---
title: "A look back before we look forward: A Developer Survey retrospective"
description: "A retrospective analysis of the Stack Overflow Developer Survey compares 2024 and 2025 data across AI adoption, work settings, and demographic shifts. AI tool usage among developers rose from 62% to 79% year-over-year, while agent adoption jumped from 31% in 2025 to 59% in an April 2026 pulse survey, with ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot as primary gateways. Enthusiasm for AI tools cooled: favorable sentiment fell from 72.0% to 59.7% overall and from 72.2% to 52.8% among learners, and trust in accuracy declined from 49.1% to 37.4% for students, while skepticism among learners quadrupled from 6.4% to 26.3%. Fully remote work dropped from 38% to 32.4%, but 82% of respondents had some remote flexibility. The article identifies growing reliance on AI alongside skepticism and frames unanswered questions about learning, trust, and job satisfaction for the upcoming 2026 survey."
---

# A look back before we look forward: A Developer Survey retrospective

[Stack Overflow](https://yomu.fyi/company/stack-overflow) · Erin Yepis · Oct 1, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

A retrospective analysis of the Stack Overflow Developer Survey compares 2024 and 2025 data across AI adoption, work settings, and demographic shifts. AI tool usage among developers rose from 62% to 79% year-over-year, while agent adoption jumped from 31% in 2025 to 59% in an April 2026 pulse survey, with ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot as primary gateways. Enthusiasm for AI tools cooled: favorable sentiment fell from 72.0% to 59.7% overall and from 72.2% to 52.8% among learners, and trust in accuracy declined from 49.1% to 37.4% for students, while skepticism among learners quadrupled from 6.4% to 26.3%. Fully remote work dropped from 38% to 32.4%, but 82% of respondents had some remote flexibility. The article identifies growing reliance on AI alongside skepticism and frames unanswered questions about learning, trust, and job satisfaction for the upcoming 2026 survey.

## Context

The post analyzes year-over-year data from the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, comparing 2024 and 2025 results across three stories: AI tool evolution, work settings and job satisfaction, and developer demographics. It uses survey responses from professional developers to identify trends in tool adoption, sentiment, and workplace arrangements.

## Takeaways

- AI tool usage among developers increased from 62% in 2024 to 79% in 2025, while agent adoption surged from 31% in 2025 to 59% in an April 2026 pulse survey.
- Favorable sentiment toward AI tools declined among all respondents from 72.0% to 59.7%, and among learners from 72.2% to 52.8%, with skepticism among learners quadrupling from 6.4% to 26.3%.
- Fully remote work decreased from 38% in 2024 to 32.4% in 2025, but 82% of respondents still had some form of remote flexibility, with hybrid models becoming more common.

## FAQ

### Which AI tools are most popular among developers in 2025?

In the 2025 survey, ChatGPT led at 82% usage among those using out-of-the-box AI assistants, followed by GitHub Copilot at 68%, Google Gemini at 47%, and Claude Code at 41%.

### How has developer sentiment toward AI tools changed?

Favorable sentiment toward AI tools decreased from 72.0% in 2024 to 59.7% in 2025 among all respondents, and from 72.2% to 52.8% among learners. Skepticism among learners quadrupled from 6.4% to 26.3% over the same period.

### What is the current state of remote work among developers?

In 2025, 32.4% of respondents reported working fully remote, down from 38% in 2024, but 82% had some degree of remote flexibility. Hybrid models were more common, with 12.6% reporting high flexibility to choose when to come in.

**Tags:** [AI](https://yomu.fyi/topic/ai), [Developer Survey](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-survey)

- Source: [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/01/a-look-back-before-we-look-forward-a-developer-survey-retrospective)
- Source URL: https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/01/a-look-back-before-we-look-forward-a-developer-survey-retrospective
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-01T15:00:11.083Z

[Read original post](https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/01/a-look-back-before-we-look-forward-a-developer-survey-retrospective)