A representative survey of 500 Hungarian software developers, commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and stratified by sector, company size and region, finds widespread adoption of AI tools and measurable productivity gains. Respondents report saving an average of 6.5 work hours per week with AI and signal shifts in role content, skill priorities and training needs.
Frequency and scale of AI use
- 82% of respondents use AI tools daily; 94% use them at least weekly.
- 77% reported productivity improvements from AI use; 32% described the improvement as significant.
- On average developers save 6.5 work hours per week using AI, which—assuming 48 work weeks—amounts to about 312 hours per developer per year.
How saved time is spent
Developers most often allocate the freed-up time to:
- solving more complex technical problems: 33%
- reviewing results produced by AI: 30%
- learning new technologies: 27%
Organizational impact and adoption stage
- 71% of respondents believe AI already gives their organization a competitive advantage.
- However, corporate integration remains early: 34% of Hungarian development teams have reorganized processes to accommodate AI usage.
How job content is changing
- Only 6% expect AI to take over most of their current job.
- 67% expect AI agents to become a normal part of development teams within five years.
- 69% anticipate that a larger share of their role will involve supervising and coordinating AI systems.
Key competencies for the next five years
Respondents identified the most important future skills as:
- managing AI systems and validating their outputs: 51%
- critical thinking: 51%
- system architecture/design: 47%
- only 15% believe manual coding will retain long-term importance
Employers’ expectations are shifting as well: 37% of developers say curiosity and willingness to experiment are valued more, while only 9% see multi-year experience in a particular programming language as similarly prized.
Education and training gaps
- 78% say educational and training institutions are not keeping pace with AI developments.
- 72% want faster-updating university computer science curricula.
- 56% would introduce AI knowledge in secondary school education.
- 34% of respondents had to significantly upskill in the past two years because of AI’s rise.
Career attractiveness and risks
- 68% would recommend a developer career to young people, most often citing competitive pay and career opportunities.
- 58% believe AI can ease entry into the profession by enabling junior developers to produce valuable work sooner.
Perceived risks include:
- excessive dependence on AI: 45%
- deterioration of junior developers’ fundamental skills: 41%
- overreliance on AI-generated outputs: 31%
Conclusion
The survey shows that AI usage is widespread among Hungarian developers and brings tangible time and productivity gains. Rather than displacing the profession, AI appears to be reshaping job content toward oversight, system design and critical thinking. At the same time, gaps in education and corporate process adaptation, and concerns about dependence and skill erosion, highlight areas for policymakers, educators and employers to address.
