Which cloud platforms do technologists love? And which do they hate? The answers to those questions can offer up some hints about which platforms have staying power—and which might fade away.
According to Stack Overflow’s latest Developer Survey, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud were the top three platforms that developers love the most (the data comes from 55,648 responses, so it’s pretty comprehensive). It’s interesting to note that, while a majority of respondents loved all three, that love wasn’t totally overwhelming; a significant percentage also said they dreaded each of these platforms.
When it comes to developer perception of the world’s largest cloud platforms, meanwhile, it seems that IBM and Oracle are in a bit of trouble. Developer feelings for Oracle’s cloud offerings seem perfectly split between love and hate—not the greatest situation for a company that’s aggressively trying to claw an audience away from well-established competitors such as AWS and Azure. Companies in such an underdog position generally need significant love for their core product to make headway, especially when rivals are well-funded and can leverage substantial goodwill from existing customers. (Oracle is betting big that its relationship with TikTok will earn it some much-needed buzz.)
IBM, meanwhile, suffers from a major perception issue, with a dead-last ranking on this list. Big Blue has famously struggled to build out a compelling cloud offering, with huge internal fights over strategy and infrastructure designs. IBM also opted to focus on building out “specialty clouds” for specific clients in industries such as finance, which isn’t the route to widespread, AWS-level adoption.
That being said, Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey also showed that specializing in IBM’s cloud pays developers an average of $75,504, just behind AWS ($81,387) and ahead of Azure ($74,651). Even if you dread working with a particular platform, mastering it can sometimes pay off—especially if it’s enterprise-focused.
