Fixing software bugs is the top developer pain point

New research from code improvement platform Rollbar finds that fixing software bugs and errors is the top pain point for 44 percent of developers.

This is not helped by inadequate tools, with a large majority (88 percent) feeling that traditional error monitoring falls short of their expectations.

Among the reasons given for this are that it requires them to manually respond to errors (39 percent), it takes them too long to find all of the details they need to fix bugs and errors (36 percent) and it focuses on system stability and not enough on code health (31 percent).

"This research highlights the extreme challenges that developers -- and their businesses -- face when addressing software bugs and errors," says Francesco Crippa, vice president of engineering at Rollbar. "Traditional error monitoring simply doesn't cut it in a world in which software has become an important aspect of how everything in society works."

Not surprisingly Generation Z developers are the age group most likely to complain about the old-school approach to error monitoring with 94 percent saying that traditional error monitoring doesn’t adequately meet all of their requirements. However, 79 percent of Boomer developers also echo this sentiment.

Hunting down errors is clearly a time consuming process as 38 percent of developers say that they spend up to a quarter of their time fixing software bugs. Slightly more than a quarter (26 percent) say that they spend up to half their time fixing bugs, while eight percent of those surveyed say that they must dedicate up to three-quarters of their time to fixing bugs.

Nearly two-thirds of developers (62 percent) have found out about errors from users reporting through the app. Worse still, software users may air their complaints in public forums, 25 percent of developers say they've heard about errors from users sharing issues on social media.

"Software is now at the heart of every business, so company leaders understand the value of providing great user experiences," says Brian Rue, CEO and co-founder of Rollbar. "But software is made of code, and code isn't perfect. Bugs and errors are inevitable. Yet, this survey illustrates that developers still struggle to deal with errors. With continuous code improvement, developers responsible for mission-critical applications can identify bugs and their root causes in real-time, and even automate the steps to resolve them."

You can find out more and try Rollbar's continuous code improvement platform for free on the company's site.

Photo Credit: Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock