To gain a broad overview and more precise information on how stress is impacting the IT industry, Spacelift has interviewed over 1000 IT and non-IT professionals. Based on prequalifying research before conducting the study, they focused more on DevOps since it was said to be among the most challenging IT areas to work in.
Overall, IT is less stressful than non-IT, where 55% report feeling stressed sometimes or very often (vs. 34% for IT).
Education and Money
First, employees without degrees are more likely to experience stress in DevOps than in other IT positions (27% vs. 20%). Higher education may lessen IT-related stress.
Second, 7.5% fewer IT professionals have DevOps graduate degrees. DevOps with a graduate degree are the most stressed, scoring 3.44 out of 5. IT workers (excluding DevOps) are the least stressed (3.04 out of 5).
75% of DevOps engineers are pleased (or indifferent) with their salary, compared to 71% of IT workers. Interestingly, non-IT workers are happier with their pay than IT and DevOps workers (50% vs. 43%).
The lowest-earning DevOps engineers (under $100k) are 7% more stressed than other IT professionals. One method to alleviate DevOps stress is to pay them decently.
Work
DevOps engineers led the way in meeting their monthly goals. 65% said they seldom or never encountered task difficulty compared to non-IT and IT (34% & 61%).
Spacelift’s poll found that 86% of DevOps engineers can choose when to take breaks. The same is true for 80% of IT pros and 77% of non-IT pros. 66% of DevOps engineers said they never or seldom work weekends. In comparison, just 25% of non-IT workers can fully enjoy their weekends; 52% of all IT professionals and 48% of non-DevOps IT professionals agreed.
DevOps managers are among the most stressed IT professionals. They’re 14% more stressed than DevOps specialists, which is natural as responsibilities grow. Also, DevOps managers are 21% more stressed than other IT managers.
DevOps who confessed not being on top of things were 20% more worried than IT peers, according to our study. DevOps who claimed to have complete control over their jobs were 20% more stressed than the rest of IT. DevOps are more stressed regardless of how well they do their jobs.
39% of DevOps engineers seldom or never consider switching jobs. It’s 43% for the overall IT industry and 26 % for the non-IT sector.
Taking Time Off
DevOps are more stressed than other IT professionals; therefore, it’s no wonder they take the most vacation time. 72% of DevOps take more than nine days off each year, 16% points more than IT employees, and 37% points more than non-IT professionals.
Also, DevOps take, on average, 14.2 days off, 37% more than other IT professionals.
DevOps professionals who don’t take breaks are 35% more stressed than IT workers. DevOps engineers are more stressed than IT professionals, although over 70% have never missed work due to stress.
55% of individuals surveyed in non-IT sectors skipped work due to stress, 32% in IT non-DevOps, and 31% in IT agreed.
The excessive workload was rated the primary stressor by all the surveyed groups.
Stress symptoms and copying
IT experts are most irritable when stressed. 55% of DevOps and 44% of IT reported irritation as their top stress symptom. Non-IT professionals suffer most from depression (44%).
45% of IT and 44% of DevOps engineers don’t feel safe reporting stress to their employers. For the non-IT sector, it is 26%. DevOps engineers are the most likely not to know whether their company offers mental health help (29%). 20% of IT and 6% of non-IT respondents didn’t know whether their firms offered mental health help, whereas 43% and 61% worked in companies that did.
While music and exercise are the most common ways to relieve stress in IT and non-IT, 62% of DevOps use video games. DevOps appreciate outdoor activities 19% more than other groups, and they laugh or cry 7% points less often to cope with stress.
On the other hand, almost 60% of DevOps self-criticize themselves to deal with stress.
Conclusion
IT professionals are less stressed than others. In the IT industry, heavy workloads and tight deadlines cause irritability and mood swings. Music, video games, and exercise are helping them relieve job-related stress.
DevOps are the only ones surveyed that placed “heavy workload” on par with “work interfering with personal or family time” as a cause of job-related stress, which suggests that they’re family-oriented.
