Integrating cutting-edge technologies and applying new development methods in line with customer requirements are key indicators of where tech talent and companies should focus their efforts. Every year there are new trends in software development and IT careers - standing still is not an option. Conversely, being at the forefront of current trends in software development is the only way to stay ahead of the competition and meet the needs of your customers.
At FiveTeams, we conducted an analysis of the software development industry to find out which software trends will dominate in 2023.
#1: Focus on the cloud
The years 2021 and 2022 demonstrated the importance of being able to scale cloud services either up or down as needed. While some industries thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic, others (e.g., tourism) saw a sharp decline in demand. Businesses with cloud-based platforms avoided paying for data center services they didn't need. As a result, many more companies are likely to move their operations to the cloud in 2023 - cloud architects are more in demand than ever.
#2: AI development.
AI is expected to continue to grow in importance in 2023, as companies with AI-enabled capabilities are likely to succeed. The field of natural language processing (NLP), which enables computers to write text and software programs, is of particular interest. And awareness of ethical AI - that is, software engineers and software analysts programming machines to "do the right thing" - is likely to rise as computers, through AI developers, begin to take on more human functions.
#3: A wave of low-code/no-code development.
The need for software engineers is greater than their availability, making low-code/no-code (LCNC) programming a must for companies that need to be able to easily drive new initiatives. This type of software enables individuals without development training to create databases and other applications to support agile operations. This capability is becoming more commonplace with platforms like bubble.io and will continue to grow in 2023 and beyond.
#4: The advance of Python and JavaScript.
Programming languages that are easy to learn and use are becoming increasingly popular, which is why Python and JavaScript are likely to remain in demand in 2023. Python is widely used in data science (by Data Scientists and Data Engineers) and in a number of other fields, while JavaScript remains the most popular language, especially for novice developers.
#5: Advances in the use of modern languages
Modern development languages are also capable of meeting the needs of today's software developers. Languages such as Rust, Go, and Kotlin are becoming increasingly popular due to features such as type inference, null safety, expressiveness, and conciseness. Some experts predict that Rust will make its final breakthrough in 2023. Both Microsoft and Amazon have recently announced significant investments in Rust.
#6: Upsurge in native app development.
With the proliferation of mobile devices, mobile apps, and therefore mobile developers, are becoming increasingly important. To create apps with the most flexibility and the best performance, software development teams at companies that can afford it are opting for native app development, which means creating two or more separate versions of an app for each major mobile operating system (OS).
#7: Rise in progressive web apps.
Progressive web apps (PWAs) combine the benefits of websites and mobile apps to provide users with a streamlined experience without requiring companies to develop separate mobile apps for specific operating systems. They are built using languages such as JavaScript, CSS and HTML and can be deployed on any platform that uses a web browser. Because PWAs can provide cost savings while improving customer engagement, their use is likely to increase in 2023.
#8: Edge computing proliferation
Edge computing, which supports the IoT, takes place closer to the point of data creation. Utilities, for example, can use edge devices to collect information about devices and process it nearby, sending only relevant information back to headquarters. Software developers must ensure that such devices take advantage of the computational speed and processing efficiencies of which they are capable, while also paying attention to specific security considerations.
#9: Importance of UX
Software development is not just about functionality. It's also about usability. That is, users must be able to easily understand how to use applications, regardless of their size or complexity. User experience (UX) has become an important business factor in recent years and will continue to determine how companies design products and services in the future. As a result, developers will increasingly be required to focus their energy on this area from 2023 onwards, working alongside UX designers as well as UI designers. Click here to learn more about the similarities and differences between UI and UX.
#10: DevSecOps
DevSecOps is increasingly concerned about developer access across the stack. Wide-ranging permissions assigned to developers could lead to massive destruction of cloud infrastructure, either through an insider threat or by accident. For this reason, DevSecOps teams monitor activity and access to identify privilege access and assign least privilege based on that.
#11: Near-perfect digital experiences
In a very short time, delivering near-perfect digital experiences has gone from a technological novelty to a matter of course. As the number of applications skyrockets and cloud infrastructure becomes ubiquitous, front-end development takes center stage. Developers will take on skills and tasks similar to operations to increase efficiency, accelerate troubleshooting, and massively improve the customer experience.
#12: A "Shift Left" approach to security and compliance.
Until now, security and compliance practices have been primarily reactive, as teams scrambled to fix security issues after they were created. With a "Shift Left" approach, developers and security teams work together to proactively identify security issues before cloud resources are deployed. This approach improves developer productivity and stops security and compliance risks before runtime.
#13: Balanced development automation.
One trend is moving away from software development automation toward balanced development automation, including testing, that involves other business teams such as risk, compliance and legal. Software development, now a critical process for any business, is evolving from automated tech pipelines to value streams where "cross-functional" means involving other parts of the business beyond IT.
#14: Code-as-a-Service
Code-as-a-Service will accelerate the use of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service - and thus cloud computing. CaaS will address the ever-growing need for universal development (as opposed to single platforms like iOS or Android) and also provide built-in modules for artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, and blockchain, giving developers easy access to these in-demand technologies.
#15: Changes in container development
Docker has been one of the most popular container solutions for some time now, rivaled by Mesos, Swarm and Kubernetes. Now the latter has taken the lead. Kubernetes has built a loyal community and established itself as a global authority in container development.
Kubernetes will become the industry standard for container development as more developers move away from Docker as their preferred solution.
#16: Increased use of CI and CD.
Continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery deployment (CD) are part of the software development process, with CI ensuring that code changes are integrated into a software project by numerous engineers. CD promotes configuration and feature changes and bug fixes quickly and sustainably. Both processes enable development organizations to complete projects faster, save money and increase efficiency, which is critical in 2022.
Conclusion
Things we thought were science fiction a few decades ago have already left the cinema and arrived in the "real world." Moreover, they are on the verge of becoming a common part of businesses of various sizes. Given all of these developments, the coming year will bring many innovations and opportunities for the continued use of technology to achieve remarkable results. This is especially true as more and more companies, including in Germany, are upgrading digitally and beginning to think differently about how they can use technology to achieve their financial, social, and customer goals.
At FiveTeams, we conducted an analysis of the software development industry to find out which software trends will dominate in 2023.
#1: Focus on the cloud
The years 2021 and 2022 demonstrated the importance of being able to scale cloud services either up or down as needed. While some industries thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic, others (e.g., tourism) saw a sharp decline in demand. Businesses with cloud-based platforms avoided paying for data center services they didn't need. As a result, many more companies are likely to move their operations to the cloud in 2023 - cloud architects are more in demand than ever.
#2: AI development.
AI is expected to continue to grow in importance in 2023, as companies with AI-enabled capabilities are likely to succeed. The field of natural language processing (NLP), which enables computers to write text and software programs, is of particular interest. And awareness of ethical AI - that is, software engineers and software analysts programming machines to "do the right thing" - is likely to rise as computers, through AI developers, begin to take on more human functions.
#3: A wave of low-code/no-code development.
The need for software engineers is greater than their availability, making low-code/no-code (LCNC) programming a must for companies that need to be able to easily drive new initiatives. This type of software enables individuals without development training to create databases and other applications to support agile operations. This capability is becoming more commonplace with platforms like bubble.io and will continue to grow in 2023 and beyond.
#4: The advance of Python and JavaScript.
Programming languages that are easy to learn and use are becoming increasingly popular, which is why Python and JavaScript are likely to remain in demand in 2023. Python is widely used in data science (by Data Scientists and Data Engineers) and in a number of other fields, while JavaScript remains the most popular language, especially for novice developers.
#5: Advances in the use of modern languages
Modern development languages are also capable of meeting the needs of today's software developers. Languages such as Rust, Go, and Kotlin are becoming increasingly popular due to features such as type inference, null safety, expressiveness, and conciseness. Some experts predict that Rust will make its final breakthrough in 2023. Both Microsoft and Amazon have recently announced significant investments in Rust.
#6: Upsurge in native app development.
With the proliferation of mobile devices, mobile apps, and therefore mobile developers, are becoming increasingly important. To create apps with the most flexibility and the best performance, software development teams at companies that can afford it are opting for native app development, which means creating two or more separate versions of an app for each major mobile operating system (OS).
#7: Rise in progressive web apps.
Progressive web apps (PWAs) combine the benefits of websites and mobile apps to provide users with a streamlined experience without requiring companies to develop separate mobile apps for specific operating systems. They are built using languages such as JavaScript, CSS and HTML and can be deployed on any platform that uses a web browser. Because PWAs can provide cost savings while improving customer engagement, their use is likely to increase in 2023.
#8: Edge computing proliferation
Edge computing, which supports the IoT, takes place closer to the point of data creation. Utilities, for example, can use edge devices to collect information about devices and process it nearby, sending only relevant information back to headquarters. Software developers must ensure that such devices take advantage of the computational speed and processing efficiencies of which they are capable, while also paying attention to specific security considerations.
#9: Importance of UX
Software development is not just about functionality. It's also about usability. That is, users must be able to easily understand how to use applications, regardless of their size or complexity. User experience (UX) has become an important business factor in recent years and will continue to determine how companies design products and services in the future. As a result, developers will increasingly be required to focus their energy on this area from 2023 onwards, working alongside UX designers as well as UI designers. Click here to learn more about the similarities and differences between UI and UX.
#10: DevSecOps
DevSecOps is increasingly concerned about developer access across the stack. Wide-ranging permissions assigned to developers could lead to massive destruction of cloud infrastructure, either through an insider threat or by accident. For this reason, DevSecOps teams monitor activity and access to identify privilege access and assign least privilege based on that.
#11: Near-perfect digital experiences
In a very short time, delivering near-perfect digital experiences has gone from a technological novelty to a matter of course. As the number of applications skyrockets and cloud infrastructure becomes ubiquitous, front-end development takes center stage. Developers will take on skills and tasks similar to operations to increase efficiency, accelerate troubleshooting, and massively improve the customer experience.
#12: A "Shift Left" approach to security and compliance.
Until now, security and compliance practices have been primarily reactive, as teams scrambled to fix security issues after they were created. With a "Shift Left" approach, developers and security teams work together to proactively identify security issues before cloud resources are deployed. This approach improves developer productivity and stops security and compliance risks before runtime.
#13: Balanced development automation.
One trend is moving away from software development automation toward balanced development automation, including testing, that involves other business teams such as risk, compliance and legal. Software development, now a critical process for any business, is evolving from automated tech pipelines to value streams where "cross-functional" means involving other parts of the business beyond IT.
#14: Code-as-a-Service
Code-as-a-Service will accelerate the use of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service - and thus cloud computing. CaaS will address the ever-growing need for universal development (as opposed to single platforms like iOS or Android) and also provide built-in modules for artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, and blockchain, giving developers easy access to these in-demand technologies.
#15: Changes in container development
Docker has been one of the most popular container solutions for some time now, rivaled by Mesos, Swarm and Kubernetes. Now the latter has taken the lead. Kubernetes has built a loyal community and established itself as a global authority in container development.
Kubernetes will become the industry standard for container development as more developers move away from Docker as their preferred solution.
#16: Increased use of CI and CD.
Continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery deployment (CD) are part of the software development process, with CI ensuring that code changes are integrated into a software project by numerous engineers. CD promotes configuration and feature changes and bug fixes quickly and sustainably. Both processes enable development organizations to complete projects faster, save money and increase efficiency, which is critical in 2022.
Conclusion
Things we thought were science fiction a few decades ago have already left the cinema and arrived in the "real world." Moreover, they are on the verge of becoming a common part of businesses of various sizes. Given all of these developments, the coming year will bring many innovations and opportunities for the continued use of technology to achieve remarkable results. This is especially true as more and more companies, including in Germany, are upgrading digitally and beginning to think differently about how they can use technology to achieve their financial, social, and customer goals.