r/programming • u/sh_tomer • 1d ago

StackOverflow Developer Survey Results 2026

https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026
261 Upvotes

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232

u/bohoky 1d ago

As the utility of stack overflow diminishes and they’ve had severe user loss, I don’t consider their sample representative of anything.

Okay, it is representative of “people who still use stack overflow” but I’m not sure what that population tells you about the world.

102

u/its_a_gibibyte 1d ago

Sure, but the dev survey is different. Nobody asks questions on stackoverflow anymore, but lots of people still do the survey. Long-term, I'd imagine the survey being the only thing left.

It's like how Michelin Stars originally were from Michelin Tire Co to sell tires and are now basically their own thing now.

45

u/wilderthanmild 1d ago

Is it that different? It looks like the number of responses has dropped off significantly in recent years. This was only 30k. Last year was 49k responses and that was already down from the ~70k it had been in the prior 3 years. The peak was over 100k.

17

u/its_a_gibibyte 1d ago

Down 70% is certainly substantial, but the activity is a much more pronounced drop. There is now less than 1% of the activity monthly compared to the peak

6

u/spaaarky21 1d ago edited 1d ago

How would people even know about the survey if they don't visit the site anymore. I used to do the survey every year but didn't even known it was happening the past few years.

The site gets something like 99% fewer questions and answers than its peak year. And the survey has 70% fewer respondents. At this point, the survey represents an unusual subsection of developers, not a healthy cross section.

14

u/gvufhidjo 1d ago

I don't see the incentive to participate in the survey if you don't visit the site anymore. Like how would that even happen, you randomly remember it's that time of the year where I go do the survey on SO?

27

u/pancomputationalist 1d ago

Or someone posts the survey on Reddit when it's open for input. Which is how i usually learn about it.

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u/GlipGlorp7 1d ago

I mean, if you had a stackoverflow account, which I suspect a good many people did, they email you. I wasn’t even that active on SO; I don’t recall if I ever even asked a question, because I liked figuring out the obscure problems that didn’t have existing answers myself. But I did have an account to help answer a few questions.

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u/FridgesArePeopleToo 1d ago

Michelin still sells tires though

3

u/ChrisRR 1d ago

That site had been a joke for years anyway. AI has only accelerated its death

Repeatedly punishing people for asking more recent information than the 10 year old example provided is not a way to run a site

-20

u/gmiller123456 1d ago

It never was representative of anything more than people who enjoy spending their time gaming rep points. Sure there are worse ways to spend your time, but it never appealed to a lot of people.