Packt has put up their annual Skill Up survey and are inviting software professionals around the world to take part. The survey is now open and will run until 19th May. It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to complete, and respondents will receive a 70% discount code for taking part that they can use to purchase any eBook or video of their choice on the Packt website.

You can take the survey at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SkillUp2017.

Skill Up 2017 aims to find out about the latest tech tools and trends, how developers are working and learning, as well as their opinions on issues such as equality in tech and career and skill development at work.

2016’s Skill Up survey received responses from over 11,500 developers/tech professionals worldwide to capture a snapshot of the modern tech community, and detail insights into the most valuable skills and the biggest trends.

What to expect from Skill Up 2017

• What are the highest-paying roles in tech?
  
• Who’s using what tools? And what do people love and hate using?
  
• How do developers and tech pros learn? And how much time are they spending doing it?
  
• Do they feel they have opportunities for professional development?
  
• Who’s really driving technical decision making – management or developers?
  
• Do developers and tech pros think the industry has a diversity problem?
  

What did we learn in Skill Up 2016?

• Virtual & Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Big Data and The Internet of Things were perceived to be ‘the next big things’.
  
• Security was one of the highest paying industries – particularly for freelancers.
  
• Bash, Perl & Scala came out as the programming skills that command the highest salaries.
  
• Online training emerged as a great driver for skill development – but across demographics we saw a mix of media with videos, eBooks, print books and blogs all crucial to the developer learning experience.
  
• JavaScript and Python came out on top as the most vital skills, with Java and C also making the list.
  
• React was gaining ground on Angular as the leading JavaScript framework
  
• More than 1000 were in the process of migrating to cloud, highlighting that we are in the middle of an infrastructure revolution.
  

To download the full 2016 Skill Up report, visit www.packtpub.com/skill-up-2016.