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If you feel squeamish about your aging tech stack, you’re not alone.
A massive 86% of developers are embarrassed by their tech stack, according to a survey of 200 senior developers by Storyblok, a headless CMS provider, with 58% considering leaving their company as a result.
Lack of functionality, maintenance burdens, and poor compatibility with innovations like generative AI are harming developer retention.
“The data shows that developers define their professional identities by the technologies they work with,” says Alexander Feiglstorfer, CTO and cofounder of Storyblok. “If a company doesn’t modernize in the way developers want, they risk losing them to a company that does.”
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Legacy systems crush souls
Maintaining and fixing bugs on legacy systems is the top cause of unhappiness in a developer’s day-to-day work, the report found.
“Working on legacy systems with no plan to improve them is soul-destroying,” says Rebecca Fox, Group CIO at NCC Group, a global technology and cybersecurity consultancy. “Developers want to build, not maintain. They want purpose, modern tools, and momentum.”
When asked what aspects of their stacks developers are most embarrassed by, the use of legacy systems topped the list, followed by excessive technical debt and workarounds, and using outdated frameworks and libraries.
“Legacy systems that are difficult to maintain and lack key functionality are driving developers crazy,” says Storyblok’s Feiglstorfer. Being stuck on old tech while peers use newer technologies is a “recipe for disappointment,” he adds.
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What can be done if you can’t wave a magic wand over your legacy stack? A clear modernization roadmap, and the budget to make it happen should be enough to boost retention.
“Build a product and tech strategy worth sticking around for,” says NCC Group’s Fox. “Set guardrails, not blockers. And lead – properly. If people still choose to leave, that’s fine. But make it clear they’re walking away from something exciting.”
