Web frontend
On the frontend tech trends side, things can get pretty boring as Typescript + React combo shares the top spot as something that has become so widely used and known by the developer community that it is seen as the key combination for the coming years. React actually appeared on our tech radar in 2014 in the "Trial" category!
This time, the following technologies were listed as the most desirable in the frontend category
- Typescript + React
- Vue
- Svelte
- NextJS
- NuxtJS
Not that many frameworks or random libraries were mentioned this time. Few random picks include Fresh and Phoenix Liveview.
Backend
On the backend, there's clearly more variety. In backend development, it is not always that critical to jump on the latest trends like flashy UI frameworks, so there are plenty of different technologies which have been around for a long time and will be in the future as well.
The current backend technologies we currently see at Futurice as future relevant are
- Typescript + NodeJS
- Golang
- Kotlin
- Python
- C#
Modern Java and Scala are not topping the lists this time, but can and will still be encountered in many places in the future. On the other hand, Elixir and Rust are seen as interesting technologies, but their current application areas are not that relevant in our work in near term.
In November 2022, we had our first Rust training organized at Futurice by our enthusiastic Rustaceans.
Mobile
Mobile development has seen a slight shift from native apps to favor cross-platform React Native, Flutter, and Progressive Web Apps (PWA). When talking about mobile apps, it's very important to always consider which type of apps are being built and select the technologies accordingly.
For simple apps, choosing a PWA might be sufficient for certain use cases, but leveraging the full range of mobile device hardware capabilities should steer towards selecting a native approach (with Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android are the way to go). Technologies like the Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) are being introduced to mobile devices, which might boost the native apps in the future.
Currently, we are working with all of these different techonologies at Futurice and can't pick one over the other that would be the clear winner for the years to come (also our Windows Phone predictions done in 2014 didn't go that well).
Data
In data, instead of focusing on specific technologies, our data experts listed some concepts which they believe are something that can deliver business value when applied to the right contexts in the near term.
Also, in contrast to the rather pessimistic view on no code / low code platforms above, in the field of data, these are often daily tools in building data pipelines and even ML/AI solutions for faster value creation. This was something in which they believe will even grow in significance going forward.