Application programmers make up the single largest portion of the IT staff in most organizations today, on average about one-fifth of the IT organization headcount. Over the long term, the number of application programmers as a percentage of the typical IT organization has been in decline. As organizations make more use of commercial software, reduce reliance on mainframes, or engage in outsourcing, they have less need of programmers. However, over the past few years, application development and maintenance headcount has been rising, if only slightly, as organizations renewed spending on capital projects and investment in mobile and enterprise applications. In addition to developing applications, enterprises need programmers to maintain systems, provide technical support, and modify existing systems, and programmers remain a key element of nearly every IT organization. With the changing environment, the need for programmers is in flux and IT organizations can benefit from periodic assessment of their application development and maintenance staffing levels.
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