RDEL #105: Top findings from the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
84% of developers use AI, but 46% report distrust. Autonomy and satisfaction remain the biggest drivers of productivity.
Welcome back to Research-Driven Engineering Leadership. Each week, we pose an interesting topic in engineering leadership, and apply the latest research in the field to drive to an answer.
Every year Stack Overflow publishes its latest developer survey, giving readers a pulse on what’s changing in the engineering ecosystem. This week, we dig into the data and ask: what are the most interesting (and surprising) findings from this year’s survey?
The context
very year, the Stack Overflow Developer Survey offers one of the most comprehensive snapshots of the software industry. With tens of thousands of developers responding across roles, geographies, and experience levels, it captures not just the tools and technologies teams use, but also the sentiments, habits, and challenges shaping engineering work. (We reviewed the 2024 report in three parts - productivity/DevEx, AI use, and most popular technologies)
The 2025 report reflects an industry in transition. It’s a year marked by accelerating AI adoption, evolving skill demands, and shifting priorities in how engineers work and learn. For engineering leaders, the value of this dataset isn’t just in seeing what’s popular—it’s in spotting the patterns and tensions that will influence hiring, productivity, and team culture in the years ahead.
The research
Stack Overflow surveyed over 49,000 developers across 177 countries, covering 62 questions and 314 technologies in its 2025 edition. This comprehensive effort provides a global snapshot of how engineers work and what they care about.
This year, we focused our top findings on job satisfaction and AI sentiment.
Job satisfaction:
Engineers report higher satisfaction (24.5%) this year compared to last year.
Nearly a third (32.4%) of engineers work remote this year.
Autonomy and trust are the top attributes contributing to job satisfaction, followed by competitive pay and solving real world problems.
AI Sentiment
84% of developers use or plan to use AI tools in their daily workflows—continuing a sharp upward trend. Interestingly, sentiment has declined since last year - 60% felt favorable sentiment (versus 70% in 2024).
Engineers report high rates of distrust - with 46% reporting distrust compared to 33% reporting trust.
The top frustration with AI is close-but-not-right responses, followed by the toil of debugging AI-generated code.
AI agents are not mainstream (52% not using them), and we have yet to see an uptick in productivity.
The application
These survey insights reveal a nuanced challenge: AI tools offer speed and capacity—but without trust and quality safeguards, they risk slowing teams and eroding confidence in outputs. We also see that AI adoption and job satisfaction are deeply connected. Developers value autonomy, remote flexibility, and meaningful problem-solving—and AI can either support or undermine those priorities.
The leaders who will see the biggest productivity gains aren’t just rolling out AI tools; they’re integrating them into a culture that fosters trust, skill growth, and developer choice. The goal is to make AI an enabler of better work, not just faster work.
Here’s how to put that into practice:
Design AI adoption around developer priorities. Use AI to reduce repetitive work, free up time for creative problem-solving, and increase flexibility.
Anchor changes in trust and autonomy. Make AI usage opt-in or customizable where possible, and encourage experimentation.
Measure the whole picture. Track AI’s impact not just on speed, but on engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
The best outcomes happen when AI adoption is matched with an equally deliberate investment in how people feel about their work.
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Happy Research Tuesday,
Lizzie