Over the last decade, we’ve witnessed a growing divide in the world of software development. Technology giants deploy code daily across complex systems managed by tens of thousands of developers. They coordinate hundreds of projects and teams, spread around the world and across time zones. They enable fast deployments, fast reviews, and fast data. As a result, they consistently deliver value to their customers, set their industry’s pace for innovation, and ultimately win in the marketplace.

At the same time, many companies are falling behind. Engineering teams struggle with roadblocks and bottlenecks during the development process. Taking an idea to production can take months or even quarters. Developers battle distractions — too many meetings, too many interruptions, and too much wait time on processes and systems — all of which impact the first prerequisite for high-performing engineering teams: code time.

What is Code Time?

Without time to focus and enter a state of flow, developers are limited in their ability to get work done. The best engineering organizations prioritize and defend code time by limiting meetings, reducing distractions, and removing constraints with the right tools and automations. This report explores data from our global community and uncovers how much time developers have available to code during the workday.

Key Findings

Developers code less than one hour per day

Based on data from 250K+ developers in our global community, developers code 52 minutes per day — about 4 hours and 21 minutes during a normal workweek from Monday to Friday.

Code time is defined as time spent actively writing or editing code in an editor or IDE, which we use as an indicator of the amount of focused, uninterrupted time that developers have available to code during the workday. Based on our estimates, developers spend an additional 41 minutes per day on other types of work in their editors, such as reading code, reviewing pull requests, and browsing documentation.

Our takeaway: Our findings suggest that developers frequently face constraints at work that prevent them from finding uninterrupted time to code.

Emerging economies code more than median

Among the world’s largest advanced economies, known collectively as the G7, developers in Italy, France, and Japan spend the most time per day actively coding. In an analysis of ten countries categorized as emerging markets by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we found that developers in Thailand, Turkey, and Brazil spend the most time coding.

Interestingly, developers in the top emerging markets code more than the global median, which may indicate that software engineering is rapidly increasing in popularity in those countries.

Coding peaks on Wednesdays

Coding peaks on Wednesday, when developers code a median of 55 minutes, and falls to 46 minutes on Friday, the least popular workday for coding. Most developers continue coding through the weekend; developers code a median of about 18 minutes per day on Saturday and Sunday.

To filter out part-time developers, our analysis is limited to developers who coded at least 7 of the last 30 days.

Conclusion

The findings from Software.com's Code Time Report underline the significant challenges that developers face in finding uninterrupted time to code. By recognizing these hurdles and prioritizing code time, organizations can boost productivity and drive innovation. Whether through reducing meetings, minimizing distractions, or implementing the right tools and automations, defending code time is essential for high-performing engineering teams.

For a deeper dive into the data and insights, be sure to download the full report.