Developer Satisfaction Survey/2024/Quality

πŸ“–Β Developer Satisfaction 2024 Report

πŸ† Quality

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tl;dr

  • Technical debt – Most respondents (56%) say the current level of technical debt is high, although the percentage is lower than last year.
  • Technical debt effects – More than two thirds (70%) say technical debt did affect their productivity in the past year, although the percentage is lower than last year.
  • Code quality effects – Almost two thirds (66.5%) said code quality did affect their productivity in the past year, although this percentage is lower than last year.
  • β€œTechnical debt” – Open answers took issue with the term β€œtechnical debt”.


# Perception of technical debt

We asked survey takers, β€œConsidering the software projects you’ve contributed to in your role as a member of the Wikimedia Developer Community this past year: What is your perception of the current level of technical debt?”

  • The majority (56%) of respondents perceived the technical debt level as high
  • 19% perceived the level as neither high nor low
  • 13% were unsure
  • 12% perceived the level as low

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# Effects of technical debt on productivity

We asked survey takers, β€œIn the past year, how has technical debt affected your productivity as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?”

  • The majority of respondents (69.9%) said technical debt affected their productivity
  • 15.1% said it had no effect
  • 15.1% were unsure

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# Perception of code quality: first-party code

We asked survey takers, β€œHow would you rate the quality of the code you maintain in your role as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?”

  • 41% rated the quality of code they maintain as high
  • 31% rated the quality as neither high nor low
  • 15% were unsure
  • 13% rated the quality as low

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# Perception of code quality: third-party code

We asked survey takers, β€œHow would you rate the quality of third-party code (libraries, language ecosystems) that you depend on in your role as a member of the Wikimedia developer community?”

  • 46% of respondents rated the quality of third-party code as high
  • 24% rated the quality as neither high nor low
  • 19% were unsure
  • 11% rated the quality as low

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# Effects of code quality on productivity

We asked participants, β€œIn the past year, how has code quality affected your productivity as a member of the Wikimedia Developer Community?”

  • The majority of respondents (66.5%) said code quality affected their productivity
  • 22.6% were unsure
  • 11% said it had no effect on their productivity

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# Feedback

We asked participants, β€œPlease share any other feedback you may have about code quality and technical debt” Some themes emerged from the answers.

Meta

Many took issue with the term β€œtechnical debt” suggesting we should reconsider this question in future surveys.

"Technical debt" is just another word for "code that exists".

Stewardship

[poor quality code is] usually in the codebases that *nobody actively maintains* but are nonetheless essential.