Which Programing Language Should You Actually Learn (Based on Market Data)
“Which programming language should I learn first?” Probably one of the most common questions asked by aspiring software engineers seeking direction to break into the industry. For those who have researched this question before, you should have (hopefully) heard something along the lines of “It depends on your use case” or “every language has its strengths and weaknesses,” While true, it misses the point of what the learner is asking. The question is more accurately “What are my first steps towards learning that will get me a job?” this will be easier to answer, and while there will always be the correct answer of “it depends” I thought to give you a data-backed answer.
I built a web scrapper to give a general idea of what language to learn in the employment search. I used Indeed’s keyword search feature to log a couple of the most popular programming languages and record how many available jobs were available in each language. While far from being an official measure I feel that it gives a good idea of the number of jobs available.
As seen above the number of jobs available in Python take up the vast majority of openings*. While it should be noted that Python is so broad some roles might include scientist or other roles that might not be in your job search scope. I think even when you take this into account Python should still be the predominant language in terms of demand. While JavaScript is a close second, either language provides an in-demand skill worthy of obtaining an entry-level position. My recommendation would be to choose either language depending on personal preference. If you are wanting to get into web development JavaScript should be a clear choice. Otherwise, Python should be considered especially because of its comparatively shallow learning curve. I was surprised by how many jobs Go had compared to languages like PHP or even Ruby.
If you enjoyed this article, I am thinking of writing another one based on which job titles are the most in demand, and the most in demand frameworks. I am also thinking about publishing my scrapper or writing a tutorial on how I wrote it. If you would like to read further articles about these topics, please show your appreciation by giving me a follow and sharing this with your friends. Happy Hacking.
*Something else to consider, is the average salary of each language. I will not go into depth here about each salary, but I thought it was worth mentioning.