Posted on 09/21/2020 8:58:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
At Code Platoon, we track national demand for programming languages so that our Veterans and military spouses are trained with the best tools for a career in software development. When you’re deciding which programming language to learn, the following demand-based insights complement a much broader strategy.
We first wrote a version of this article in 2018, which can be found here.
This article attempts to answer which programming languages command the highest salaries and are most frequently targeted in job postings.
We updated the statistics for 2020, and here are our primary findings:
Python and Javascript developers continue to be in demand, commanding the highest salaries. Python in particular commands the top spot in both salary and number of open jobs. SQL developers are also widely sought after, although they get paid quite a bit less than other developers. Java saw a large drop in open jobs, and both Ruby and iOS developers have seen a similar trend.
To answer our questions, we conducted simple searches on Indeed.com, one of the largest job listing sites.
For the question of compensation, we started by searching for the top 15 most popular languages in a recent Stack Overflow survey and mapped the average salary for job listings with those languages. For demand, we tracked the number of total job postings targeting those same languages.
Python: This coding language holds the #1 position in both surveys. Python is an interpreted, multi-purpose programming language. It is often used to build web applications and seeing exploding growth due to its use in data science, machine learning, cybersecurity, and dev ops.
Javascript: Often called ‘the language of the web,’ Javascript took #4 in Job Postings and #2 in Average Salary. Javascript is an indispensable language to know for writing web applications, as it works in the browser and on the server-side.
C++: Once a premier top-level programming language and now used primarily in gaming and high-performance applications, C++ stands at #5 in Average Salary and #5 in Job Postings. The common and useful language C++ was designed for application and systems programming. Since its creation, it’s often been used for office applications, games, and advanced graphics. C++ is very fast and stable, but difficult to learn relative to the other languages in this list (except possibly C).
Java: Integral to large-scale legacy business applications and gaining new relevance through its adoption by Google for Android, Java drops to #3 in Job Postings and #3 in Average Salary. Originally developed by Oracle, Java is extremely popular because it can be used for mobile, web, and desktop app development, and more. Reasonably stable and fast, it is very popular at the enterprise level.
C#: Similar to Java with Android, C# maintains a solid user base through its adoption in the Unity gaming engine, standing at #6 in Job Postings, and #6 in Average Salary. C# was specifically designed by Microsoft as a competitor to Java. Often used to build desktop apps and video games, as well as web apps, C# remains very popular in the enterprise. It runs on Microsoft’s .NET platform.
PHP: The language that powers WordPress, PHP is #8 in Job Postings and #8 in Average Salary. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language used for the development of web applications. One of the earliest languages for web development (released in 1995), it remains widely popular today.
C: C is one of the oldest and most widely used programming languages in the world, and holds #4 in Average Salary, and #9 in Job Postings. It is used to program everything from operating systems to hardware. What makes this language so difficult to learn is in part why it is so powerful: a lot of concepts that are hidden to users in scripting languages like Python, Ruby, and even Java are exposed in C, so that the programmer has more flexibility and complexity available.
SQL: SQL (or Structured Query Language) is the standard language for relational database management systems. It ranks #8 in Average Salary and #2 in Job Postings. SQL is not exactly a programming language, but rather it is a query language, which allows users to draw information from databases.
It’s difficult to speculate how these programming languages will fare in the future because the supply of qualified applicants affects the number of open positions. However, Python’s growth will probably continue as companies increase their adoption of data analytics tools and infrastructure software development, two areas where Python shines. Typescript, a statically typed version of Javascript continues to grow in popularity, and Go and Kotlin continues to gain fans.
If you’re looking for more information on the usefulness of various programming languages, the TIOBE Index and Stack Overflow provide two of the most authoritative reports. Both reports consider industry demand as well as additional perspectives and incorporate different approaches in determining the usefulness of programming languages.
RE: Java was developed by Sun Microsystems.
Sun was acquired by Oracle.
Let me know when FORTRAN-77 makes a comeback and maybe I’ll come out of retirement. New programming languages come out way too often.
Yeah, I raised an eyebrow on their notion that C might be more difficult to learn than C++. That’s... well, no, it’s not.
Python is used a lot for web server applications.
“”If I were a programmer, I’d probably prefer to be maintaining some ancient language that entire city is dependent on me maintaining. Those languages never die.””
RPGILE has been very good to me.
True, but the quote was "originally developed". I don't think Oracle has developed anything of note this century. :-P They've been acquiring and looting companies at breakneck speed though.
Dilbert cartoon strip used to have a story line about the “legacy” computer in the basement that no one knew anything about but was critical to everything else they ran. It was hysterical.
Me too! :-) Last contract was on 2003. :-(
Real programmers code in Assembly. Or machine code.
Ahh... Cool!
Well, i know where u can go if u can stand the humidity in GA.
lol... You too??? wow
we should all 3 band together and get a government contract converting assembler into pseudo code.
There are 80 year old COBOL guys still working, because they’ve pulled them out of retirement.
Still, I don’t think I’d recommend someone spend any time learning COBOL.
A good software engineer can write FORTRAN in any language.
Readability score = 0
It’s right up there with herding cats.
One episode of the cartoon had Black Betty and Wally being hypno-regressed back to competency.
I’ve done some Python but mostly do Java.
What does Python do that Java doesn’t? Especially since I mainly use Spring Boot, writing Java apps is a snap, with so many mature libraries that do everything I need.
BAL was terrific. No surprises of the other high level languages.
I bet 99.999 pct of all developers cannot explain how AND’s, OR’s and XOR’s work even though they use them in all decision logic .
Give me Binary (HEX will do), or give me (insert unknown kiddie string interpretive language, build on top of 1's and 0's here)...;
Let me count the languages I’ve used/messed with:
FORTRAN
GOTRAN (on a university’s IBM 1620)
Dartmouth BASIC
1401 Autocoder
360/370 BAL
COBOL,
ALGOL,
PL/1
APL
C, C++
Javascript
Cold Fusion script
PL/SQL
T-SQL
Why so many? I’ve always had this archaic idea that if you couldn’t do it, you probably shouldn’t manage it. Of these languages, APL and PL/1, which were touted at the time as the be-all/end-all languages, were ones I glossed over as being too convoluted to use or spend time with. One language I never bothered with at all was MAD. I did spend a good amount of time with javascript and various SQL languages when jumping in to help the people I was managing.
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