Who are software developers? Many readers here themselves are software developers who have developed their craft in a myriad of ways–self-learning, training in college, the slow rise up the ranks of a corporation, being on the ground-level of a startup. Developers can be as different as the languages that they employ.

Since 2001, market researcher Evans Data Corp. conducts survey twice a year to study demographics of the software developer profession. In the current issue the report comes to the conclusion that the average developer is 36 years old and married, and that he or she has two or three children. That does not quite fit into the earlier image of the nerd seated behind the computer, which states developers are mostly single and don’t end up in many relationships.

Authored by Evans CEO Janel Garvin, the study found that seventy-one percent of developers are married, and only 3 percent are divorced. So, all told, developers are not the lonely, antisocial nerds that they were portrayed to be in earlier years, nor are they free-wheeling socialites. More than 68 percent of developers have between one to three children, while 32 percent are childless.

The study further reveals that out of the 18.2 million programmers on the planet, most developers aren’t particularly young. In North America the median age is still a reasonably stodgy 36, and for other regions the age is beyond 36 and more. Furthermore, 85 percent of developers have college degrees, 40 percent have Master’s degrees and another 5 percent have doctoral degrees.

However, for developers aged 50 and above, the recession in 2008 and 2009 and the resulting downsizing made them gone into retirement voluntarily.

“The data does indicate that older developers are leaving the workforce and not returning,” Garvin said.  “They may be trying to get work and finding it harder to get hired, or they may have given up. These developers have two factors working against them: They tend to be more expensive as far as salaries and insurance costs, and their skills may no longer match today’s technologies. Younger developers bring sought-after skills like mobile, big data, and cloud development capabilities.”

Little has changed, the fact that the software development is still a predominantly male domain. Among the developers interviewed for the study only 14 per cent were women and rest are men.

Developers also fit more into scripting languages. R Language and JavaScript remains by far the most popular. They are attracted to the development process itself and would not switch careers even for a significant increase in their salaries.

According to the newly released Evans Data Worldwide Developer Population and Demographics Study, the total developer population worldwide is expected to increase to 26.4 million by 2019, up from 18.2 million today. The strongest growth is expected in the APAC region with India and China leading all countries in expected developer population growth.

Mobile application development, including the development of mobile versions of enterprise software, big data and cloud computing are really providing excitement in the industry as companies begin to realize the treasure they have for R&D, marketing and analytics.