Postman, an API development environment, released its 2018 State of the API Survey. This year’s survey was sent to the nearly 5 million worldwide members of the Postman community, to better understand the API developers’ workflow, pain points, and perspective for where the API space is headed.
Already an essential part of software development for web, IoT, mobile and AI applications, API use continues to grow among developers, and their confidence in both API security and documentation has increased year over year. And most notably, while microservices remain the most exciting technology for API developers, the rise of containers and serverless architecture have emerged as the new favorites for this group.
“This year’s survey data reveals a diverse area of focus for the API development workforce,” said Abhinav Asthana, Postman’s co-founder and CEO. “The data will help technical leads analyze and identify current norms within their technologies and where development teams need to focus their time and energy, and guide executives with their evaluation of the talent and tools needed to support upcoming deliverables.”
Full results of the research are available from Postman. Key highlights include:
- Nearly 2 in 3 API developers spend a quarter of their week working with APIs, and 30% of those spend more than half of their time with APIs.
- Usage of Public and Private APIs is nearly 50%, and has grown since last year, while internal APIs still make up slightly more than half of all usage.
- Most users have fewer than five years of experience, less than 20% work in teams and nearly half are back-end developers.
- The majority of API knowledge is gained on the job or from online resources, while published API documentation and online communities also contribute heavily.
Additionally, the Postman community were asked how they pronounce API, with an overwhelming 82% said they use “Aye-Pee-Eye” and another 12% said “Appie” rhymes with happy. Nearly 2 in 3 API developers admitted that their friends and family don’t know how to pronounce the word, as they have no idea what an API is, or what they actually do for a living.
And finally, developers shared a clear preference in the Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate. A whopping 76% of API developers identified as “All Star Wars” or “More Star Wars than Star Trek”. As well, the current TV shows API developers most relate to are The Big Bang Theory (32%) and Silicon Valley (30%), while 24% said they don’t watch TV shows.