Why developers are joining the Great Resignation

Enterprise software developers are joining the Great Resignation, as they struggle to keep up with increased business demands and are bogged down by repetitive tasks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey conducted by Salesforce's Mulesoft.

This has led to 93 per cent of 600 respondents finding it more difficult to retain skilled developers and 86 per cent are also finding it more difficult to recruit since the start of the pandemic.

The top three factors leading to developer stress, according to the survey, were increased workloads and demands from other teams (39 per cent), growing pressure to transform digitally (37 per cent), and the need to constantly learn new skills to adapt to new technologies and approaches (35 per cent).

More than three-quarters of organisations say their developers are being slowed down by overly complex software architectures. As a result, 91 per cent of organisations see a need for more automation, to ease the burden on developers.

Credit: Mulesoft

"The demand for digital solutions was already outpacing the supply of software developers before the pandemic, but now it's through the roof," said Matt McLarty, global field CTO at Mulesoft. "Churn caused by the Great Resignation is widening this gap even further.

"For organisations to truly transform digitally, they need to do two things: first, give developers user-friendly tools that maximise their productivity, and secondly, give the rest of the knowledge workers in the organisation tools that empower them to become engaged in building digital solutions, not just documenting requirements."