Developers Prep For Mobile, Public Cloud Boom; Love Metallica

Developers have spoken and said that mobile development and the public cloud will be two major focuses in 2012. And while they're coding, they'll most likely crank Metallica, a new survey has revealed.

PHP player Zend Technologies surveyed more than 3,000 developers in November as part of its Zend Developer Pulse survey and found that mobile development is the biggest priority this year. According the survey, 66 percent of all developers queried will be engaged in mobile app development projects. Mobile projects are followed by API production, 48 percent, social media integration, 45 percent, and cloud-based development, 41 percent.

And when it comes to career and skills development, mobile and cloud also rank among the top of the heap. Developers said that next-generation UI development is the top career development priority with 75 percent saying they will develop UI skills. But mobile and cloud ranked a close second and third, with 47 percent of developers saying mobile development skills are imperative and 46 percent saying cloud-based development skills are a top priority. Other focus areas include API production, working with big data and social media integration.

Cloud skills have become a hot commodity lately and cloud talent has been difficult to come by. A recent study found that the number of job postings requiring cloud computing skills grew 61 percent in the last year.

Developers in companies of all sizes are looking to build out their cloud skills, with 52 percent of developers in companies with more than 5,000 employees; 44 percent in companies with 1,001 to 5,000 employees; 43 percent in companies with 101 to 1,000 employees; 48 percent in companies with two to 11 employees; and 44 percent of independent developers.

Developers also plan to put more weight on the public cloud, with 61 percent of developers planning to use public cloud, while 39 percent said they do not.

"Software-driven enterprises see the cloud as a means to improve collaboration and productivity, and accelerate time to market with quality software applications," the Zend survey said. "This trend is evident in survey responses regarding developers' intentions to use public cloud for app development and deployment projects in 2012."

And when it comes to public cloud vendors, Amazon was the big winner among developers, with 30 percent planning to use Amazon Web Services. Amazon clobbered other public clouds, including Rackspace, which 10 percent of developers plan to use; Microsoft Windows Azure, 6 percent; and IBM Smart Cloud, 3 percent. Meanwhile, 28 percent said they don't know what public cloud they will use, while 5 percent said they'd use a different public cloud.

On a lighter note, the survey found that 42 percent of developers prefer to listen to rock or pop music while coding. Rock and pop was followed by electronics, 17 percent; classical, 10 percent; Jazz, 6 percent; world, 5 percent; rap and hip-hop, 4 percent; and soul and R&B, 3 percent. Metallica ranked No. 1 among the most popular artist to code to, followed by Pink Floyd and Linkin Park. Developers did admit, however, that their No. 1 biggest guilty pleasure – which they listen to with head phones – is Lady Gaga, followed by Britney Spears and Abba. And the No. 1 least popular artist polled by Zend Technologies is Justin Beiber, followed by Lady Gaga and Britney Spears.