This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by lidianycs
Empathy is often seen as a “nice-to-have” in tech, but what if it’s actually essential? In the first part of our articles about empathy in software engineering, we explore how developers define empathy, in their own words.
We just published a new study that explores what empathy looks like from the perspective of real software practitioners, using 55 blog posts from communities like DEV and Medium, plus insights from a follow-up survey with empathy experts.
The study was recently accepted at ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), a leading peer-reviewed journal for high-quality research in software engineering. Read the preprint here:
Exploring Empathy in Software Engineering
Why Study Empathy?
Empathy helps us communicate, collaborate, and work better as teams. But in software engineering, it’s often overlooked or misunderstood. We wanted to change that by listening to developers who’ve reflected publicly on their experiences.
What We Found
Through qualitative content analysis, we identified how empathy shows up, where it breaks down, and what it can achieve when practiced well.
5 Meanings of Empathy in SE
From these reflections, five key themes emerged:
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Understanding – the most common definition: grasping how someone thinks or feels
“[Empathy is] the ability to understand how a person feels and what they might be thinking.” —P34
Perspective Taking – seeing a situation through another person’s eyes
“It’s the ability to see things as if from another’s perspective.” —P39
- Embodiment – putting yourself in someone else’s shoes (e.g., teammates, users)
“Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.” —P40
- Compassion – caring about the people you work with
“Caring about the people you work with, not just the work you do.” —P48
- Emotional Sharing – feeling what others feel, like mirroring stress or anxiety
“[Empathy] includes mirroring what that person is feeling.” —P54
We refer to each practitioner by an ID number, namely P1, P2, … Pn.
A Multi-Faceted View
We grouped these meanings using a well-known psychological model:
- Cognitive empathy: understanding, perspective taking, embodiment
Compassionate empathy: caring about others’ well-being
Emotional empathy: sharing someone’s emotional state
While other models in engineering highlight understanding and perspective taking, our study uniquely includes compassion, a crucial but often overlooked aspect.
Why It Matters
This isn’t just about “being nice.” Empathy is a socio-technical skill that can improve software quality and well-being. By making empathy visible, naming its blockers, and offering strategies, our work helps teams reflect, adapt, and grow.
There’s no universal definition of empathy in software engineering. By gathering how real devs talk about it, we help build a clearer and more practical understanding that reflects the human side of coding, collaborating, and caring.
Thank You!
We’re deeply grateful to the software practitioners who shared their stories, whether through personal blog posts or by offering feedback in our follow-up survey. Your reflections gave this research meaning and depth. This study wouldn’t exist without your willingness to speak openly about the challenges and possibilities of empathy in software development.
What’s Next?
This is just one step in our journey! Next up: what gets in the way of empathy at work?
We’re also expanding this work through a mixed-methods study in software companies, combining survey data and qualitative insights to better understand how empathy is practiced in real-world teams.
As we continue, we’re also refining and evolving the conceptual framework based on this new data, so it can be even more actionable and relevant for devs, managers, and educators.
If you’re passionate about empathy in tech or working to create more human-centered workplaces, let’s connect. And stay tuned, we’ll share more as this next phase unfolds.
Check It Out
Full paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05325
Dataset for replication and reuse: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15800354
We’d love to hear your thoughts:
- What does empathy look like in your day-to-day work?
- Have you seen it foster (or falter) in your team?
- What helps or hinders empathy in your org?
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by lidianycs