Nylas Report Uncovers Business Critical Hurdles and Opportunities Facing Developers and Technical Leaders

Second annual State of Developer Experience report shows how work-life balance, AI adoption, and API usage are impacting development cycles, product roadmaps, and ROI

PALO ALTO – April 24, 2023 – Nylas, the state-of-the-art communications platform giving developers universal access to email, calendar, and contacts providers through a single API integration, today released its second annual State of Developer Experience report, highlighting key issues and trends shaping the way developers and technical leaders are building technology as a means to drive product adoption and organizational growth at scale. The report reflects findings from developers, product and engineering leaders, and CTOs and provides a window into the impact of developer burnout, the decision to build with or without APIs, and the adoption of AI and the potential use cases businesses can unlock with this technology. 

The report establishes a clear connection between having a good work-life balance and the use of disruptive technology. Nylas found that 81% of developers who said they have a good work-life balance expect their usage of APIs to increase in the coming year. Conversely, only 43% of developers with a poor work-life balance plan on investing more heavily in APIs. When it comes to AI, 95% of developers said they would like to see their company invest more heavily in AI technologies, workflows, and use cases, a nearly 30% increase from last year. 

“Intelligent workflows, frictionless development cycles, and the ability to build efficiently without compromising on innovation are all table stakes of the modern developer experience,” said Isaac Nassimi, Senior Vice President of Product at Nylas. “It is imperative for product and engineering leaders to understand how putting their development teams in a position where they can do their best work can directly translate into building and maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

The State of Developer Experience 2024 articulates how developers and technical leaders evaluate user experiences, technical challenges, and the use of AI throughout the development cycle. Some of the key findings include:

• 81% of developers who say they have a good work-life balance plan to increase their usage of APIs this year, while only 43% of developers with a poor work-life balance expect their usage of APIs to increase.
• Despite use case data suggesting otherwise, 72% of developers and 75% of product and engineering leaders believe it will take just five months to build an email integration into their application. 
• 95% of developers would like to see their company invest more heavily in AI for data analytics and parsing, workflow automation, and curating better user and customer experiences. 
• When deciding whether or not to build with APIs, developers see “speed and productivity” as the biggest value add. At the same time, product and engineering leaders emphasize “the ability to build new technology into their applications” the most.

As part of its developer experience initiatives, Nylas recently unveiled its API v3 which includes fundamental updates and enhancements to eliminate friction and increase efficiency when building with Nylas. Some significant updates and new features include:

• Email bounce detection – Enables developers to now easily integrate bounce detection into their workflows and applications to enhance email deliverability.
• Scheduled email send – Increase email open rates and engagement by enabling users to customize when scheduling and sending emails.
• Smart Compose – A new generative AI-powered email assistant helping users save time and effort through drafting structured and personalized emails based on contextual and user prompts.

Read the State of Developer Experience 2024 in its entirety at https://www.nylas.com/state-of-api-developer-experience/ and register for the State of Developer Experience webinar featuring Nylas’ SVP of Product Isaac Nassimi and Ash Arnwine, Director of Developer Relations at Nylas. 

The State of Developer Experience 2024 brought together insights from over 1,000 developers, technical leaders, and executives across the United States. The survey was fielded over approximately six weeks in February and March 2024.

Start building for free today by connecting up to 5 accounts with no credit card information required.

About Nylas
Hundreds of thousands of developers around the world use Nylas to increase velocity and seamlessly build customizable email and scheduling capabilities through state-of-the-art APIs. Nylas is the only platform that gives developers universal access to email, calendar, and contacts providers through a single integration. Companies like Ceridian, Talkdesk, Wix, Salesloft, Crunchbase, and more turn to Nylas to quickly and securely launch critical features, enabling them to spend less time on their infrastructure and more time building software with limitless potential.

Learn more at www.nylas.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.