Top Software Development For Developers: Trends for 2020

Yeah, I mean, I know. There is nothing new about the market for developers. 2020, though, is different. 2020 is the year we see some of the most exciting developments of this decade become commercially viable, and others eventually go mainstream. New trends like edge computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence can be seen to go mainstream and gain greater acceptance. Many of these technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), would also affect our understanding. For tech, 2020 will be an exciting and critical year, and developers will play a key role in it.

Here are six software development trends that will dominate 2020 without further ado. In the comments below, feel free to share your opinions, questions, and suggestions.

Blockchain Developer demand continues to emerge.

While the blockchain industry endured the "Crypto Winter" in late 2019, this offered the opportunity to root out meaningless ventures. Some claim that continuing with the most extreme projects in the blockchain space was a much-needed cleanup. Despite this stricter time, the number of startups in the blockchain continued to increase.

Furthermore, fewer software developers are looking for work related to blockchain. Research by Indeed.com shows that Indeed's share of cryptocurrency work posts per million has risen by 26 percent in the past year, whereas the proportion of job searches per million has decreased by 53 percent. This suggests that the blockchain industry has a significant need for skills. While many other ventures need highly qualified blockchain developers, most businesses look for Ethereum or Bitcoin experts.

IoT Gets Pushed to the Edge

Wearables like the Fitbit and Apple Watch attract much of the coverage, but they are merely a niche in the vast IoT ecosystem. Almost everything is turning into a data-collecting system, from vehicles to highways, deep sea oil rigs to living rooms. Such tools gather massive volumes of knowledge, and IT businesses seek cheaper and quicker processing methods. That is where edge computing, in 2020, will play a part.

Edge computing uses a micro data center mesh to process data near or at the "edge" of the network near the computer. From porting all data to a centralized data center, processing on edge saves time and resources. This means that IoT devices can conduct faster real-time analytics for the end-user, even when they are in a position with limited connectivity (such as on a deep-sea oil rig).

Database and network engineers will be called to build the future IoT infrastructure as edge computing becomes a priority. Thanks to quicker real-time analytics, more organizations are expected to follow BizDevOps activities, offering developers a place at the strategy table.

Edge computing, including the cloud itself, is going to affect every layer of IT infrastructure. Some experts are, however, alert about the edge computing pitfalls, which takes us to ...

Cybersecurity Reaches an Inflection Point

2017 was an awful year for private information on the internet, emphasizing Equifax, WannaCry, Uber, and the National Security Agency. That is saying something, given a year ago, the election hacking debacle. For any company, corporation, and government globally, security is top-of-mind, ensuring that money can flow to find new solutions.

It is possible to split cybersecurity programs into two categories: internal and external. Internally, the priority of organizations will be to incorporate security into their applications. DevOps teams should concentrate on automating security testing into their lifecycle of software development. This will help guarantee that during growth, bugs are not implemented.

There is a lack of expertise for cybersecurity, however. InfoSecurity magazine stated that a shortage of cybersecurity personnel was reported by 65 percent of the organizations questioned. Moreover, the questionnaire also said that their number one issue is this shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals. Beyond big companies, this shortage has repercussions. The ESG's Jon Oltsik thinks the lack of cybersecurity expertise "represents an existential threat to our national security."

Like blockchain and edge computing, for developers who want their skills to remain in demand for the near future, cybersecurity represents another green pasture. It may also be some of our generation's most significant work. Therefore, cybersecurity certainly deserves a place in the list of 2020 developments in software development.

Continuous Delivery Is No Longer Competitive Edge; It's Table Stakes

In 2020, software distribution will hit Formula 1 speeds, led by giants like Amazon, who supposedly deploy new code every 11.7 seconds. Not every organization needs to be that fast, but continuous delivery offers many benefits beyond just deployment speed. These benefits are turned into table stakes in competitive niches of tech.

In short, continuous delivery is when "ready for deployment" is the default state of your software build. It is implemented (called continuous integration), checked, designed, and configured as soon as it is written. For developers, the only thing left to do is press the big red "Deploy" button. By introducing continuous deployment, organizations like Amazon take this phase a step further.

Continuous delivery helps teams minimize the number of errors that make it into production, despite speeding up deployment. All errors are caught thanks automatically to constant testing and sent back to the developer to correct them. Besides, continuous delivery lets teams stay on board with their customers continuing to develop apps. Continuous delivery brings new releases into clients' hands quickly, adopting the Agile concept of short feedback loops.

Continuous delivery includes various working tools, including a CI build server, monitoring tools, and code management frameworks. The need for artificial intelligence and security becomes Vital.

To remain relevant, we are approaching the point that companies need entirely to implement AI. AI adoption, voice-activated home assistants, smartphones, Big Data, and Insight-as-a-Service vendors will all have great years as a result.

In reality, AI protection is a domain that will expand over the course of 2020. The primary focus on AI has already been seen. But there is a lack of focus on the security aspect. A self-driving car relies on interpreting input from the real world as a stop sign, on providing an example. What if a malicious person tries to place on the stop sign a 45-mile sticker. This means that the AI interprets this intersection with a stop sign as a regular road. And blasts through the meeting as a great opportunity. Tricking the AI is a swift and fast attack.

Another trick involves using a laser to relay sound to transmit voice commands over hundreds of meters. They will quietly talk to any voice-assisted computer via this laser. This is a very dangerous discovery because it makes transactions or even open garage ports for malicious individuals.

In short, it is expected that spending on AI solutions will continue to rise by 46.2 percent annually, to reach $52.2 billion by 2021.

Distributed Cloud

The distributed cloud has already begun in early 2020. The cloud is nothing new, but how we use the cloud is very imaginative. The term distributed cloud applies to the delivery of services and geographical cloud locations across multiple cloud providers. For instance, in Ireland, the Netherlands, the USA, and many more locations, a cloud provider like Amazon provides servers. As an organization, by distributing services globally over the cloud provider, you can reduce the risk of a potential failure.

The advantages of the distributed cloud?

1) Reduce latency as there is no need for requests to travel the whole world. A request is submitted to the nearest server hosting your service, resulting in a quicker response time.

2) Little chance of failure. The failure of one cloud service would have a limited effect on the availability of your service, as your services are distributed over many cloud providers.

3) Better equilibration of loads. As the demands are distributed through several cloud providers with their load balancing mechanisms, the service can better handle heavy loads.