Insights from 1 million DEV articles (2022–2026).
Tags don’t just label articles — they reveal where developer attention is shifting. They show which topics are gaining momentum, which are fading, and how technologies evolve over time.
In my previous analysis of 1 million DEV articles, tags already highlighted major trends — from the rise of AI to the return of tutorials.
In this article, I continue exploring the story that tags tell about developer interests and core web technologies. Do these trends reflect what’s happening in the broader ecosystem? 🙂
Developers Are Going Deeper
The first clear pattern: “serious” topics are steadily growing. Performance, automation, security, architecture and system design all show consistent upward trends.
Here’s how it looks as a share of published articles:
And expressed as total article count, the trend is confirmed:
The conversation is moving from “how to code” to “how to build scalable, production-ready systems.”
It’s not just new technologies — it’s a shift in mindset. Developers are caring less about syntax and more about structure, scale and reliability.
The Beginner Topics Are Shrinking
While advanced topics are growing, beginner-focused content is declining. beginners tag is steadily decreasing, dropping from roughly 14% to 5% of total article share.
This doesn’t necessarily mean there are fewer beginners. Instead, it suggests that the overall conversation is shifting: the focus is no longer just on getting started, but on building scalable, production-ready systems.
Backend Is Catching Up
Another interesting trend appears when we look at the main web development domains — frontend, backend and fullstack.
For most of the analyzed period, frontend content dominated on DEV, followed by backend, with fullstack consistently third.
However, backend articles showed steady growth, and by the end of 2025 backend nearly caught up with frontend in total article count.
What can be behind this shift? Backend work is deeply tied to system design, automation and security — all reflecting the “serious topics” we saw rising earlier.
Meanwhile, the frontend ecosystem has matured. With established tools and patterns, there’s less need for exploratory or introductory content than before. Whatever the reason, the data suggests that backend is having its moment.
Interestingly, fullstack remains consistently lower - despite being common in job titles. Most likely, developers may still work fullstack, but tend to write about specific layers (frontend or backend).
This trend reinforces a broader pattern seen across the dataset: the conversation is shifting from building interfaces to designing and scaling systems.
The Languages That Power Web Development: Stable or Shifting?
If you had to guess which language dominates developer discussions, you’d probably say JavaScript. And you’d be right — JavaScript remains the most-discussed language on DEV, with stable dominance over time.
But here’s something interesting: TypeScript sits at roughly the same level as CSS and HTML — nowhere near JavaScript.
Why is TypeScript under-tagged? Its adoption in real projects is massive, but on DEV the javascript tag still carries the conversation. Writers may either skip the typescript tag or treat it as “JavaScript plus” rather than a separate topic.
CSS and HTML have a smaller share, but stable — fundamentals never fade.
Backend technologies tell a similar story of winners and steady performers.
Python stands out, with growth accelerating in 2024-2025, likely driven by AI. Building LLM apps increasingly means writing Python.
Java holds steady, not growing fast, not declining. The mid 2025 spike probably reflects Java 21 adoption and its 30th anniversary.
Go shows slow but consistent growth - steady, reliable, worth watching.
PHP, SQL, Ruby remain stable - loved but not dominant. SQL, in particular, is a quiet constant: every developer uses it, but almost no one writes about it 🙂
One particularly interesting moment: Go overtakes PHP around the end of 2025 - a symbolic shift, as a modern systems language surpasses one of the original web pillars.
Conclusion
It’s amazing what stories tags can tell on DEV — revealing trends, focus shifts and how developers are moving from beginner guides to building scalable, production-ready systems 🙂
Part one: I Analyzed 1 Million dev.to Articles (2022–2026): Here’s What the Data Reveals
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