I. Introduction: Scope And Methodology
March 2022 marks the third annual SAP Developer Insights Survey. This external survey is used to track key demographics and trends in SAP’s existing developer audience. We use this data to help us tailor our programs and offerings to better suit the current needs of all SAP developers. The program is led by the SAP Developer Relations and Community team. Key support is provided by the SAP Global Experience Management Office and the SAP.com teams.
We had 1,007 respondents to this year’s Qualtrics-based survey. This report is a summary of the survey results.
II. Key 2022 Takeaways
- SAP developers continue to move to the cloud, but there is a substantial population that have not - 58% are using some Cloud platform for development currently. This is up 14% in the past two years, but still leave 42% answering “No” to this question.
- For our existing developer audience, ERP and the Digital Core are the most common SAP application integration points - 81% of respondents had built SAP ERP or digital core extensions in the past year
- SAP’s developer audience is quite experienced - 58% of respondents report 6+ years of professional SAP project experience
- YouTube and LinkedIn are the best non-SAP sites for connecting with Developers
III. GENERAL QUESTIONS
WHERE ARE YOU WORKING FROM TODAY?
“As of right now, where do you primarily physically work from?” (367 responses)
Work from home still dominates as it has since the start of the pandemic.
JOB ROLES
“Which of the below best describe your role? Select all that apply.” (606 responses)
Developers continue to dominate our job role distribution. This year, we added several Architect roles to the list. Notably, Solution Architect came in on top over Enterprise Architect by a three to one margin.
Solution Architects engage in the translation of a business problem to a technical solution architecture. In advance of recommending a solution, they must first understand the capabilities of SAP frameworks and BTP services.
Enterprise Architects are generally more focused on cross-cutting concerns. They often play a key role in approving technical products for use across the business.
GEOGRAPHY
“What country are you based in?” (389 total responses)
As with last year’s survey, India, Germany, and the US make up close to half of the overall total (48%).
Roughly ten percent of all responses were generated via SAP.COM site intercepts. While this number is proportionally low, it does allow us to sample individuals matching a developer profile that we might otherwise miss by sticking solely to social media promotions.
IV. SAP INSIGHTS
Previous polls and interviews of SAP developers indicated that working on new projects presented the best opportunity to learn new technologies. We were curious how many projects someone typically works on in a year, so we asked.
DEVELOP FOR SAP
“Have you developed integrations or extensions for any SAP products or technologies in the past 12 months?” (599 responses)
SAP PROJECT ACTIVITY
“How many SAP projects have you participated in within the past twelve months?” (392 responses)
The proportion of folks doing SAP-related work was only slightly lower than for 2021. The median number of projects folks worked on increased slightly over the past year’s results.
SAP APPLICATION INTEGRATION POINTS
“What SAP products have you developed integrations or extensions for in the past 12 months? Please check all that apply.” (324 responses)
The ERP and the Digital Core continues to be the dominant area of focus. General app development continues to be prevalent as well.
RELATIONSHIP TO SAP
Shown to those who answer “yes” to developing SAP extensions or integrations within the past 12 months. Question: “How would you best classify your working relationship(s) with SAP? Please check all that apply.” (412 responses)
Half of the respondents report they work inside of their company’s IT organization many of the rest are with partners – still focusing on IT: here we see that about 40% of the respondents work for an SAP Partner or ISV. One fifth could be characterized as freelance consultants.
V. OVERALL SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE
“Overall, how many years of general software experience do you have?” (449 responses)
Our developer base could be characterized as highly experienced – over three quarters have six or more years of experience.
We asked similar experience-related questions for several software categories.
We also were curious to what extent individuals might be working with these technology categories outside of their employment.
As with 2021, we see that Machine Learning, Mobile Application Development, Consumer Devices and Augmented and Virtual Reality are all areas of experimentation outside of work – this experience might easily be applied in work settings, given the right opportunity.
VI. TOOLS AND CLOUD PROVIDERS
TOP PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
“What programming languages have you used in your development projects in the past twelve months? Select all that apply.” (441 responses)
This was posed as a multiple response question. ABAP dominates, as it has for all three years of our survey. JavaScript is very popular as well, which could be attributed to its use in both SAPUI5 and CAP. Java and Python are roughly tied for third place.
USING CLOUD PROVIDERS
“Are you using any Cloud providers for your development projects?” (461 responses)
The 2022 ratio reflects growing use of cloud providers for development projects. Last year’s survey had closer to a 50-50 split. The Y-axis is the number of responses. A shorter bar reflects lower overall use.
VII. INSIGHTS AROUND LEARNING
LEARNING RESOURCES USED MOST
“When learning new skills or technical subjects over the past twelve months, what resources did you tend to use the most? Please select the top three.”
Responses are consistent with last year. The SAP Developer web sites, Tutorials, and How-to videos, and webinars top this list. Books are still called out as useful, but only for a fifth of the respondents.
LEARNING RESOURCES BY AGE RANGE
We were curious if the preferred learning resources varied by age group.
As in 2021, we graphed favored learning resources by age group. We were curious if any distinguishing pattern emerged. The differences seemed minor and there is no significant difference, year over year.
SAP LEARNING HUB
“Do you have a subscription to SAP Learning Hub?"
TECHNICAL CERTIFICATIONS COMPLETED
“How many technology-related certification programs have you completed in the past four years?”
Fifty percent of respondents have an SAP Learning Hub subscription today. Developers do seek formal certifications either for their job proficiency or career development, as shown above. Almost a quarter attained four or more formal certifications in the past four years.
These responses are consistent with our 2021 results.
SAP PREFERRED HELP RESOURCE
“What is your preferred resource if you need help or have a challenge with the SAP technology or tool you are working with?”
Organic web search comes out as the preferred starting point for getting help this year. Last year, Community web site was on top, however, the margin of difference is smaller.
PROFESSIONAL USE OF COMMON MEDIA SITES
We have been curious about the use and relative popularity of social sites for professional use. So, we asked.
“How often do you visit any of the following sites for professional reasons?”
The numbers in the chart reflect the number of respondents in each category. It is difficult to draw specific conclusions here other than to say that YouTube and LinkedIn clearly dominate for weekly or more frequent use.
VIII. SURVEY METHODOLOGY
This report is based on a web-based survey of 1,007 respondents from 63 countries. The survey ran for six calendar weeks between January 7 and February 28, 2022. Ninety percent of the respondents invested 15 minutes or less with the survey.
The survey was promoted via the SAP Community website and the SAP Developer Center, sap.com pop-up intercepts, social media, and newsletters.