Indian Programmers are Losing Potential over Comfort and Greed

June 17, 2022

3 mins read

Reports reveal that developers in India are quitting jobs over comfort and money

Amidst the great resignation period, at least three in 10 developers in the country have begun a new job this year, according to a June 2022 survey by cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean. Among those who haven’t, nearly half 44% are considering a job switch. In comparison, globally, a smaller percentage has moved to newer jobs in the past year (25%) or is considering one (42%), the poll of over 2,500 developers found. “Both those who have already left and those considering leaving jobs are motivated by two main factors: compensation and fully remote or flexible work environments,” the report states. “With an ongoing rise in inflation and the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, it’s clear companies need to offer high pay and work flexibility to retain developers.”

It is not only the big IT firms, even startups are offering 50-100% raises to poach talent. Additionally, thousands of deep-pocketed global firms’ captive centers, also known as Global Capability Centres (GCC), are stepping up hiring. Usual suspects like the US tech giants Google, Amazon, and Facebook aside, Japanese firms like flea market app operator Mercari and online retailer Rakuten Group are also on the lookout. Meanwhile, countries like Australia are making immigration easier by adding tech jobs to priority visa lists, giving Indian talent the option to not only leave their jobs but also the country. Over the past 20 years, the share of US workers toiling away in their 70s rose from less than 10% in 2000 to nearly 15% today. But now that the pandemic is pushing people into early retirement, older workers are facing more hurdles. In addition to age discrimination, they tend to work in more contact-related jobs, which might dissuade them from taking on the risk.

It shows that the developer talent shortage has the potential to worsen with 64 percent of those with less than a year’s experience, and 32 percent of those with 1-5 years’ experience, leaving their job recently. Motivations for leaving jobs were found to be consistent among both those who have already left and those considering leaving, with compensation, remote or flexible work environments, and better benefits being the top factors that motivate people to leave jobs, especially for younger developers. Nearly 18 percent of respondents cited a lack of time and resources to work on projects as also a key challenge, and 11 percent mentioned team members leaving as a challenge, demonstrating that the developer talent shortage is impacting even those who stay in their roles.

“Attracting and retaining developer talent is evolving rapidly and companies need to adapt to the new landscape,” said Gabe Monroy, Chief Product Officer at DigitalOcean, in a statement. According to him, businesses need to better understand developers and give them the tools, benefits, and pay they need to be successful – business survival in the digital era depends on it. About 56 percent of Indian developers also participated in open-source projects in the past year, of which just 12 percent were paid for their contribution.

Open source has contributed to learning and networking in India, with 37 percent stating they have gained enhanced skills from open source, 23 percent networking opportunities, and 10 percent have found job opportunities through the open-source community. It is clear that businesses of all sizes need to rethink their approach to attracting and retaining highly-skilled developer talent. The report also identifies compensation and desire for fully remote or more flexible work environments as the top reasons developers are thinking about quitting, or already have.