Usually when we think of “brogrammers,” we picture Silicon Valley hipsters that may have graduated from college, but can’t leave the frat house behind. The reality, according to Evans Data survey of more than 1,400 programmers, is somewhat different.
For one thing, while popular culture celebrates the idea of developers as pizza-eating loners, the data suggests otherwise. According to Evans Data, 71% of developers are married and only 3% are divorced (compared to a 40% divorce rate nationwide). Roughly 68% of developers have between one to three children. Only 32% are childless. Most developers are married with children.
Not surprisingly, then, most developers aren’t particularly young. Of the 18.2 million programmers on the planet, most left college long ago. While the median age has been falling for years, in North America the median age is still a reasonably stodgy 36.
Lastly, while brogrammer culture is rightly derided as juvenile, it apparently has flourished among a highly educated workforce. We may celebrate the dropouts like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, but 85% of developers have college degrees, 40% have Master’s degrees and another 5% have doctoral degrees.
In other words, developers should know better.