The tech industry has long been known for its high employee turnover, especially among software developers. According to LinkedIn research, software companies consistently have higher turnover rates than other industries, around 13 percent in recent years.

Why do developers change jobs so often? For experienced professionals, the answer is often simple: they can. Even as the market has slowed down in recent months, highly skilled developers are still in demand and can negotiate higher pay.

However, money is not the only reason. Technology changes quickly, and developers need to keep learning new things to stay up-to-date. They often find themselves following the latest trends, moving from one new technology to another to stay relevant.

Having  this understanding of what makes developers move, I wondered: what makes them stay?

To explore this question, I interviewed David, a software engineer at Dynamic Solutions who has worked there longer than the industry average of two years and shows no signs of leaving.

And, according to the September 2024 company retention report, he is not an exception:

David: I started my career at NI Hungary in Debrecen, where I joined the Web/CMS team and worked primarily with AEM. My tasks ranged from minor updates to major projects like rebranding the entire website, which was quite exciting. I developed a real passion for AEM.

After two and a half years, I moved on to World of Books, where I worked with Spring Batch for six months. However, when I received an offer from Dynamic Solutions, I knew I had to return to AEM. It's my core skill, and I wanted to continue developing it, so joining DS was the obvious choice.

David: I've really enjoyed how my journey has progressed here. I started on an internal project, working on our own CMS, WebSight, which uses technologies closely related to AEM. Those few months helped me refresh my AEM knowledge. After that, I began working with external clients, and my growth accelerated quickly. This was largely thanks to my colleagues, who are experts in this field, and the experience I gained has been a significant boost to my career.

David: My current project is a large e-commerce site with many subdomains. It involves numerous integrations with external systems, utilizing workflows, Dynamic Media, AWS, and microservices. These challenges significantly contribute to my growth as a developer. Recently, we did a migration from one CMS to another, which has expanded my knowledge even further.

David: Dynamic Solutions has a really good internal back-end developer community, where we can ask each other any technical questions. But before asking everyone, we discuss the actual technical problem with the developers from the office. Usually, these discussions are really helpful. That’s the power of working on-site.

If we cannot figure out a response, then we can bring up the issue in a company Slack channel, and these questions always are answered. I have been here for more than 2 years, but I have not seen any unanswered questions in the channel.

All of the above-mentioned facts make me feel that I am supported along my journey, even if I encounter complex issues that I need to solve.

David: Absolutely! During COVID, I thought remote work was what I needed, but once we returned to the office, I realized how much I missed being on-site. I love being with my colleagues, sharing jokes, playing darts, and having coffee breaks together. These interactions make work much more enjoyable for me.

David: What I love about our company is that we're not that big—around 50 people—so we all know each other well and meet multiple times a year. It feels like a big group of friends. 

Another thing that stands out is how the company owners, Marta and Michal, have built a culture of attentiveness and action.

When a colleague suggested expanding to Hungary, they seriously considered it and made it happen within months. That's the kind of place this is—where good ideas are heard and implemented, regardless of where they come from.

If that sounds refreshing, you might just fit right in.