Decentralized solutions, knowing your developer and AI apprentices -- development predictions for 2025
In the past year economic and business pressures, the rise of AI technologies talent shortages and more have put a strain on code pipelines and increased demands on developer teams. This in turn leads to fears around developer strain, product launch timescales and cybersecurity risks.
So what might 2025 have in store for developers? Here's what some industry experts think.
RSA Conference's VP of research, Petros Efstathopoulos, thinks we'll see greater traceability of code. "This year’s XZ Utils backdoor showed us how slow, gradual changes to software over the years can help threat actors evade detection until malware is deeply embedded in software. In response to this and other high-profile supply chain attacks, 'Know Your Developer' (KYD) protocols will emerge in 2025 to establish traceability for every line of code. Similar to Know Your Customer (KYC) protections popular with financial institutions, KYD will hold developers accountable for code contributions. The world needs software nutrition labels, and we can expect rules like the EU's Cyber Resilience Act to drive strong software standards forward globally in 2025 and beyond."
Robert Elwell, VP of engineering at MacStadium, sees more decentralized solutions emerging. "Decentralized protocols like Mastodon highlight a growing trend toward federated solutions that emphasize autonomy and adaptability. Enterprises can anticipate similar developments in AI training and inference, cryptocurrency, and event-driven architecture."
John Visneski, CISO of Sumo Logic, thinks there'll be more support for developers from security teams. "In 2025, security teams will actively support developers to drive DevSecOps practices, breaking down siloes between security and development teams to foster improved collaboration and vulnerability detection. The sophistication of modern threats requires enterprises to integrate security practices earlier within the software development cycle to prevent catastrophic losses. Security teams will play a key role in this shift by helping developers adopt security practices in a way that supports their workflow rather than hindering it. The friction between security and development teams will decrease next year, fostering the positive collaboration envisioned by implementing DevSecOps principles."
Rodrigo Coutinho, co-founder and AI product manager at OutSystems, believes AI will change the way developers work. "By combining GenAI with low-code solutions, code will be abstracted to the point of irrelevance. AI will no longer be generating code: it will be generating applications. The day-to-day for developers will change drastically, too. No longer hamstrung by grunt work, developers will step into an up-leveled, strategic role -- communicating with decision-makers about how tech can solve business problems, and finally getting a seat at a table. This evolution will complement developers' best qualities -- their creativity and innovation -- and challenge them to grow into a leadership role within their organizations."
Avthar Sewrathan, AI product lead at Timescale, thinks the accessibility of AI development will increase competition. "By 2025, engineers at any level will be able to create an AI app through the widespread availability of APIs and models, but the differentiators will be consistency, usability, and customer impact. The race won't be about who can build, but about who can build apps that truly resonate with users."
Kanchana Wickremasinghe, vice president and general manager Choreo Business Unit at WSO2 says:
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a crucial role in internal developer platforms (IDPs), enabling the automation of routine tasks, predicting developer behavior, and providing personalized recommendations.
IDPs will prioritize developer experience, providing features like personalized onboarding, tailored workflows, and real-time feedback. This will lead to improved developer satisfaction, reduced turnover, and increased productivity.
Still on AI, Ravi Ithal, GVP and CTO of Proofpoint DSPM Group, sees it becoming a key part of the developer's toolkit. "In 2025, AI will become an indispensable 'apprentice' in the developer’s toolkit, automating bug fixes, testing, and code optimization. According to O'Reilly, 51 percent of companies were already using AI-assisted development tools by 2023, and this trend will accelerate. AI in development will bridge skill gaps and reduce error rates by 20 percent or more, helping developers keep pace with the faster release cycles of DevOps."
Sohail Iqbal, CISO at Veracode, sees an increase in demand for prompt-engineering skills. "As AI continues to learn and get smarter, the skills gap between what companies require and what jobseekers know will grow bigger. Many are concerned we are becoming over-reliant on AI to act as our security team. Because of this, GenAI prompt engineering skills will become essential for both developers and security teams in 2025 and beyond. We will see more prompt engineering roles pop up, reflecting an evolution of the traditional system engineering role. However, human skills, such as business acumen and process management, will still be vital for security and developer teams to operate successfully."
Kostis Kapelonis, senior developer evangelist at Codefresh, believes new types of developer portals will emerge, "Developers are now faced with a huge set of tools and services to do their daily work. No single product that covers all organizational needs and many create their own solution in-house. Most existing products are just a user interface that needs massive customization. We predict that new players will offer modular solutions and overtake the market."
Derek Holt, CEO of Digital.ai, predicts new bottlenecks will emerge in software delivery. "While AI-assisted development will drive increased code creation and ultimately drive individual developer productivity gains, new bottlenecks will quickly emerge across the broader software delivery lifecycle. Organizations that have not invested in test automation, built in security, release orchestration, code scanning and more will struggle to translate more productive developers into faster time to market."
Christopher Robinson, chief security architect at OpenSSF, foresees a growing community of diverse developers. "More people than ever before will be writing software. Open source software (OSS) continues to expand at an exponential rate, fostering a broader diversity of thoughts and ideas. As more individuals, especially students and non-professionals, enter the field, this growth offers an excellent opportunity to share established security best practices in software development and management. The OpenSSF and the Linux Foundation provide numerous resources focused on education and training, promoting secure development practices in developers' daily lives and workflows."
Gilad Shriki, co-founder of Descope, thinks developer experience will define platform winners. "In 2025, the platforms that thrive will be those offering exceptional developer tools and clear documentation. Time-to-production will become a critical metric, with success tied to how fast teams can unlock value. The focus will shift toward solutions that streamline complex deployments, making them feel effortless and intuitive."
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