Stack Overflow – Informal learning and the global expansion of professional development and opportunities in programming?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine if, and to what extent, online Community Question Answering platforms expand the opportunities for professional development in programming. Longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of Stack Overflow Developer Surveys were used to examine users' geographical distribution, gender, experience, professional status, platform usage and education. In order to study differences between the countries with the largest number of respondents, the developer survey data was combined with indicators of human development, gender equality and educational attainment. The results show that the Stack Overflow community has expanded to some extent, both in terms of wider geographical distribution and the programming expertise of users. However, the community reflects and fails to mitigate the apparent gender disparity in the field of programming. Furthermore, participation seems to be conditioned by formal education, especially in developing countries. In general, participation patterns in Stack Overflow seem to be heavily influenced by local conditions in different countries.

Hidden Gold for IT Professionals, Educators, and Students: Insights From Stack Overflow Survey

“…Every year, Stack Overflow conducts a poll and makes the anonymized results available for anyone to download, allowing for further study. As a result, numerous researchers have gleaned useful insights from the SODS data that is publicly available [50]- [54]. The studies that were undertaken utilizing these data used a variety of methodologies and arrived at results that added to our understanding of IT abilities.…”