What technologies and languages should we learn (and help us earn) in 2020?
A data analysis performed using data from Stackoverflow’s 2017, 2018 and 2019 annual Developer Survey.
Introduction
I am one of such people who has spent a decade and a half in software industry. Being in one of the most dynamic industries in the world, I have witnessed few rises and falls, worked in quite a few of technologies, and of course, have discussed this topic with my friends a zillion times. Nevertheless, why shouldn’t we discuss about the trends in the industry one more time?
However, this article tries to answer this question in slightly different way. It’s certainly not what I think here. Rather, the answer depends on exactly what people around the world think here.
Therefore, it seems apt and wise to choose data from annual Developer Surveys conducted by Stackoverflow. Stackoverflow, through their survey, captures more than 80,000 responses each year from over 170 countries across the world. Thus, analysis on this data should be able to capture the trend of the industry.
What are the most common programming languages, databases, platforms, frameworks and tools used across the world in 2019?
Here, I am checking on global data from 2019.
Let us see…
As we can see by ourselves,
a. Top 5 most used programming languages, markup languages and scripts are JavaScript, HTML/CSS, SQL, Python, Java
b. Top 5 most used databases are MySql, PostgreSql, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite, MongoDB
c. Top 5 most used platforms are Linux, Windows, Docker, Android, AWS
d. Top 5 most used frameworks are jQuery, React.js, Angular.js, ASP.NET, Express
e. Top 5 most used development tools are Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, Notepad++, IntelliJ, Vim
Moreover, there are few more trends that can be noted.
Web technologies, for example, JavaScript, jQuery, React.js etc. are more popular compared to server-side languages like Java or C++.
Visual Studio is the most preferred development tool. However, no language from Microsoft is among top 5 most commonly used programming languages.
So far, we have seen global trend. However, since I am from India, so it seems prudent to tap Indian market as well.
What are the most popular programming languages in India?
Here, I am checking on data from India for last three years, that means, from 2017 to 2019.
In India, JavaScript, Java, SQL, HTML/CSS are quite popular in the industry. As we can see, python also is gaining popularity very rapidly.
As the diagonal line in the correlation heat-map shows, people want to continue learning the languages that they are using in their work.
Also, top-left and bottom-right parts of the heat-map matrix show that people who work with a programming language of a specific area, usually want to learn programming languages related to same area. For example, people working on C might pick up C++ for learning, and vice versa.
What is the salary earned on average for each programming language?
This is certainly one interesting aspect of our careers. Financial aspects do influence our choices at times.
Here, I am checking the global data and for last 3 years, that means, from 2017 to 2019.
This plot is quite interesting, isn’t that so? This particular plot is pointing to “nice-to-have” niche skills, in terms of income.
Top 5 earners are WebAssembly, Clojure, Elixir, F#, Bash/Shell/PowerShell.
None of the most commonly used or desired languages, either globally or in India, is among the top 5 earners. In fact, more than 50% of languages have higher average salary than JavaScript.
In fact, languages that are less known or used are potentially drawing higher salaries.
Conclusion
We have seen global trends in terms of technologies and salaries. We have also seen local trend on languages, in Indian market.
If we are already working on some of these popular or niche technologies, then we can happily continue doing so in 2020.
Otherwise, as it is said “better late than never”, we can always pull up our socks and try to re-skill ourselves.
References
Annual Developer Surveys from Stackoverflow
Github repository containing Jupyter notebook for these analysis
