According to report from the Solana Foundation, the Solana ecosystem’s developer retention rate over a 3-month time frame has increased from 31% to more than 50% throughout 2023.
The Foundation attributes this to improvements in developer acquisition and increased opportunities in the ecosystem. The report evaluates retention by measuring the number of developers who have made at least 1 commit for 3 consecutive months.
According to the report, approximately 400-500 Solana developers graduate from various developer bootcamps every six months, with job listings increasing by 500% throughout the year.
According to GitHub’s data, improved retention has helped retain 2,500 to 3,000 Solana ecosystem developers operates monthly throughout 2023.
Developer experience and global reach
The Solana Foundation also attributed the improved performance to enhanced tooling for multiple programming languages and additional educational resources, although it said there was still room for improvement in areas such as testing and debugging.
They highlight the global growth of the ecosystem, with initiatives such as SuperteamDAO expanding to eight countries by 2023. This global expansion is also reflected in diverse participation in competitions Solana’s hackathon and other events, with more than 150 countries participating.
Solana Foundation writes:
“Over the past three years, more than 3,000 projects have been launched and more than $600 million in funding raised for projects submitted to the hackathon. With each hackathon, the number of submitted projects increases. The most recent hackathon, Solana Hyperdrive, had over 900 submissions.”
Increased developer activity in the Solana ecosystem in 2023 coincided with a strong year for the native cryptocurrency SOL. Indeed, SOL was the best-performing altcoin among major altcoins last year, rising more than 1,000% from around $10 at the start of the year to $102 at the end. SOL is currently trading at $99.93.
In December, Solana set a new record for monthly new and active addresses amid rising prices.
