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 will admit to having a certain amount of bitterness. “Oh, you’re just now realizing you made a mistake 10 years ago when you worked so hard to drive all the old guys out of the business and replace them with people here on H1B visas? Gee, that’s sad.”
They didn't have a clue as to what it was.... ;-)
At this time, no one has mentioned a starting sum, but not sure if I'd be interested in any case...
I’m pretty good at Java and C. I am a work from home programmer is any one is looking. I’m located in San Leon, Tx.
That's exactly right!
It was described by our professor (who helped write APL) as “powerful” and “concise.” That’s one way to describe it - but it was a nightmare to write programs for. I remember trying to get mine to work on those old computer machines at college. “Index Error!” and “Re-Shape Error!” My gosh. The only thing that help alleviate the stress was beer, talking to pretty co-eds, and 80s music.
Yup.
Yes, likened to herding cats !
And now, they’re trying to pass scripting languages as programming languages... I loves Pascal, btw :p
But how do you define a ‘language’, is it the syntax aspect or the platform.
For example Java can actually be several “languages”, like Groovy, Kotlin, Scala, which all run on a JVM.
I know C and Java so why don’t I make $207K/year?
I thought the best-paying language was Hindi? :)
Unless you really need the money or are simply incapable of relaxing, do not line up a post-retirement job to begin shortly after you retire. Take that three- or six-month vacation you’ve been promising yourself for the past twenty years. The world of work will still be here when you decide you’re ready to come back to it — assuming you do decide to come back to it.
I used to work with programmers. They loved Bill Clinton, I think because he seemed to them virile, whereas most of them would have trouble picking up on a mannikin. They were either overweight, or had terrible acne. Also, poor social skills. Of course, that was a long time ago.
most frameworks seem to be community developed so the contributors could be anywhere. Not too worried since its source code by definition. If minified its pretty hard to read though..
“The thing is, though, if you know C++, you’re going to be able to pick up every other language in this list.”
You are right, I started in C/C++ now I am doing C#, SQL, and JS with lots of other little things.
ARexx, still have a 2000 box (modified with vampire board) sitting here.
COMPUTERWORLD 1 April
CREATORS ADMIT Unix, C HOAX
In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson,
Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan admitted that the Unix operating
system and C programming language created by them is an elaborate April
Fools prank kept alive for over 20 years. Speaking at the recent
UnixWorld Software Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following:
“In 1969, AT&&T had just terminated their work with the
GE/Honeywell/AT&&T Multics project. Brian and I had just started
working with an early release of Pascal from Professor Nichlaus Wirth’s ETH
labs in Switzerland and we were impressed with its elegant simplicity and
power. Dennis had just finished reading ‘Bored of the Rings’, a
hilarious National Lampoon parody of the great Tolkien ‘Lord of the
Rings’ trilogy. As a lark, we decided to do parodies of the Multics
environment and Pascal. Dennis and I were responsible for the operating
environment. We looked at Multics and designed the new system to be as
complex and cryptic as possible to maximize casual users’ frustration
levels, calling it Unix as a parody of Multics, as well as other more
risque allusions. Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped
version of Pascal, called ‘A’. When we found others were actually
trying to create real programs with A, we quickly added additional
cryptic features and evolved into B, BCPL and finally C. We stopped
when we got a clean compile on the following syntax:
for(;P(”\n”),R—;P(”|”))for(e=C;e—;P(”_”+(*u++/8)%2))P(”| “+(*u/4)%2);
To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that
allowed such a statement was beyond our comprehension! We actually
thought of selling this to the Soviets to set their computer science
progress back 20 or more years. Imagine our surprise when AT&&T and
other US corporations actually began trying to use Unix and C! It has
taken them 20 years to develop enough expertise to generate even
marginally useful applications using this 1960’s technological parody,
but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common sense) of the
general Unix and C programmer. In any event, Brian, Dennis and I have
been working exclusively in Pascal on the Apple Macintosh for the past
few years and feel really guilty about the chaos, confusion and truly
bad programming that have resulted from our silly prank so long ago.”
Major Unix and C vendors and customers, including AT&&T, Microsoft,
Hewlett-Packard, GTE, NCR, and DEC have refused comment at this time.
Borland International, a leading vendor of Pascal and C tools,
including the popular Turbo Pascal, Turbo C and Turbo C++, stated they
had suspected this for a number of years and would continue to enhance
their Pascal products and halt further efforts to develop C. An IBM
spokesman broke into uncontrolled laughter and had to postpone a
hastily convened news conference concerning the fate of the RS-6000,
merely stating ‘VM will be available Real Soon Now’. In a cryptic
statement, Professor Wirth of the ETH institute and father of the
Pascal, Modula 2 and Oberon structured languages, merely stated that P.
T. Barnum was correct.
In a related late-breaking story, usually reliable sources are stating
that a similar confession may be forthcoming from William Gates
concerning the MS-DOS and Windows operating environments. And IBM
spokesman have begun denying that the Virtual Machine (VM) product is
an internal prank gone awry.
{COMPUTERWORLD 1 April}
{contributed by Bernard L. Hayes}
If there’s still some around when I retire from teaching, I’ll look into it.
Modern IDEs ( Interactive Development Environment ) will correct the syntax for you.
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