Stripe partnered with Nielsen to conduct a study with thousands of C-level executives and developers to understand the crunch on developer time being faced by businesses, and to look at how businesses are leveraging developer talent today, and what they could be doing differently. When software engineers are working on what matters, businesses thrive. When they’re not, it costs billions.

1. The Developer Coefficient: Software
engineering efficiency and its SGD 1.6
billion annual impact on Singapore’s
GDP

2. Businesses today face myriad challenges ㄧ from
security vulnerabilities to trade tariffs, complex
government regulations and increased global
competition.
And in this complex milieu they may be neglecting
the single-biggest factor that could impact their
future success: their developers.
DEVELOPERS ARE FORCE-
MULTIPLIERS

3. Developers can act as force-multipliers for
their firms, and if used effectively, they also
have the collective potential to raise
Singapore’s GDP by SGD 16 billion over the
next ten years.

4. Other CountriesSingapore
90%
81%
0%
50%
100%
81% of companies say that their ability to
launch products is reliant on software
engineers. In Singapore, this number is
even higher at 90%.
70%
60%
0%
50%
100%
Other CountriesSingapore
70% of Singaporean companies say that
revenue from developer-driven products
has increased over the past 5 years,
compared to the total average of 60% of
all the other countries surveyed.

5. Every company is fast becoming a
technology company
83%
Of senior executives in
Singapore say that their
ability to launch products
is reliant on software
engineers
Q: Is software development (internal or
external) a core competency of your
business?
83% 90%
76%
85% 87%
0%
50%
100%
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES
UKSG FR DE US

6. Senior executives report that the lack of quality developer
talent is one of the biggest potential threats to their
businesses and that the best developers can accelerate a
company’s move into new markets or product areas and
help companies differentiate themselves more.
This underscores the most important point about
developers as force-multipliers: It’s not how many
developers companies have; it’s how they’re being
leveraged.
ACCESS TO DEVELOPERS IS A BIGGER
CONSTRAINT THAN ACCESS TO CAPITAL

7. d
d
47%
Differentiating
products/services
against competitors
44%
Bringing
products/services to
market faster
42%
Legacy software
infrastructure
41%
Lack of qualified
software
engineers and
developers
39%
Employee
recruitment/retention
39%
Increasing sales
34%
Lack of capital
Q: What are the greatest internal challenges, if
any, facing your company?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES

8. d
d
23%
Access to talent
22%
Access to software
engineers
22%
Talent management
22%
Product-market fit
20%
Regulation
19%
Access to capital
19%
Legacy
infrastructure
Q: How much of a constraint are the following
items on your company’s growth?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES
Major constraint

9. 79%
Security/data breach
72%
Disruption from the
tech industry
69%
Access to developer
or engineering talent
69%
Increased regulation
Summary: very/moderate
Q: How threatening are the following factors to
the success of your business?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES

10. 73%
Bringing products/
services to market
faster
74%
Employee
recruitment/retention
73%
Increasing
conversions/sales
70%
Differentiating
products/services
Summary: major/moderate
Q: How much of an impact can developers have
to help your company with each of the following
challenges?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES

11. Though well over half of senior executives in
Singapore report an increased number of
developers at their companies, the demand
for developers continues to surge, far
outstripping the existing talent pipeline.
DEVELOPER DROUGHT

12. 57%
Increased
27%
Stayed the same
15%
Decreased
Q: How has the number of developers/software
engineers changed over the past year?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES

13. Of companies in Singapore are
looking to hire developers within the
next year.
72%

14. UKSG FR DE US
72% 77%
71% 71% 69%
0%
50%
100%
C O U N T R Y R A N K ( A N S W E R E D Y E S )
Large
Companies
All
Companies
Small
Companies
Mid-sized
Companies
72% 69% 68%
78%
0%
50%
100%
C O M P A N Y S I Z E ( A N S W E R E D Y E S )
Q: To the best of your knowledge, is your company
looking to hire more software/web developers (either
in-house or on contract) within the next year?

15. Singapore has become a key battleground
for developer talent. This is making it critical
for companies to manage engineering time
with as much creativity and discipline as
they manage money.

16. 66%
Of Singapore
companies claim that
their business has
limited developer
resources
UKSG FR DE US
Q: We have limited developer
resources/time at my company.
66%
42%
69% 64%
57%
0%
50%
100%
C O U N T R Y R AN K ( AN S W E R E D
Y E S )

17. 69%
Battle to hire
developers
UKSG FR DE US
Q: My company faces challenges
in hiring developers.
69%
47%
67% 68%
61%
0%
50%
100%
C O U N T R Y R AN K ( AN S W E R E D
Y E S )

18. Why are Singaporean companies
struggling to hire developers?
DEVELOPER DROUGHT

19. Q: For which of the following reasons do you
believe your company faces challenges in hiring
developers?
51%
There’s a lack of qualified
developers with the skills
we require.
52%
There’s intense
competition for developer
talent.
52%
It’s hard to find
developers that work on
the technology that
matters to us.
38%
Too few of them are
applying to our company.
40%
They’re too expensive
to hire.

20. ~$1.6 billion SGD
~$1.2 billion USD

21. While it’s a priority for senior executives to
increase the productivity of their developers,
the average developer in Singapore spends
more than 16 hours a week dealing with
maintenance issues, such as debugging,
refactoring, and more.
`BAD CODE` COST COMPANIES MILLIONS
ANNUALLY

22. Not at all/low
priority
High/medium
priority
Q: How much of a priority is it
for upper management to
increase the productivity of
its developers?
98%
2%
0%
50%
100%
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES
Q: Approximately, how many hours on average
do developers at your company work each
week?
DEVELOPERS
40.4 hrs
Mean
Q: How many hours per week do you estimate
developers at your company waste on
maintenance (i.e. dealing with bad code / errors,
debugging, refactoring, modifying)?
16.1 hrs
Mean

23. Nearly a third of developers surveyed in Singapore
(32%) say they are spending at least 50% of their
time on ‘bad code’.
Developers are spending an average of 2 hours a
week on bad code, which equates to nearly SGD 232
million in opportunity cost lost annually in Singapore,
according to Stripe’s calculations on average
developer salary by country.

24. 41.1
9.25%
0.4%
2
17.3
13.5
3.8
~$85 billion USD
~$232 million SGD
Average hours per developer workweek
Average hours spent on technical debt
Percent productivity loss from bad code
Singapore’s GDP as a proportion of world GDP
Average hours spent on bad code in Singapore
Average hours spent by developers on bad
code, debugging, refactoring, modifying
Average hours spent on bad code
Global GDP loss from developer time spent
on bad code annually
Singapore’sGDP lossfrom developer time spend on
bad code annually
THEECONOMICIMPACT
OF ‘BAD CODE’ GLOBALLY
Sources: Evans Data Corp.,
CIA Factbook, Stripe research ~$170 million USD

25. Over two-thirds of developers in
Singapore agree that this is “excessive”
and believe that clear prioritization,
responsibilities, and long-term product
goals would improve their own
productivity.

26. Strongly/somewhat agree
Q: How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement? “The amount of time
developers at my company spend on bad code is
excessive.”
DEVELOPERS
70%
Singapore (highest)
59%
All Countries

27. Q: You mentioned that developers at your
company spend an excessive amount of time on
bad code. Which of the following do you believe
are the reasons for that?
56%
Singapore
(highest)
52%vs
Our developers aren’t given
sufficient time to entirely refactor
the existing code base
All Countries
47%
Singapore
44%vs
Our company inherited bad code
from previous builds
All Countries

28. Q: You mentioned that developers at your
company spend an excessive amount of time on
bad code. Which of the following do you believe
are the reasons for that?
43%
Singapore
(highest)
36%vs
Our company is reluctant to change
existing legacy systems
All Countries
26%
Singapore
20%vs
We don’t have systems in place
(e.g. JIRA) to effectively triage
incoming requests
All Countries

29. Many companies find themselves in a
position of reverse leverage, with technical
debt consuming scarce cycles that would
otherwise go towards product development.

30. Q: How many hours each week do you think the
average developer at your company spends on
addressing “technical debt?”
DEVELOPERS
vs
13.5hrs
Mean - all countries
14.1hrs
Mean - Singapore

31. Q: How many hours each week do you think the average
developer at your company spends on addressing “technical
debt?”
DEVELOPERS
20%
Spend over 20 hours per week
26%
Spend between 10-19 hours per
week addressing technical debt

32. Q: In your opinion, as a whole, how productive are
developers at your company? Consider 100% being
perfectly productive and 0% being completely
unproductive.
vs
68.4%
Mean - all countries
66.1%
Mean - Singapore
DEVELOPERS

33. 53%
Maintenance of
legacy systems /
technical debt
45%
Leadership’s
prioritization of
projects / tasks
50%
Building custom
technology
45%
Engineering
organization not
sufficiently
empowered to make
decisions
Q: Which of the following do you believe is
hindering developer productivity at your
company?
DEVELOPERS

34. Q: How much of a negative impact does each of
the following have on your personal morale?
88%
Paying down
technical debt
87%
Lack of personal
impact
87%
Work overload
85%
Not being given
sufficient time to fix
poor quality code
85%
Spending too much
time on legacy
systems
84%
Changing priorities
resulting in
discarded code or
time wasted
82%
Lack of autonomy
DEVELOPERS

35. Senior executives feel the threat of tech
industry competitors most acutely, which is
why they’re prioritizing investments in
infrastructure, R&D, and recruiting over the
next five years.
AI, IOT, AND API SERVICES ARE HAVING
THE BIGGEST IMPACT

36. Q: Companies in which of the following industries
pose the greatest competitive threat to your
business?
59%
Tech
(highest, 44% all
countries)
38%
Banking and
Finance
34%
Engineering
Services
33%
Telco
C-SUITE EXECUTIVES

37. 57%
Software infrastructure
and tech
(43% all countries)
40%
R&D
(31% all countries)
33%
Recruiting technical talent
(31% all countries)
31%
Marketing
(29% all countries)
26%
Sales
(26% all countries)
25%
Customer service
(24% all countries)
C-SUITE EXECUTIVES
Q: What are the top three areas your company plans to
increase investment in the next 5 years?

38. 85%
Much/somewhat more
(81% all countries)
12%
The same
(16% all countries)
2%
Much/somewhat less
(3% all countries)
Q: Compared to now, how much of a core competency will
software development need to be 10 years from now?
C-SUITE EXECUTIVES

39. Both developers and C-level executives
agree that artificial intelligence, Internet of
Things, Software-defined Security, and API
services are having the biggest impact on
their businesses today.

40. Q: Which of the following technology trends, if
any, are having the greatest impact on your
company today?
33%
AI
30%
IoT
27%
Software-defined
Security
27%
API-based services
22%
Serverless
PaaS
21%
Machine-learning
DEVELOPERS

41. 36%
AI
35%
IoT
27%
Software-defined
Security
24%
Blockchain
21%
Edge computing
19%
API-based services
C-SUITE EXECUTIVES
Q: Which of the following technology trends, if any,
are having the greatest impact on your company
today?

42. Senior executives are more optimistic than
developers that their companies will be ready to
tap into to these trends, with developers worried
about not having the right technology
infrastructure and skilled employees.

43. Q: How confident are you that your company has
sufficient resources to respond to these trends?
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES
85%
Very/somewhat
confident
15%
Not very/not confident

44. Q: How confident are you that your company has
sufficient engineering resources to keep up with
these technology trends?
DEVELOPERS
78%
Very/somewhat
confident
22%
Not very/not confident

45. Q: Why aren’t you confident that your company
has sufficient engineering resources to keep up
with these technology trends?
56%
We’re too slow to react
to tech trends (44% all
countries)
53%
We don’t have enough
skilled employees
(42% all countries)
57%
Recruiting technical
talent
(36% all countries)
45%
We’re too focused on
quarterly or annual
gains to prioritize
long-term growth
(36% all countries)
39%
We don’t have the tech
infrastructure to
support it (33% all
countries)
Base: not very/not confident

46. Companies adopting modern technology
stacks are finding them to be critical
levers for growth. In Singapore, 93% of
companies surveyed say that having a
modern technology stack is either a
high or moderate priority for them.
INFRASTRUCTURE AS LEVERAGE

47. Q: In your opinion, for which of the following
reasons is maintaining a modern technology
stack a priority for your company?
75%
Stay relevant
in the market
72%
Maintain an edge
over competitors
68%
Stay aware of
technology trends
60%
Maintain speed
of business
41%
Help recruit new
developers
Base: companies that find a modern tech stack a high or moderate priority
Summary: high/moderate priority

48. Q: In your opinion, to what extent do decisions
made regarding your company’s technology stack
help with each of the following outcomes within
your company?
86%
Accelerate product
development
72%
Reduce overhead
expenses
68%
Reduce unnecessary
headcount
Summary: great deal/moderate amount

49. As every company becomes a
technology company, having a modern
technology stack which leverages third
party APIs/web services is more
important to businesses than before.

50. Q: In which of the following areas of the business
are you deploying third-party APIs/web services?
52%
Hosting and
data storage
52%
Cybersecurity
50%
Mobile and web
payments
45%
Customer support
41%
Analytics
Base: companies deploying third-party APIs internally

51. Q: What are the biggest benefits that third-party
API tools bring to your company?
50%
Reduced operating
costs
48%
More time for
other projects
42%
Accelerate product
development
Base: companies deploying third-party APIs internally

52. Stripe partnered with Nielsen on two surveys across Singapore, France, Germany, UK, and the
US on organizations’ business challenges, software development practices, and future
investments to determine the role that developer productivity plays in their success—and the
growth of worldwide GDP overall. One survey included 1,325 respondents who were
software/web developers, software/web/computer engineers, SVP/VP/Directors of Engineering,
CTOs, and CIOs who work for a company that employs either contract and/or in-house
developers. The other survey included more than 1,000 developers and more than 1,000 C-level
executives.
METHODOLOGY