Solana Developer Retention Hits New Heights, Surpassing 50% In 2023

Blockchain platform Solana (SOL) has reported significant advancements in its developer ecosystem, showcasing significant growth and improved retention rates. 

According to a recent report by the Solana Foundation, the platform’s developer community has witnessed notable progress in tooling, developer experience, content quality, and programming language diversity throughout 2023.

Solana Emerges As The Second-Largest Ecosystem

The Solana Foundation, responsible for fostering the growth of the Solana ecosystem, revealed that the number of monthly active developers on open-source repositories has surpassed 2,500, with ongoing growth in professional developers joining the ecosystem. 

The report also highlights a notable increase in three-month developer retention, climbing from 31% to over 50% within the protocol’s ecosystem.

According to the report, one of the key factors contributing to this improved retention is the enhancement of developer onboarding processes. 

The Solana Foundation has released multiple comprehensive guides and conducted developer boot camps, resulting in around 400-500 senior developers graduating every six months with a keen interest in building on the platform. 

The report further notes that approximately 50% of the top submissions and winners of the recent Solana Hyperdrive Hackathon had completed these boot camps, demonstrating their effectiveness in “nurturing skilled” developers within the ecosystem.

Furthermore, the report highlights that the ecosystem has experienced a surge in developer job opportunities. The number of job postings on jobs.solana.com, a platform that aggregates job openings across the ecosystem, has steadily increased from 15 in January 2023 to 95 at the time of the report’s publication. 

In December 2023 alone, 41 new jobs were added, indicating a growing demand for jobs and talent within the “Ethereum Killer” community.

Despite being a relatively new ecosystem, Solana has already established itself as the second-largest ecosystem in monthly active developers. 

According to the report, this growth can be attributed to various initiatives led by the Solana Foundation, including hackathons, developer houses, educational boot camps, and sponsored university events. 

Additionally, ecosystem-led groups such as SuperteamDAO, mtnDAO, Metcamp, and Gen3 have significantly fostered growth and attracted developers.

Contribution To Ecosystem Growth 

The report also highlights the global nature of the protocol’s developer ecosystem, with participants from 151 countries represented in the most recent hackathon. Notably, the share of hackathon submissions from outside the United States has grown substantially, reaching 91% in Hyperdrive. 

Countries such as India, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Vietnam have emerged as priority focuses for developer communities due to their abundant engineering talent. 

Additionally, countries like Brazil, Japan, France, Nigeria, and Israel are anticipated to contribute significantly to the ecosystem’s growth in the coming year.

While the report acknowledges the initial challenges faced by developers transitioning from Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to Solana, efforts are underway to ease their onboarding process. 

The report notes that tools are being developed to facilitate the adoption of the protocol’s blockchain and streamline the iteration speed for developers accustomed to EVM programming. 

Ultimately, the Solana ecosystem aims to bridge the gap and provide a seamless transition for developers, as evidenced by the relatively small percentage (7%) of monthly active Solidity developers who have explored the protocol’s development.

After briefly dipping to the $85 level following its peak at $126, which was reached on December 25, 2023, SOL has regained its bullish momentum. In the past 24 hours, the token has experienced a 6% surge, resulting in its current trading price of $99.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com