International Data Corporation (IDC) has issued new estimates for the worldwide software developer and ICT-skilled worker population.
Heading into 2014, IDC believes there are 18,5-million software developers in the world, of which 11-million are professional software developers and 7,5-million are hobbyist developers. IDC also believes that there are 29-million ICT-skilled workers in the world, including professional software developers and 18-million operations and management skilled workers.
“IDC’s country-by-country analysis of 90 of the most developed countries in the world, representing 97% of the world’s GDP, is unique in the industry as it provides the only bottom-up model of the world’s developer and ICT-skilled workers,” says Al Hilwa, programme director: application development software at IDC.
IDC’s analysis shows that the US accounts for 19% of worldwide software developers, both professional and hobbyists, followed by China with 10% and India with 9,8%. The US also accounts for 22% of worldwide ICT-skilled workers, followed by India with 10,4% and China with 7,6%.
“While the numbers of both developers and ICT-skilled workers are expected to grow over the next few years, shifts in how IT is being delivered through cloud services will favour the growth in developers over other ICT-skilled workers,” says Hilwa.
Additionally, the population of hobbyist developers is rapidly changing and the growth of this segment is being boosted by the mobile revolution.
