If I were to pick the most boring section in any survey, it would have to be the personal information – say something about yourself, your company, or your level of seniority. It’s always there, and ugh, you have to do it, but how boring it is!
Yet, when I was reading the final version of the State of Frontend 2022 report, I noticed something enlightening – this section affected everything that happened later, from technologies to good practices.
The report begins with an obvious statement that the tech industry has completely transitioned to remote work as 60% of frontend folks work remotely only, and 35% work in hybrid mode.
I can see it in my backyard, and you can see it in yours, so we can all agree that remote work is a universal fact, is happening everywhere, and will stay that way in the foreseeable future. As Gergely Orosz commented, once tech staff receive the home office option, they won’t come back to the office so easily (or at all).
So, what are three of the most major consequences of the switch to remote work?
1. Moving services and coding to the cloud
Conway’s law states that institutions design systems in a way that mirrors their own communication structure. In other words, sooner or later, software that works for the organisation and its internal structure will reflect its DNA in the structure of the company itself.
If you look at the results from this perspective, if everyone works remotely, everyone works in the cloud.
This is very prominent in the case of cloud coding. It’s a shame we don’t have data for previous years, so you’ll have to believe me on this one, but WebStorm used to be the most popular tool until it wasn’t. And the unpopular Visual Code Studio gained more and more users, and now it’s on 74%.
So, why did it become the leading code editor? You can write code remotely, like Google Docs for developers. For example, two people may be on the other side of the world and get along at the code level, thanks to those collaborative functions. So no wonder everybody started using it more after the home office was introduced.
2. Frontend is already on its way towards professionalisation
Most of the respondents work in software development or tech-first companies (to be exact, 82,8% if you add them up). This is an interesting trend because it basically means that companies whose main core business is NOT software aren’t able to build a strong software department.
People prefer to be in the spotlight and choose companies that specialise in what they like themselves.
This is reflected in the State of Frontend 2022, too. Sébastien Chopin, who provided commentary for the report’s “framework” section, rightfully noticed that developers prioritise frameworks with good practices. And who will provide them with opportunities to work with those exquisite high-level solutions? Tech companies.
Most of the frontend that exists now is on an insanely high level because it’s created by professional companies who always put tech at the forefront. So, therefore, software development is being taken over by companies that really specialise in it.
3. Frontend developers operate in increasingly larger herds
Only 8.8% of frontend devs work alone, and, as Gergely Orosz noticed, working within larger frontend teams becomes more common. As frontend teams become bigger, people are getting more advanced and specialised.
A larger team requires more complex tools, so it’s not surprising that we see the increased popularity of technologies that support modularisation and distribution of duties.
These tools aren’t necessary if you work alone. The bigger the project, the bigger the tech solutions are. If you cooperate in a larger team, those solutions split the work between team members, for example, WebComponents, Micro Frontends, and more.
So, what is the tech market’s self-image in 2022?
We predict large teams working remotely in software/tech-first companies that deal with technologies daily. We see the rise of cloud collaboration tools and task redistribution features. This is due to the actual state of the tech market, and frontend is striving for strong professionalisation.
At The Software House, we even had internal talks about whether, in the third decade of the 21st century, every company will actually be a tech company, as either a software house making solutions for others or a company that needs to outsource software development outside. There’s nothing in the middle. It’s virtually impossible for a company to have a very strong IT department yet still specialise in something else not revolving directly around technologies.
For more information and further insights, I strongly encourage you to read and analyse the State of Frontend 2022 report for yourself. Enjoy!
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