but I still double-check everything. They help but don’t replace my logic.”
Senior Backend Dev, Germany

This one hits the AI productivity nail on the head. They’re tools, not wizards. We still carry the cognitive load.

“Why are we still using WordPress in 2024? That’s the real survey question.”
Frontend Dev, Argentina

You can almost hear the PHP trauma.
Legacy tech may be hated but it’s still running 43% of the web. Oof.

“Burnout sneaks up when you’re doing side projects and sprints at work. There’s no off switch.”
ML Engineer, Canada

This is the quiet truth no productivity tool wants to market: context-switching and coding for fun don’t mix well when you’re tired.

These aren’t just quotes.
They’re every dev group chat condensed into bullet points.

And they prove what this whole survey is really about: not just tools and tech but the people behind the screen, trying to make sense of a fast-changing industry while still getting things to compile.

2025 takeaway AI is here, but real dev experience still runs the show

If one thing’s clear from the 2024 survey, it’s this: AI isn’t a maybe anymore it’s a given.
It’s in your editor. It’s in your browser. It’s in the autocomplete suggestions for your commit messages.

But here’s the thing: AI didn’t replace developers. It revealed what developers actually need.

AI is the sidekick, not the superhero

Yes, tools like Copilot and ChatGPT are changing workflows.
But they’re not replacing dev intuition, debugging instincts, or plain old experience.

• AI is great at boilerplate.
• It’s fast at scaffolding.
• It’s decent at explaining foreign codebases.

But when it comes to architecture decisions, production readiness, and “wait, does this even scale?” moments human devs still run the show.

Legacy tech is still everywhere

The future might be LLMs and Rust, but the present is… WordPress, Java, and janky shell scripts from 2012 that no one dares touch.

And that’s not a failure it’s an opportunity.

Modernizing, refactoring, and rethinking legacy systems will be one of the biggest challenges and career advantages for devs in 2025.

Forums still matter in the AI era

Stack Overflow might not be the first tab open anymore but the knowledge behind it powers AI answers, model training, and team troubleshooting.

Devs still need:

• Clean docs
• Good examples
• Community wisdom
• Stack Overflow threads with actual context

AI might write the first draft, but real learning still comes from real questions asked by real humans.

So as we head into 2025, here’s the takeaway:

The future of development will have AI all over it.
But it’ll still need developers who know when to say:

“This looks right. But I’m gonna test it anyway.”

Add your voice the 2025 survey is live

You don’t have to be a senior architect shipping clean CI/CD pipelines to matter in the developer world.

You could be a junior dev shipping your first app.
A self-taught tinkerer learning Rust on weekends.
A burned-out engineer silently rage-scrolling legacy PHP.

You count. And your experience shapes the ecosystem.

Why your voice matters

The Stack Overflow Developer Survey doesn’t just sit on a dashboard somewhere.

• Framework maintainers read it.
• Tool creators use it to decide what to build next.
• DevRel teams, hiring managers, and tech educators track it to stay relevant.
• AI trainers literally mine it for model tuning.

What you say in that form might change how the next version of VS Code works.
Or whether that obscure bug in your favorite package gets prioritized.
Or how much junior dev salaries move in your region.

Help make the next year more honest

If you’ve ever:

• Screamed at an unexplained stack trace
• Rolled your eyes at an unnecessary AI suggestion
• Had to “optimize” someone else’s Copilot commit
• Asked, “Am I the only one who’s exhausted?”

…then you’ve got something to say.

And now’s your chance to be heard.

Take the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey

It takes 10 minutes. But the impact lasts all year.

Let the next 65,000+ devs know you were part of it.

References & helpful links

Want to dig deeper into the data, explore the conversations, or grab some inspiration for your next tech rant? Here’s your toolkit:

Official sources

• Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024 The full report with breakdowns by tech, salary, geography, and role.
• Stack Overflow Interactive Data Explorer Filter results by language, region, experience, and more. Warning: it’s addictively detailed.
• Stack Overflow Blog: “Developers want more, more, more…” Highlights, hot takes, and extra commentary from the SO team.

Community reactions

• Reddit /r/programming thread on the survey Come for the charts, stay for the spicy takes.
• daily.dev Coverage of the 2024 Survey TL;DRs, visualizations, and trend breakdowns for the always-on dev.
• GitHub Copilot + AI tooling insights Pair this with the survey for context on AI adoption curves.

Learning + career dev tools

• FreeCodeCamp
• Fireship YouTube
• Real Python
• DevDocs the minimalist doc reader for when Stack Overflow doesn’t have the answer

Want to help someone else find their way in dev land?
Share the links. Share the insights. Or better yet share the survey.

Because this isn’t just about 2024.
It’s about making 2025 actually better for the people who build the internet.