Development Deep Dive: How Many Software Engineers in the US
Even though the US currently holds the record for the highest number of working software engineers worldwide, global shifts in the labour market are set to change this. As the IT industry expands globally, the number of specialists working in the field from abroad rises exponentially. According to various reports, the number of software engineers worldwide is around 26.9 million. By 2024 this number is poised to grow to 28.7 million. And, from 2001 to 2017, there was an increase in software developers in America alone by an astounding 135%.
But one question remains, how many software engineers in the US are there? Let’s take a look at the numbers…
The number of available US software engineers
According to a global developer population and demographic study, the US has the highest number of software developers worldwide, with more than 4.4 million. Of this, around 680,000 are software engineers with specific knowledge of software engineering for designing, developing, maintaining, testing, and computer science evaluation purposes.
The vast majority of US engineers are most concentrated in the Washington DC region (6.46%), followed by Virginia and Maryland, closely behind, with 4.43% and 4.41%. While high concentrations of engineers reside in specific states there are some cities like Seattle, WA, that stand out as the best cities in the US to live and work if you are a software engineer. This is an effect of the massive concentration of big tech companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and DocuSign that drive the industry.
Within software engineering fields we have seen certain jobs like computer programmers in the US decline by an astounding 60% between 2000 and today. Luckily for the programmers themselves, despite this wages have continued to increase by 47%. Since a software engineer’s minimum average salary in the US is now around $45,000, the average maximum wage can reach a whopping $248,000 per year. This is great for engineers but can be troubling for companies that want to keep pace with the competition in a fierce seller’s market for development talent.
Causes for an increase in demand for software engineers
There is currently an increase in the demand for software engineers, partly due to the rapid advent of tech advancements and the limited life span of code that requires timely upgrades and changes. Engineers also typically have a very short tenure, averaging less than a year.
Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic prompted an increase in digital transformation drives. While everyone from automakers to banks were slowly becoming software centric, this diversification was hastened by a changing landscape. The pandemic also saw a sudden shift occur from offline to online work, resulting in the implementation of various new tools. Not only is there a demand for more and more creative software, but projects are increasing in complexity. Most things get built many times, and new platforms are released, requiring even more skilled software engineers.
Whenever a software program is released, another development team builds a similar program to complete it. Search engines, e-commerce platforms, messaging apps, and e-commerce platforms are a few factors contributing to the high demand for software engineers. So, how many software engineers in the US actually have the necessary skills to meet this demand?
Finding a solution to a lack of educated software engineers
While your organisation might be asking itself how many software engineers in the US are readily available to assist you it might be worth considering offshoring. As the number of qualified US engineers decreases we see that the total number of software engineers worldwide increases. The global number of software developers will likely surpass the 27.7 million mark by 2023 and 28.7 million by 2024. And experts even believe that tech economies like India will overtake the US’s number of software developers by 2023.
This is remarkable when you consider that back in 2017, India had only around 2.75 million available software engineers. But by 2023, this number will skyrocket to 5.2 million. As an industry, software engineering is one of the leading ones in the world, bringing higher revenues to countries where it’s developing.
Problems with software development in the US
The field of software engineering is unfortunately not diverse enough in the US or the West in general. For one it’s not an industry that is inviting to Generation Z. Software engineering in America is most attractive to those between 30 and 34, with the average age being 43.1 years old. What’s more, 78% of software engineers are male while women only make up around 22%.
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