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Deno vs. Node: No One is Ready for the Move

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:55:07 +0000

This article was originally published on .cult by Honeypot by _Piumi Liyana Gunawardhana. You can see the original article here, and check out some of our other stories!_

A lot can be said about Deno's modern design. But can it win the race against Node.js, the most popular JavaScript runtime environment?

Introduction

There is no argument in saying that Node.js is the world’s most popular and widely used JavaScript runtime environment. But, the arrival of Deno in 2018 created a big hype, and developers can now access a more secure framework with modern features.

Deno is introduced by the same author (Ryan Dahl) as Node.js. It's dubbed as its successor, here to fix some of the major design pitfalls in Node.js. Although, the announcement of Deno sparked a lot of speculation about whether or not Deno is replacing Node.js. So far, there haven't been any significant changes. Most developers remain satisfied with Node.js.

In this article, I'll try to explain why the adoption of Deno has become very slow, and why, people still prefer Node.js. I'll then attempt a comparison between Node.js and Deno.

What is Node.js?

Node.js is a prevalent server-side, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment built on Google’s V8 JS engine. It's been dominating the web development world since 2009.

Node mainly focuses on event-driven HTTP servers. When it comes to handling requests, it runs a single-threaded event loop registered with the system, and each incoming request triggers a JavaScript callback function. The callback functions are capable of handling requests using non-blocking I/O calls.

Additionally, it can distribute the load among CPU cores by spawning threads from a pool to carry out blocking or CPU-intensive tasks. Unlike most rival frameworks that scale via threads, Node’s callback function-based scaling mechanism can accommodate more requests with minimal memory usage.

Node.js is lightweight and ideal for scalable, data-intensive, real-time web applications that can run on distributed devices thanks to its asynchronous I/O and event-driven architecture.

What is Deno?

As previously mentioned, Deno is a new JavaScript framework that seeks to address Node’s design shortcomings and provide a modern development environment. According to Dahl, the creator of both runtimes, Node.js has three significant drawbacks.:

A poorly designed module system that

relies on centralized distribution.

Unstable legacy APIs.

Lack of security.

Deno supposedly fixes all three problems and provides a better experience.

Deno is a JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebAssembly runtime with secure defaults and no file, network, or environment access unless explicitly enabled. It’s built on V8 JS Engine, Rust, and Tokio. Deno adopts web platform standards, it's always distributed with a single executable file and has built-in development tooling to provide a productive, secure runtime. It has a set of reviewed (audited) standard modules that are ensured to function properly during the Deno runtime. Deno also supports native TypeScript file execution without the need for further configurations.

Related content for your soul and skill:

- TypeScript vs JavaScript? Is TypeScript a better JavaScript?

- The best JavaScript frameworks for frontend developers

- 7 ways ChatGPT can help developers

Deno vs. Node: Main Differences

Now, let’s look at a head-to-head comparison between Node and Deno.

Third-party package management

With Deno, developers can install packages straight from URLs without having a centralized registry like npm. Despite the risk of downloading packages directly from and URL -for example, if the server hosting the package is compromised, an attacker could modify the code to include malicious functionality- Deno offers a way to mitigate this by caching downloaded modules. Packages can be directly imported into the script as a library. By allowing scripts to run from any public URL, Deno eliminates the necessity for a package manager to import the modules. However, there is still a risk in importing modules from a third party. Package.json file and node_modules file is also removed.

In contrast, Node.js uses npm to handle all packages. It also has a vast ecosystem of libraries and packages.

Deno’s module import mechanism is more flexible than Node’s, allowing you to import code from anywhere, including GitHub and any CDN or registry you host. This enables seamless module imports without the need for downloading or installing.

APIs

Node.js was created before the concept of Promises, or async/await, was introduced in JavaScript. Hence, most APIs were designed to accept an error-first callback. This method frequently created wordy and complex code. Now that Node developers have access to this async/await syntax, they must also manage backward compatibility because APIs change frequently and are unstable.

In Deno, this is entirely different. There is no requirement to encapsulate in an async function since it already uses await and supports the latest JavaScript features. So, Deno facilitates binding future-based APIs into JavaScript promises by simplifying this process for developers. Deno is also intended to be compatible with the web platform APIs used by JavaScript code running in browsers. A number of the most popular advanced web APIs, such as Fetch, Web Storage, Web Workers, and Broadcast Channel are supported in a way that meets standards.

Security

Security was one of the main reasons Ryan Dahl created Deno.

Deno executes all the code in a secure sandbox environment that forbids access to the file system. Deno first asks for authorization before accessing the file system.

To get permission, you'd need to get it via a command-line argument that would prevent any file from being removed without the developer’s consent. Several command line flags in Deno can be used at runtime to enable particular functionalities for particular scripts. These functionalities are inactive by default; you must explicitly set a flag for any elements your script might require.

These flags consist of:

Node.js was never supposed to be a highly secure framework. For example, Node doesn't require granting access to read or write to the file system and it's not sandboxed. So, any third-party library can cause trouble with a little bit of negligence. Also, there are standard security measures that guard against threats like cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and cross-site scripting (XSS) advantageous to Node users. These mechanisms involve checking the logs, correctly managing errors and exceptions, and verifying user input.

So, despite getting used to the security module’s strictness, Deno is the best option for a more secure environment.

TypeScript Support

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that enables users to add optional static typing. Deno supports TypeScript out of the box by utilizing a TypeScript compiler with a caching technique. As a result, Deno can compile, type-check, and execute your code without translating it to JavaScript.

Although Node.js lacks inherent TypeScript support like Deno, TypeScript is a well-known and widespread language in the Node.js community thanks to the TypeScript package. As a result, TypeScript and Node can function along quickly with minimal effort. If you already have Node and npm installed, you just have to run npm install -g typescript to install TypeScript on your machine globally. Next, run tsc --init to create a TypeScript configuration file. The TypeScript compiler tsc can then be used to compile your .ts files.

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What’s The Difference Between a Junior, Mid-Level, and Senior Developer?

.cult by Honeypot — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 11:41:38 +0000

This article was originally published on .cult by Honeypot by Patrick Zawadzki. You can see the original article here, and check out some of our other stories!

As with all careers, there’s a hierarchy of levels in software engineering. As we know, it’s based on experience, technical knowledge, and leadership skills. Now if you are reading this you are probably not super clear on where these lines exist. For example, junior vs senior developer or entry-level vs junior developer. It’s a bit of a blur, especially when companies have their own sets of criteria for judging these developer types.

As you progress in your career you’re going to get to a point where you’ll want to jump to the next stage. Each stage comes with its own expectations, skill requirements, and salary. I’m going to try my best to break down each level; entry, junior, senior, and tech lead based on the criteria I just mentioned. Now, this isn’t gospel, but it should hopefully guide you in the right direction and towards the correct growth path. So let’s jump in!

1. How to become an entry-level/junior engineer

I’m going to come right out and say it, this is probably going to be the hardest stage in your career! Getting your foot in the door isn’t an easy task for everyone (me included). We call come from different educational backgrounds and even countries, which influence our job opportunities. For example, coming out of a Bootcamp isn’t going to be the same as a full university degree with an internship.

It’ll be daunting at first but don’t worry we’ve all been there and with some grit and persistence, you’ll land that first job! *If you’re at this stage and struggling, lower your expectations a tad and try for an internship or startup — put your skills to practice as soon as you can and start building that portfolio. *

What to expect

For the most part, you’ll be relying heavily on your team and mentor to guide you and help you grow. There might be a bit of imposter syndrome but try your best to put it aside, your company and team don’t expect you to know everything. *They’re probably aware that much of your time will be spent learning and asking questions. *

A lot of entry-level engineers’ responsibilities surround learning the technical environment they will be working in and learning the processes of an engineering team. *When you’re up to speed, you’ll be expected to enter a codebase and make additions (minor) to it without tons of issues. *

Expect to learn the intricacies of the project you are joining, while using the fundamentals you’ve learned to get this role. *You’ll be spending your time, reading requirements, understanding the codebase you’re working in, and creating these changes within a specific time frame. *

Throughout iterations of features and bug fixes that you complete, you will learn how the software development life cycle operates and how your project operates. Software development lifecycles tend to be quite similar between companies. Most companies typically follow some sort of request —> design —> business fit —> and implementation structure to their projects.

You will likely be amongst other engineers, some more experienced and tenured than you. These engineers, typically the more senior ones, will be responsible for helping you learn and being a contributing member of the team. Treat this as an opportunity to learn skills from them and help you advance in your career.

Take a deep breath… remember entry-level engineers will not be expected to “hit the ground running”, a team will expect to mentor you and help you grow. You’ve probably heard this a million times but seriously, don’t be afraid to ask questions. This can’t be stressed enough, everyone senior was once a junior, and letting yourself aimlessly struggle on problems will not help you grow. Timebox your problems and when you feel stuck, reach out for help.

Education and skills

As an entry-level engineer, you’ll probably be fresh out of college or a boot camp graduate. In this day and age where degrees tend to not always be an accurate measure of someone’s ability, being an entry-level engineer really boils down to your skill set and the amount of ACTUAL experience you have.

Entry-level engineers should understand the fundamentals of the technology they are working with, alongside the environment they are in. A high-level understanding is a big part here, you should know a little about a lot of different parts of the software stack you are joining, enough to have an idea about where you need to learn more, the knowns and unknowns.

Additionally, you should have an understanding of how git works as a version control system, and bonus points if you understand branching strategies. Finally, if you have experience making pull requests/merge requests this is great because you will be making a lot of them as a member of a team.

Junior Engineer salary

You’ve probably already searched on Glassdoor or LinkedIn, which will give you a fairly accurate range based on your location.** From my experience, you’ll be looking at anything between $65-75k, but again, starting salary will depend on education, experience, and skills.** Also, keep in mind salaries are higher in the United States compared to Europe or elsewhere. This can also vary greatly by the technology you are working on, so be sure to do more specific research for your area, company, and technology.

2. How to become a mid-level engineer

Mid-level engineers sit between junior and senior developer titles. As a mid-level engineer, you’re starting to get the hang of things. *You won’t require much hand-holding or guidance, and you’ll have experience across multiple projects in a professional setting. *

It’s hard to put a number to it, but a mid-level developer most likely has a couple of years of experience and hours and hours of coding under their belt. You might have even changed companies and worked on a different codebase.

What to expect

Mid-level engineers are engineers who’ve worked for a few years or may have gone into their second engineering role. A company’s going to expect that you have a good understanding of the software development life cycle and are able to take on work without much direction a majority of the time. It’s totally acceptable to ask context questions around your work and clarify the work, however, a mid-level engineer will tend not to struggle with the technical implementation of a feature.

A mid-level engineer’s scope of knowledge will be highly centred around the applications they support and the entire flow within their applications. *These levels of engineers should be able to receive a feature of higher complexity and complete it in a reasonable amount of time. *

A mid-level engineer should also be able to implement completely new features from scratch and work through the integration of these features with the rest of the codebase. Additionally, they will have the experience in development to know when certain features should be broken up into more consumable pieces, as well as a high-level idea of how to approach a technical problem.

A great way to jump from junior to mid-level engineer is to simply spend a good amount of time on the same project, learning how it works, and having experience in many different aspects of the codebase. Exposure to different parts of the codebase and lots of heads downtime within the code will help you accelerate your development career. Code code code.

Education and Skills

Take the same type of education as an entry-level, but add more in-depth knowledge behind the technologies you are working on. For example, if you work in React, you may now be much better at understanding the advanced concepts behind React and begin to understand how to break down a UI element into many different parts to create, bonus points if you can make them reusable for other engineers on your app.

Additionally, you should start keeping up to date on industry trends and emerging technologies here. The tech industry is constantly evolving and improving and there are more and more solutions to yesterday's problems.

Mid-level Engineer salary

Again, I’m repeating myself, but the salary range is going to vary from company to company, and location to location. Let’s say a mid-level engineer has a minimum of 2-3 years of experience, you’ll be able to aim for some around $80-90k. Remember though, salary expectations at Facebook are going to be way different from a startup. But you’ll probably find a compromise through equity or additional benefits.

3. How to become a senior engineer

This is the next big step, becoming a senior engineer! It’s definitely a very exciting title to step into and a huge benefit towards autonomy and market value (every company wants a skilled senior dev so get ready for an onslaught of LinkedIn DMs).

The senior title shows expertise, a proven track record of success across multiple projects, and the leadership skills to mentor junior and mid-level developers. In this role, you’ll need to be a jack of all trades and an expert beginner. So be prepared to be flexible and agile when it comes to your day-to-day. You’ll be leading and mentoring, tasked with solving complex software issues and acting as the source of all knowledge (no pressure).

What to expect

As a senior engineer, you will begin to work with leads/managers to design new systems and estimate the work needed in the overall project. Senior engineers should also be capable of presenting multiple solutions, understanding the benefits and drawbacks of each, and finally, be capable of articulating which solution is the best for the team. Senior engineers can also tend to spend less time actually programming and more time mentoring, designing, and leading.

A senior engineer tends to be a bridge between project managers, engineers, and management. By knowing the application, the architecture it resides in, and the approximate complexity of upcoming work, a senior engineer can help keep a project on track and provide support where needed.

This sometimes leads a senior engineer to be more of a supportive role to the rest of the team, being able to fill gaps where needed and resolve blockers for other engineers. Additionally, senior engineers will have experience and foresight to see where team members may run into roadblocks and proactively remove them. A team’s trust for a senior is important, as other team members will look to them to solve the problems they aren’t sure how to solve and effectively teach the team during that process.

Outside of the team, a senior engineer will also find opportunities for improvement within the organisation or business. They may begin to support shared code libraries for other teams to consume and support these codebases. They seek to find opportunities to remove duplicated work, remove tedious work, and increase the efficiency of teams. Perhaps certain teams are re-inventing the wheel and there is an opportunity for shared code amongst teams to make processes easier. *These opportunities can sometimes be vague with high-level requirements, but a senior engineer should be able to take these vague situations and narrow them down to solutions without guidance. *

Education and skills

Due to the supportive nature of this role, soft skills become highly important. Knowing how to communicate with fellow teammates, respectfully discuss challenging topics, and interject to prevent conflict. By building relationships and soft skills within a team, a senior engineer can use these skills to help engineers who may be struggling with an issue.

On the technical side, a senior engineer will be well versed in the technologies in use on a project as well as the big picture architecture for a project. Design patterns, architectures, and performance-enhancing tactics for applications should begin to become second nature. It’s hard to get more specific than that without knowing your specialty, but I think you get the idea!

Senior Engineer salary

So at the top of the developer ladder, you’ll have the most opportunities and be able to secure a really comfortable salary. In the US a salary for a senior engineer should start around $100-110k, but again, this will depend on your city and company.

What do developer salaries in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands look like?

4. How to become a tech lead

The next logical step after becoming a senior engineer is into management. Management obviously isn’t for everyone, but if this is where you are at, let’s find out what you can expect.

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7 Ways ChatGPT Can Help Developers

.cult by Honeypot — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 10:34:59 +0000

ChatGPT is a long-form question-answering AI from OpenAI that responds to complicated questions. It's an exciting new technology that is being taught to understand and respond to questions posed by people IRL.

Technically speaking, ChatGPT falls within the category of generative AI. Once trained, a generative AI model can generate results similar to the training data but not precisely the same.

How ChatGPT benefits developers

1) Generating codes

In terms of code generation, ChatGPT is a potent tool for developers. ChatGPT can comprehend and interpret developer needs using its natural language processing skills and provide corresponding code snippets. When it comes to repeated tasks or boilerplate code, this may save programmers a lot of time.

2) Generating documents

Thanks to ChatGPT's natural language processing skills, it can accurately generate documents identifying the requirements. Developers, who frequently have to spend a lot of time developing comprehensive documentation for their code, might benefit significantly from this in terms of time savings.

3) Writing test cases

ChatGPT can help developers to write test cases in a variety of ways. One way is by recognizing the test case's purpose and creating test inputs and expected outcomes. For example, suppose a developer asks ChatGPT to write a test case that can handle invalid input. In that case, ChatGPT may generate invalid inputs, such as special characters, empty strings, and out-of-range values.

Wanna know more about ChatGPT? Go check the full article HERE!

Do want to become an AI engineer? Sign up HERE!

React.js: The Documentary - How it All Began

.cult by Honeypot — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 11:58:17 +0000

These days, React is everywhere – even the Honeypot team uses it! But what was happening about a decade ago when React was first open-sourced? The JavaScript community didn’t just have a bad reaction, they couldn’t believe this project had any future.

In the early days, before React.js was even open-sourced a bunch of passionate engineers like Jordan Walke, Shane O'Sullivan, Christopher Chedeau, Jing Chen, Tom Occhino, Pete Hunt, Sebastian Markbåge, Paul O’Shannessy, and Lee Byron took a crazy idea that would revolutionize the way interactive user interfaces are built.

If it wasn't for a small group of passionate developers at (what was then) Facebook, React might not have seen the light of day. In this documentary, Honeypot's filmmaker Ida Bechtle takes you back to the origins, right to the moment when 'Rethinking Best Practices' got real.

Link to full article

47% of Devs Say Bad Project Managers Are Their Biggest Problem [Developer Ambitions REPORT]

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 14:23:38 +0000

What’s the first thing that people think of when they hear the word ‘developer’? For many people, it’s probably ‘money’ or maybe companies like ‘Facebook’ or ‘Google’. However, these topics don’t really reflect the work that developers do or the ways in which they view their career or their life. In fact, while only 8% of developers in Europe want to work for a FAANG, 35% want to work in an industry that has a good cause.

We conducted a survey to find out what developers (in Europe!) really care about. You can find the full report here, but below are some of the key findings about developers’ career ambitions.

26% of developers are driven by the desire for personal satisfaction and pride

A career is more than just the work you do for eightish hours a day, especially for developers. Careers in tech mean having to stay on top of new trends and regularly upskill or learn new languages. So what keeps developers going and striving, year after year? The number one reason is personal satisfaction and pride. On the other end of spectrum, the least popular answer is to build a network or gain status.

34% want to work in a startup

Where are developers most comfortable? TV tells us that it’s startups and, in fact, many developers agree. 34% of developers would prefer to work in a startup, primarily because there is less bureaucracy and they also feel more valued. As developers are often the people making and managing the product itself, it makes sense that they would like to truly have a say in what that product looks like. Scaleups are also attractive to developers though the reasons are more varied. The biggest draw is simply that it is a better product.

Only 7% of developers aspire to work for FAANG

Working at FAANG is sure to make your parents say ‘oooh woooooooow, look at our kid, they’re so smart.’ In reality, far more developers aspire to work in an industry with a good cause. Interestingly, that’s 52% of women and 32% of men. For reference, the second most popular industry is ‘I don’t care.’

61% of developers would like to work on their negotiation & conflict resolution skills

95% of developers aspire to have stronger soft skills… and the number one skill to work on is negotiation and conflict resolution, followed by public speaking and time management. Interestingly, the desire to work on time management does clearly decrease with years of experience. Furthermore, there are a number of notable differences between men and women. In particular, creativity seems to be a bigger topic for men, while assertiveness is a more important skill for women.

In conclusion, it’s clear that developers are often looking to make themselves proud. They want to learn and grow without tipping the work-life balance scale. To learn more about how they aspire to grow and what they expect from their work and community, check out the complete report. (It’s worth it.)

FYI, there are also reports specifically for DACH and the Netherlands. Turns out the Netherlands likes therapists more than the rest of Europe.

Developer Salaries Germany 2021 Report: tl;dr

.cult by Honeypot — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 08:10:45 +0000

Last year we asked developers around the world how happy they were. With that data, we found that developers in Germany are the eighth happiest in the world. We know money can’t buy happiness, but when it comes to your career, salary rates are important. You want to know that you’re earning a fair amount, or maybe you want to be sure you’re not underselling yourself in negotiations.

Luckily we have a lot of data on developer salaries. Because a person’s salary has a huge array of influencing factors, we broke the data down into a number of categories including experiences, role, location, and more.

These are the highlights:
-COVID-19 did decrease the number of interview invites that developers received in the past year but it did not make a noticeable impact on salary.

-The average offered salary for developers in Germany has grown steadily from 2016 to 2020, up from roughly €50k to €60k. Compared to neighboring countries like Austria and the Netherlands, this is a pretty healthy amount of growth.

-Berlin offers developers the biggest bang for their buck, with high offered salaries and a low cost of living.

Managers earn 21% more than individual contributors

The real money is, not surprisingly, made in management. We found this to be true in other countries as well and not just Germany. When comparing individual contributors, backend developers earn more than their frontend and fullstack counterparts. Overall, backend, frontend, and fullstack developers in Germany are offered an average of €62k while developers in managerial positions are offered around €75k.

Berlin offers developers the biggest bang for their buck

Everyone knows Berlin is poor but sexy… at least, it used to be. Things are changing in the city and it’s now exploding with tech and innovation. For developers, it’s not just a city that offers a number of job opportunities — it also offers a good salary.

Before making a move, developers need to consider the cost of living, including groceries, transport, apartment costs and more. This is how developer salaries compare to the cost of living around Germany.

Gender equality varies drastically by city

We found that women are consistently offered lower salaries than their male counterparts. On average, female developers in Germany earn €60k and male developers earn €64k. Frankfurt is the biggest offender where men 15% more. Berlin, on the other hand, has the most equal rates, with men earning 5% more.

Want more? Check out our complete report with more charts, graphs and insights on developer salaries here.

Help us improve your job search!

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 13:03:36 +0000

Look, whether you have a job or not, I think we can all agree that it’s a fr*cking frustrating experience finding a new role (especially one that’s better).

You have to wade through incomplete job postings that don’t actually list requirements needed, or you may even take the time to send out custom letters only to get silently rejected on the other end without you knowing why.

We want to fix this experience so we can be part of the solution and not the problem. Now, this doesn’t require turning tricks or writing up 100-page reports...

All you have to do is take this short survey and share your opinion to help us identify your needs, problems, but also solutions. Simple as that! And I might add, there’s a €100 Amazon Voucher up for grabs if you do take the survey.

Honeypot

@honeypotio

Finding a developer job should be easier. Help us improve the process by taking our survey!
#developer #jobsearch

👉 fal.cn/3d0Xl

07:00 AM - 28 Jan 2021

Take survey

LSD and Programming

.cult by Honeypot — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 11:03:02 +0000

The filmmakers from Honeypot travelled to Portugal to meet with a developer who experiments with LSD while working. The use of LSD (Acid) is legal in Portugal.

In an interview, this unique developer explains what it's like coding on acid. Plus you'll also hear from Dr Ben Sessa, a psychedelics expert, who further explains the history of LSD and the creative benefits it can have when taken in small doses.

Developer Happiness in The Netherlands TL;DR

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 11:03:51 +0000

The Netherlands is a popular destination for tech talent in Europe, thanks to competitive Dutch salaries, the attractive work-life balance, progressive politics and the advanced digital economy.

As of 2019, there were 320,900 professional developers working in the Netherlands. A recent report released by Startup Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Economic Board found that there were 26 job vacancies per available tech worker. According to CBS.nl, there were approximately 12,300 unfilled vacancies in 2017, with projections of the skill shortage in the EU reaching 700,000 by 2030.

Developers in the Netherlands are generally a happy group

Developers living in the Netherlands are very happy. According to our survey, the average developer happiness is 61/100 — respondents from the Netherlands placed six points higher, ranking in the top three out of all countries surveyed. This is ahead of Germany and even Sweden.

On the whole, developers living and working in the Netherlands are more satisfied across all indicators of happiness compared to the world average. Notably, they are most satisfied with their work-life balance, safety, religious freedoms, transportation, and healthcare. The biggest point difference is with transportation, 19 points higher than the average. Satisfaction falls below the world average when it comes to climate and cost of living.

40% of Dutch developers are very happy with their career

Overall, 40% of Dutch developers are very happy with their career and 80% are somewhat happy. Again, female developers are much happier than male developers.

48% of female developers described themselves as very happy with their career, compared to 39% of male developers, though when adding together very and somewhat happy, the genders converge again.

Developers in Amsterdam earn the most in the Netherlands

In general, developers in the Netherlands are well paid. The Netherlands ranks in the top ten on a worldscale for developer pay. According to our data, the average salary for a software engineer working in the Netherlands is approximately €44,000. The lowest salaries reported were around €26,000, the highest reaching upwards of €220,000, which reflects technical specialisations and leadership positions.

Average software engineer salaries vary from city to city. According to Glassdoor, salaries in Amsterdam are the highest, while Rotterdam offers the lowest. Cost of living is quite high in Amsterdam though, meaning more monthly expenses comparatively. If you were to factor in annual living expenses (*at face value), you’d potentially earn more in the Hague than Amsterdam.

So how happy are developers working in the Netherlands?

Developers have been clear about what makes them happy at work, and it isn’t necessarily extrinsic factors like salary. In their own words, a healthy work-life balance, the ability to engage in continuous learning and career growth, and being a part of a healthy work environment and company culture are most conducive to their overall well-being and happiness.

Companies racking their brains for ways to increase developer happiness in the workplace, need to simplify their strategy — provide opportunities for developers to speak up and listen to their responses. And take happiness seriously; it's not just an ethical imperative, it's an economic one.

Honeypot

@honeypotio

The Netherlands is fast becoming a top destination for #developers!

Find out what a dev career in the Netherlands is like in our latest report 🇳🇱 bit.ly/2JyE8wH

09:00 AM - 09 Dec 2020

Developer Happiness Germany TL;DR

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 10:49:53 +0000

Germany is fast becoming Europe’s top destination for developers. As of 2019, there were over 901,400 professional developers spread throughout Germany’s tech hubs, with the majority situated in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. With thousands of unfilled tech positions, fantastic career opportunities, and a great lifestyle to enjoy, it’s apparent why Germany has become so attractive for developers locally and internationally.

We recently released the Developer Happiness Index: Germany which sought to answer two questions: how happy are developers in Germany, and what exactly makes them happy? Here are a few of the key things we learnt.

Developers in Germany are the 8th happiest in the world

Compared to the rest of the world, developers in Germany report higher levels of satisfaction across all happiness factors with the exception of climate and work-life balance. With regards to their careers specifically, work-life balance is considered most important for their happiness, followed by work environment. Salary, however, is considered less important to developers in Germany compared to their global counterparts.

Work-life balance is the most important indicator of developer happiness in Germany

In Germany, 78% of respondents consider work-life balance “very important” to their happiness, yet just over ⅓ of them are very satisfied. Nonetheless, Germany has some of the highest worker productivity levels in the world, ranking third internationally in 2017.

Developers in Germany also benefit from a very established welfare system where they’re protected from existential risks by numerous state insurance policies across health, pension, and unemployment. Their paid vacation leave is quite average for the European Union (although favourable compared to other Western countries) and parental leave is fair; mothers are entitled to 14-weeks paid maternity leave (what you receive depends on your employment and health insurance), plus parents are entitled to up to three years of parental leave.

Overall, Germany boasts three major cities in Getkisi’s Work Life-Balance Index 2019 (out of 40), with Munich, Hamburg and Berlin finding a place in the top 10.

Honeypot

@honeypotio

Germany is fast becoming Europe’s top destination for developers.

Find out what a dev career in Germany's like
👉 bit.ly/3mdMGHo 🇩🇪

11:00 AM - 27 Nov 2020

Junior developers are more satisfied with their work environment and learning opportunities than senior developers

Similar to the reported global average, more experienced developers in Germany are the least satisfied with their work environments and company cultures, and adversely, junior developers are more satisfied than the world average.

The disparities don’t end there. Junior developers in Germany also report higher levels of satisfaction with their learning opportunities than more senior developers, and compared to the rest of the world, access to them is more important.

Growth and learning opportunities are the most common reasons for senior developers to jump ship and switch roles. Many spoke of stagnating trajectories and lack of challenge.

Developers in Germany care less about salary than their global peers — and they are also more satisfied

31% of developers in Germany consider salary to be ‘very important’, 6% less than the global average. In general, developers in Germany are well-paid.

According to our data, the average salary for a software engineer working in Germany is approximately €50,418, but the average developer salaries in Germany vary from city to city.

According to Glassdoor, the highest paid jobs (on average) are in Munich, Frankfurt, and Hamburg while the lowest are in Berlin and Cologne.

Tech Stack is the least important factor for developer career happiness

Tech stack ranks as the least important factor in determining developer happiness at work, although it is still considered very important by almost 24% of developers in Germany and somewhat important by a further 48%.

Junior developers report the highest levels of satisfaction with their tech stacks, and as they gain experience, those levels decrease. Developers with 15–17 years of professional experience report the highest percentage of dissatisfaction at 29%.

Although tech stack is not the most important factor for career happiness, according to data from Stack Overflow, it is the second most important factor developers consider when choosing a new job. So, tech stack may not be the most important factor in retaining talent, but it’s certainly a big player when attracting them.

So, how happy are developers in Germany?

Overall, developers in Germany are pretty happy, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be happier. In their own words, a healthy work-life balance, the ability to engage in continuous learning and career growth, and being a part of a healthy work environment and company culture are most conducive to their overall well-being and happiness.

Infographic: Developer Happiness

.cult by Honeypot — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 16:03:13 +0000

Did you know developers are more likely to experience burnout than their colleagues? Well, there's more.

We made a report which goes into more detail about developer happiness. Check it out here if you want.

Or get the super TL;DR version right now with our Developer Happiness Infographic. What else makes you a happy developer?

Developer Happiness Index 2021

.cult by Honeypot — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 17:12:30 +0000

What makes software developers happy?

Earlier this year, we asked that question by surveying over 4000 developers from around the world and found out what in their careers, quality of life, social freedoms and communities make them happiest.

We took those findings, paired them with available data, and the result is our first Developer Happiness Index 2020.

See how you compare to devs around the world!

And check us out at cult by Honeypot for more dev-related content!