How Covid-19 boosted global demand for software developers
Almost three years after the coronavirus pandemic drastically changed our lives and rapidly accelerated digital transformation – it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore a series of challenges caused by an ongoing global scarcity and demand for talented software developers.
If you are still having any doubts about this phenomenon, hereβs a fun fact: according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for software developers, quality assurance analysts and software testers, is expected to rise by an impressive 22% between the years 2020 and 2030.
Every year, on average, over the decade starting at 2020, there will be approximately 189,200 available job openings for software developers. Even with technology investment being at its highest, the supply of tech-savvy talent has not managed to keep up with market requirements.
As a significant number of businesses rushed to re-allocate their technology budgets, striving to reduce the disruption caused by Covid-19, the global demand for IT talent grew as companies struggled to find and hire skilled computer scientists, engineers and software developers.
Digital Transformation and Covid-19
Before we explore how the global pandemic boosted demand for software developers, it is important to consider its impact on the acceleration of digital transformation across industries.
Digital transformation refers to the process of using digital technologies in order to adapt to vital market demands and to optimize business processes, culture and customer experiences.
For both governments and companies in all sectors, the global business response to Covid-19 disruptions has managed to speed up the wide adoption of digital technologies by several years.
Whether digitizing customer and supply-chain interactions, or their internal operations, businesses of all sizes had to make fast and long-lasting strategy changes in order to survive.
The demand for reliable and robust software development is driven primarily by company executives recognizing technologyβs strategic importance as a critical component of business.
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How did Covid-19 boost global demand for software development?
- Digital Healthcare
With the digital transformation of the healthcare industry well underway before the pandemic – and throughout the medical and business chaos caused by Covid-19 – smart software and IT infrastructure have enabled digital solutions capable of supporting the worldβs healthcare systems. From remote patient monitoring and consultations, testing and tracing apps, all the way to AI-powered e-health chatbots – digital health tools provided medical professionals with efficient real-time visibility into their patientsβ health status, essentially enabling proactive care and preventive treatment measures.
- E-Commerce
The pandemic drastically forced us to reimagine our shopping habits and radically transformed long-established consumer behavior across the world. Significantly boosting the need for software development to facilitate e-commerce, global retailers and service providers had to embrace digital tools in order to ensure that their products and services could reach their intended customer bases. From online grocery orders, supply-chain transparency and better b2b communication, software developers delivered quick and robust solutions that helped businesses adapt to the pandemicβs difficult challenges.
- Digital Investment
Amid lockdown measures and continuous market uncertainty, global businesses had to shift to smart digital strategies in a short span of time, just to keep their operations running as efficiently as possible. It should not be surprising that the EUβs long-term budget for the period 2021-2027, will focus especially on facilitating the digital transition of the European economy and society. As the link between digitization and business productivity increasingly becomes more clear for executives, demand and investment into dedicated software developers will only continue to grow to extraordinary levels.
- Remote Work
As the global pandemic forced an abrupt transition to working from home for millions of employees around the world, advanced IT tools, networks and infrastructure have made remote work possible and have certainly played a key role in minimizing the pandemicβs overall impact. While transitioning to remote work practices has not been easy for all companies throughout the pandemic, the numerous benefits offered by tele-working means that software development will continue to play a crucial role in supporting global businesses to manage their workforces and productivity with remote digital tools.
- Online Services
An increased demand for online services during the pandemic, resulted in companies around the world actively looking to recruit data and software engineers. With low-code and no-code software development becoming increasingly sought after, businesses are looking for fast, reliable and cost-efficient digital tools that enable them to deliver their services online. Even if there might be a justified concern that easy-to-navigate platforms will eventually drive down the current demand for developers, itβs also likely that in the future, skilled and experienced developers will become even more valuable.
