Using SlashData custom questions to understand AI software developers
Tags: clienttestimonial, customresearch, ai, casestudy
Published: 2022-11-11 16:24:03

Our mission is to help our clients understand what the market looks like, what developers need, what excites developers, what doesn’t, and what they expect from our clients’ (and their competitors’) products and the developer programs that go along with them. So, when we are approached with a request for some custom work, we roll up our sleeves and dive deep into the data.

In this case study, we will be looking at how one of our clients, worked with us to understand the needs and preferences of software developers working with AI. 

The client is a company among the top 50 in the 2022 [Fortune 500 ranking](https://fortune.com/fortune500/2022/), which for the purposes of this case study we will be calling “Client”. This is the third installment in our “how we work with clients” series, and you can read [part 2](https://www.slashdata.co/blog/using-slashdata-deep-dives-to-boost-developer-experience?utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3) and [part 1 with Okta](https://www.slashdata.co/blog/okta-broadening-developer-network-slashdatas-developer-program-benchmarking-report?utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3) for more details. 

In this article, we will look into their request and more specifically:

- The questions our Client wanted to answer
- How we worked together on their problem
- How they used the insights we offered them

**The request**

**Understanding the needs of AI software developers**

The Client wanted to better understand the needs of AI software developers, so we worked with them closely to understand the problem they were trying to solve. 
Then, together we made sure that we added custom questions to our Developer Nation survey, to get the answers from developers. 

**Question: What was the goal/challenge you were looking to accomplish?**

> Client: We wanted to get feedback from our customers, who are software developers that work on AI, so we could get a better understanding of their needs:

What they’re actually doing 
The specific points that we are trying to optimize. 
We wanted to answer high-level questions such as what language they are using and high-level computing preferences. This is why we decided we want to have this survey. 

**Q: Why did you choose SlashData?**

At Client, we have had the experience of working with SlashData. And we did get a high value out of the previous report that you did for us. I was impressed by the support that I got when I needed it, the responsiveness, how you were always on schedule. The real part of working together. I felt how you put the customer at the front, the priority. All of these were very important to us. This is why we chose to work with you again on this project. 

**Working together**

> I really got the feeling that you’re trying to understand real problems

**Q: What did you like about the process of working with SlashData?**

I really liked the execution: the ability to execute fast and answer our questions. We worked very well, very collaborative. Truth is, we did have a slow start. But then you said 

> “let’s do this: you will write your assumptions, we will ask questions and approach this project this way”. 

Once we started that, work was progressing in a much better way. It was hard at the beginning, but I got excellent support. You had excellent questions, I really got the feeling that you’re trying to understand real problems.

> “What is it that we are trying to solve?”.

You also asked questions to learn more about what we are doing, which I found very professional.

**Q: What are the things you found challenging when working with SlashData?**

We said that we would be adding X custom questions to your survey. But from our side, we tried to add more and more and we were left with all those very complex questions. 

Very complex questions are tougher to answer when you are looking to gain something specific. You did tell us to get the simple questions answered. This is what comes to mind in retrospect: Don’t make the questions too complex, trying to squeeze in more. You will get more value out of the simple questions, not the very complex ones. 

**Deciding using the data**

> I used a significant part of those questions to presentations I gave to our senior executives.

**Q: How did this project/report/data solve your problem/challenge overall? Did you understand the developers’ problems more based on the report?**

I used a significant part of those questions to presentations I gave to our senior executives. I was especially more confident to use the less complex questions we asked. 
If I had my current experience in the beginning, I would have managed to secure a higher budget to ask more, simpler questions. 

data that show what our customers think and therefore, we could work with more than just our own thoughts and assumptions

**Q: What decisions did you make using the data/research?**

The work we did together was part of a huge project that Client is working on. I’m afraid I can’t disclose exactly the steps we did take after going through the analysis you gave us. What I can tell you is that senior management really liked the fact that we spoke to our customers and asked them directly. And not only that, but we also brought data that show what our customers think and therefore, we could work with more than just our own thoughts and assumptions. Client is planning for some huge products and of course there are a lot of parameters and a lot of things being done. But this data helped us pick a direction. 

**How would you describe the service quality?**

> The service was excellent, really.

This interview is part 3 of the “How we work with our clients” series. The product this client worked with was custom questions and analysis and a custom report, to target their specific needs.
You can also see how [Okta managed to reach the top 3 ](https://www.slashdata.co/blog/okta-broadening-developer-network-slashdatas-developer-program-benchmarking-report?utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3)in developer satisfaction using our [Developer Program Benchmarking](https://www.slashdata.co/developer-program-benchmarking?utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3) and how another client used our [Deep Dives to boost their Developer Experience](https://www.slashdata.co/blog/using-slashdata-deep-dives-to-boost-developer-experience?utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3).

Working on a new initiative or want to make sure your product will win developers’ hearts? [Talk to us](https://www.slashdata.co/contact-us??utm_source=CaseStudy_devto&utm_medium=devto&utm_campaign=CaseStudy_3).