Why developers are joining the Great Resignation

Research from Salesforce's Mulesoft found that 93% of enterprises are struggling to retain skilled developers.

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% of respondents finding it more difficult to retain skilled developers and 86% are also finding it more difficult to recruit since the start of the pandemic.

The research was conducted in February 2022 and surveyed 600 IT leaders from enterprises across the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia.

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

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

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