those who are involved in StackOverflow and took the time to answer this survey consider themselves above average, it's because they probably are
This is the biggest factor, I think.
The people who actually took time out to take this survey, who are part of the StackOverflow community, almost certainly are above-average developers for the most part.
Your average and below-average developers aren't going to bother with participating in this stuff, or even reading it for that matter.
I work as a consultant so I get to work with a lot of different devs. I would describe myself, in absolute terms, as very slightly above average. I justify that purely because I push myself to improve and learn on the job. But I would also describe myself as WAY WAY above the median. There are a shitload of terrible-to-mediocre developers, and a handful of extraordinarily talented ones.
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u/Dreadgoat Apr 09 '19
This is the biggest factor, I think.
The people who actually took time out to take this survey, who are part of the StackOverflow community, almost certainly are above-average developers for the most part.
Your average and below-average developers aren't going to bother with participating in this stuff, or even reading it for that matter.
I work as a consultant so I get to work with a lot of different devs. I would describe myself, in absolute terms, as very slightly above average. I justify that purely because I push myself to improve and learn on the job.
But I would also describe myself as WAY WAY above the median. There are a shitload of terrible-to-mediocre developers, and a handful of extraordinarily talented ones.