What developers want in a job
Tags: discuss, career, culture, programming
Published: 2017-10-20 06:15:15

---
title: What developers want in a job
published: true
description: A look at what job-seekers value most when looking for a job.
tags: discuss, career, culture, programming
---

Six weeks ago, I launched my first product: [Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com). 

Three weeks ago, I wrote about my (long) journey leading up to that launch here in dev.to.

![Dev.to post](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/hdm08tv7b0jla2t0ap3v.png)

Today, I want to share some of the data I've collected from the 21,000+ users that have visited [Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com) since I launched.

[Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com) helps engineers find jobs based on shared values, and allows them to learn more about a team’s culture before applying. Job-seekers can visit the site and select from a list of 44 value tags including “Team is Diverse, “Light Meetings, and “Open Source Contributor (see full list [here](https://www.keyvalues.com)), which then filters the teams that have matching values.

I curated this values list after interviewing dozens of engineers who identify themselves as missionaries, not mercenaries. They believe that team culture and the people they work with are as important as (if not more important than) compensation or company reputation.

I then asked teams to pick the 8 values from this preset list that best describe their engineering culture, and qualify their selections in their profiles.

Whether people were actively looking for a job or not, these were the top 15 tags they selected when they visited [Key Values](https:/www.keyvalues.com):

![Top 15 values overall](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/pqv9tiaoomi1zfcy3w2i.jpg)

<figcaption>Values selected between September 5th and October 15th, 2017.</figcaption>

## What dev.to readers value most

Dev.to readers, like the other developers who came to [Key Values](https:/www.keyvalues.com), valued "Work/Life Balance" and "High Quality Code Base" above the other key values. In fact, these two values were consistently ranked in the #1 and #2 positions regardless of the community or country, (see more data [here](https://hackernoon.com/what-does-hacker-news-care-about-e364fb87431c)).

There are a lot of interesting discussions to be had about the top 15 values, but I find it most interesting where the dev.to community values differ.

![Dev.to's top 15 values](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/d5cb74nhpz6vdwvrixld.jpg)

<figcaption>Values selected by dev.to readers between September 5th and October 5th, 2017.</figcaption>

Users referred from dev.to prioritized "Good for Junior Devs," "Ideal for Parents," and "Pair Programs" much more highly compared to all visitors on [Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com). The dev.to community values these things more than "Impressive Team Members," "Engages with Community," and "Safe Environment to Fail."

## Dev.to vs. Hacker News

Dev.to sent 2,933 readers to [Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com), but here's where it gets interesting.

My article ([How I stopped procrastinating, learned to code, and launched my first product](https://dev.to/lynnetye/how-i-stopped-procrastinating-learned-to-code-and-launched-my-first-product-2i1)) was posted on Hacker News and likely drove significant traffic because it made the front page! (Thanks @rbanffy for [posting](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15338059) it!) As a result, it's hard to know how many readers were actually referred by Hacker News.

Despite the clear overlap between dev.to and Hacker News readers, there were still differences between each community’s value selections. Notably, “Good for Junior Devs and “Ideal for Parents are at the top of dev.to’s list but not on Hacker News' list.

![Dev.to vs. HN](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/vik38w7yw5grmz249wka.jpg)
<figcaption>Comparing the most and least selected values from users referred by dev.to vs. Hacker News.</figcaption>

Yes, posts about learning to code and launching a product for the first time appeal to green devs, but it’s not as obvious why these same readers would be looking for workplaces suited for parents. Perhaps both junior developers and parents are better represented in dev.to’s readership.

## More data and additional insights

So far, [Key Values](https://www.keyvalues.com) has received the most traffic from Hacker News, which is why I published a story specifically for the HN audience appropriately titled: [What Hacker News readers want in a job](https://hackernoon.com/what-does-hacker-news-care-about-e364fb87431c). You can read more about what members of the Hacker News, Product Hunt, and dev.to communities value most and how them compare with one another. I also discuss how value selections vary across countries, and what we might learn about engineering culture at the national level.

____

I appreciate how supportive the dev.to community has been ––Â thank you!

If you want to get in touch, you can email me (lynne@keyvalues.com) or find me on Twitter ([@lynnetye](https://twitter.com/lynnetye?lang=en), [@keyvaluesio](https://twitter.com/keyvaluesio?lang=en)). Lastly, I haven't decided what I should write about next... so if you have any ideas or requests, comment below! ðŸ¤—