Torc Acquires Codealike for Cloud-Native Developer Network

Torc has acquired Codealike to provide cloud-native application developers in its network with data that improves their skillsets.

Torc CEO Mike Morris says Codealike complements other tools that Torc provides, including access to a community of more than 10,000 cloud-native application developers that take on assignments listed on the Torc network.

Torc Community Members can visualize coding performance and use that data to market themselves in ways that increase their earnings and advance their careers, he adds.

That data, however, is not automatically shared with clients that use the Torc network to find freelance developers, says Morris. It’s up to each developer to decide how much of that data to share with individual clients, he notes.

For a limited time, developers can access Codealike’s Premium features for free by creating a Torc Community Member account and completing at least 80% of their Torc profile. Other tools that Torc makes accessible include an algorithm that tracks the amount of time developers are focused “in the zone” on writing code.

Torc is looking for experienced cloud-native developers to join a growing network that makes it simpler for organizations to find developers with the skills required to build modern applications. In addition, Torc provides access to a customer success team to help clients develop their network of freelance developers, says Morris.

It’s estimated the total number of developers with Kubernetes skills is north of seven million, while the number with container experience is estimated to be more than 13 million. It’s not clear how many experienced freelance cloud-native developers there are, but during uncertain economic times, most organizations tend to lean more on contractors rather than hiring full-time employees.

Regardless of approach, the number of cloud-native applications being developed continues to increase. Organizations are looking to build more resilient applications based on microservices that are easier to update, maintain and secure. The challenge is that those applications are more difficult to build, so the number of developers as a percentage of the overall developer population remains constrained.

However, cloud-native application development platforms are becoming more accessible, so the expectation is the number of developers with the skills required to build these applications will steadily increase in the months and years ahead.

In the meantime, it’s also expected that more organizations will employ platforms such as Kubernetes in a way that is fit for purpose. As is the case with many emerging technology platforms, there is a tendency to build applications simply to gain experience, even though many of those applications may be better suited to run on, for example, a serverless computing framework.

One way or another, the percentage of cloud-native applications running on Kubernetes in a production environment has increased. The bulk of the applications running in those environments may still be based on a legacy monolithic architecture, but as organizations slowly modernize their application environments, it’s more likely they will need the skills of a cloud-native application developer.