Almost 80% of companies in Brazil ship code at least once in a week, according to study — SourceLevel
By: George Guimarães
Tags: Metrics, Software Development, Engineering Mangement, Deployment

Between January 29th and March 5th, we conducted a survey to get a technology landscape of the Brazilian startups and companies. We released the full report with the results of the study.

The questionnaire had all the questions in Portuguese, to restrict the audience. We used our communication channels, mainly Twitter and LinkedIn, to achieve respondents.

Although the survey received answers from Brazilians working for companies outside Brazil, 301 out of 349 respondents work for Brazilian companies. Respondents working for companies based in the five regions of the country (North Region, Northeast Region, Central-West Region, Southeast Region, and South Region) answered the form.

One of the more than 30 questions was how frequent deploys used to be in their companies. 41.72% of the respondents said they deploy at least once in a day, while other 37.57% of them deploy at least once in a week. They sum almost 80%, meaning that most of the companies deploy to production at least once in the week. It makes sense comparing the number of companies that adopted agile, and the current digital transformation wave, which is underway.

At a certain point, we had to manage the fact that there were too few answers from women and non-binary people. Despite our efforts, we got nearly 10% of the responses from women. When searching for other studies, we found that the number of women in tech varies from 8% to 25%, depending on the survey. Our research is within this range, although we wished to have more responses from women and non-binary people.

Below, I listed the main topics of the survey.

General questions

Companies and IT department profiles : this set of questions gives an idea of which industry, the number of employees, and time in the market. Also, the questionnaire included questions about the location of the headquarter and the work arrangement. Based on that information, we can tell that there are a different number of combinations in the answers.

: this set of questions gives an idea of which industry, the number of employees, and time in the market. Also, the questionnaire included questions about the location of the headquarter and the work arrangement. Based on that information, we can tell that there are a different number of combinations in the answers. Research participant profile : questions around participant’s demographic and professional information are crucial for the survey. They draw the universe of the respondents and give credibility to the data.

: questions around participant’s demographic and professional information are crucial for the survey. They draw the universe of the respondents and give credibility to the data. Hiring Process: are companies concerned about hiring people belonging to minority groups and increasing diversity? How many developers did companies employed in the last 12 months? Those are some of the questions around this topic.

Development Flow

We covered from the conception to the deployment of the development flow. The survey had a specific question about the methodology adopted by the company.

Conception : this phase of development is where the idea becomes an epic or a feature. Data show the most used software to document software demands and how companies are handling changes during development.

: this phase of development is where the idea becomes an epic or a feature. Data show the most used software to document software demands and how companies are handling changes during development. Development : the survey covers the programming language, coding platform, version control system, and practices of the teams. This section is very insightful.

: the survey covers the programming language, coding platform, version control system, and practices of the teams. This section is very insightful. Code Review: How companies tackle code review? Is it performed just within teams, or is it an institutionalized practice?

How companies tackle code review? Is it performed just within teams, or is it an institutionalized practice? Testing: The most exciting finding of this category of questions is that few companies fully automate tests, and even fewer companies have tests run by a QA person or a specialist.

The most exciting finding of this category of questions is that few companies fully automate tests, and even fewer companies have tests run by a QA person or a specialist. Deploying: this section surveys which CI/CD software is used, among other questions like whether deploys are automated and their frequency.

this section surveys which CI/CD software is used, among other questions like whether deploys are automated and their frequency. Metrics of the development process: The most used metrics for development, according to our study, are Lead Time and Throughput. Among other questions, our study also reveals the most desired metrics.

Are you interested in the numbers?

We prepared a report in English, including all the questions surveyed.

Read the full report for free!