The DevOps methodology has become a winning strategies for enterprise computing and development. Application development has always been a slow process and timelines were often extended, leading to delays in deployment. With DevOps, enterprises meet the main challenges of application deployment: speed and quality of implementation.

According to a new survey from Chef, a leader in web-scale IT automation, developers see their profession as having increasing power and influence in enterprises and also in society in general.

In a survey of 1,000 software developers conducted March 2014, Chef found that 91 percent of developers feel they are the “most valued” employees at their company, 56 percent believe they will become millionaires at some point whereas 69 percent of engineers say their role is “recession-proof.” About 71 percent of the surveyed said they have been involved in political and civic activities for 50 hours per year on the average. Additionally, 63 percent feel a talented developer has more power to change society than a talented public speaker.

According to the study, 94 percent think they’ll have revolutionary influence in important parts of the economy, and 95 percent think they are among most valued employees in their company. At one point, many developers were threatened by the possible export of their jobs to other countries. Now 66 percent of developers expect near-term salary rises, while as many of them expect to become millionaires.

As business requirements changed, developers were uniquely suited to configure the enterprise for the digital economy, thereby pulling them up from basements and into boardrooms, and giving them a more prominent role in everyday culture.

Developers today are empowered

Developers were traditionally considered as a group which was seen as under-appreciated and not well understood in most businesses. Though earlier software engineers stayed in the background, today more startup firms than ever are seeking out companies founded and run by developers. These developers are now viewed as the ‘power class,’ an influential group in both business and society that represent ideas and innovation. At present this group is recognized as the main source driving business.

Nearly 93 percent of developers frequently feel empowered to experiment and suggest changes to business processes, products, or services, whereas 79 percent believe that the pursuit of near-term profits may be holding their companies back from making long-term investments in innovative and unproven solutions.

IT automation tools have become very popular. The main reasons are related to the need for speed. By far, the strongest motivation is the need to adapt more quickly to business changes. Every one of the top five factors driving automation is directly related to execution speed.

Soo Choi, director of customer experience for Chef, says that the rise of APIs at the infrastructure level has clearly given developers more control over the IT environment. The degree to which developers want direct control over that environment varies. In some organizations, for example, traditional IT operations teams are acquiring development skills specifically to manage the IT infrastructure environment.

“Developers are the growth engine powering enterprises today. This research demonstrates this class is evolving as powerful, connected influencers who are mobilizing to shape more than code across business and society,” said Barry Crist, chief executive officer, Chef.

The report further says that as the more and more of the economy shifts to being delivered online, software developers and systems administrators are uniquely suited to help businesses embrace this change. Rather than standing in the background and keeping the proverbial lights on, they are vaulting forward — to the front line of business development, strategy, and operations.