New data from a sample of 400 companies shows developer onboarding time, measured by Time to 10th PR, has dropped to an average of 33 days as of early 2026, down from 39 days in Q4 2025 and more than 50% lower than pre-AI baselines in Q1 2024. The improvement is attributed to AI becoming a standard, guided practice in many organizations rather than an individual choice. Developers now use AI to understand codebases, explain architectural decisions, and draft changes for review, shortening the 'figuring things out' phase. The post notes that Time to 10th PR is a narrow metric and does not capture code quality, rework rates, or depth of understanding, which will be explored in future analyses.
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