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.
I didn’t say it was easy.
As a manager if you’re deciding on what platform to use, always ask the question. If my entire development team died in a plane crash, which platform allows me to quickly find new developers at the lowest possible cost to the company.
Heck, when I started, sometimes we didn’t even have the 1s.
What no LISP or Prolog ?
Nope. Did anyone ever built a serious, industrial-strength app from either of those? If so, what?
LOL, good catch! A supposed tech blogger does not know the origins of Java.
JCL wasn’t so much a programming language as it was a script to tell the O/S what and how to run the application programs.
What?!!? None of the big bucks for things like Haskell or R?
I started my career as a developer/systems analyst/application architect etc. I saw the writing on the wall regarding coding and esoteric skills which could change weekly with the commensurate risk of obsolescence for current skills. I noticed they ALWAYS need project managers, so that’s what I became. My strong technical background gives me a strong edge on ‘book learned’ PMs. I’ve had a pretty successful career that includes building and selling my own consulting firm, consulting governments and managing 7 figure projects. When I encounter a new technology, I learn enough of it to apply my PM skills to managing it. AGILE has changed the nature of project management, so I’ve become an AGILE expert as well. Totally agnostic to the underlying technology.
Best I can tell, that is a jumbled mess that combines in a single line, functions that FORTRAN would separate into separate lines and subroutines. If this is correct, FORTRAN has an advantage to the original creator and follow on programmers in that a simple non-executing statement can be added to describe what in the hell the line, subroutine or variable is supposed to be doing.
Advantage to FORTRAN for simpler program creation and maintenance.
Advantage to contemporary language for machine language level efficiency.
I used for awhile, the jumbled line format such as your example that you may have crossed paths with in primitive fossils. Hehehe... They were not uncommon in scientific and engineering model manual inputs that used compiled FORTRAN for the number crunching. It’s hard for me to describe, but it tends to lead the mind to a different and immersive thought pattern so to speak. Think of it as speaking in calculus mathematics instead of English. Weird.
I’ve done all but Python, C++ and C#
I get yearly calls from a large insurance contracting outfit offering me a pay cut to code COBOL/CICS/VSAM. Let me think about that offer for a while no
I made very good money doing COBOL Y2K code remediation in 1999. Haven’t touched a line of COBOL since.
Nonetheless, just last week I got a call out of the blue from a headhunter who was trying very hard to talk me into coming out of retirement to take a COBOL programming job. It seems that government agencies and financial institutions all over the country are just now realizing they’re dependent on millions of lines of decades-old COBOL code, and there’s a real shortage of people who can write or maintain it.
I’ll admit, for a few minutes, I was tempted.
> It pays more to manage programmers.
I’d rather herd cats.
For me, it will all depend on whether I’m king of my own domain, or if I had to have regular contact with city or department managers. There is no money that could be paid to me to have conversations with little tyrants.
You are pretty clueless on this.
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