2023 State of the API Report

The influx of non-developers into the API world is accelerating. In 2023, 53% of the people who took our survey were non-developers. That's up from 50% in 2020.

This year, we saw increased representation by chief technology officers, managers, and directors, to name a few non-developer roles.

Developers still comprised the largest percentage of respondents, whether they were full-stack, backend, or frontend. But over 21,000 non-developers were generous enough to share their opinions. We're grateful for their—and everyone's—input into the 2023 State of the API survey.

We asked about individuals' industries, and the results were clear: Technology remains the most represented sector, followed by business/IT services, financial services, and healthcare.

In past surveys, we've asked, “How many developers are in your organization?” The most common answer has always been “More than 500.”

This year, we wanted to know more about this segment. Just how many developers were we talking about?

What we discovered surprised us. Once you get above 250 developers, the most common company size in our survey was one with thousands of developers. These large organizations are most heavily represented by the financial services, tech, and automotive sectors.

We asked how many years of API development experience people had. Like last year, the most common answer was three to five years.

The share of people working with APIs for the first time remained steady this year, after jumping last year. One in seven people had less than a year of API development experience, but certain professions had an even higher share of newcomers. About one in three business analysts, network engineers, and UX/UI designers had less than a year of API experience.

The bulk of survey respondents this year again identified themselves as Millennials, followed by Gen X, Gen Z, and finally, Baby Boomers.

All job functions are predominantly performed by Millennials, with the exception of CIO roles. Fifty-seven percent of survey-takers in this role are members of Gen X.

Like much of the tech sector, the world of API professionals skews male. Eighty-seven percent of all survey-takers were men, while 8% were women. The remainder were non-binary or chose not to answer.

Some tech roles had a greater share of women than 8%. Women made up 30% of technical writers, 16% of quality engineers, and 15% of business analysts in our survey.

What role was rarest among women? Chief technical officer. Just 1% of the 1,200 CTOs in our survey were women. CEOs had a higher share of females at 5%.

The gender disparity in tech has been persistent, both in our yearly surveys and as measured elsewhere. It underscores the need for investments, from early STEM education through workplace programs that support women in the highest ranks of tech.