Programming languages: Go, Scala and Ruby most wanted, Python and JavaScript most used
If you have the skills, Go, Scala and Ruby are the programming languages most likely to get you job interviews, although JavaScript, Python and Java are the languages most used by developers.
According to data from recruitment firm Hired, Go was the most in-demand language last year, with coders being offered 9.2 interviews on average over a two-to-six-week period -- slightly up on 2018.
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Scala was second most in-demand by this measure (8.5 interviews) followed by Ruby (8.2) and TypeScript (7.9).
There were some geographical variations: while Go engineers were offered the most interviews in New York, Scala was most in-demand in San Francisco, while in London TypeScript topped the list. The number of interview requests across all languages remained nearly constant year-over-year, Hired said, with no change in how each language ranked against others. "This could suggest that supply for these skills has not yet caught up with demand and we may see this data shift as more engineers learn Go over time," said the recruitment firm.
SEE: Six in-demand programming languages: Getting started (free PDF)
In its State of Software Engineers Report 2020, Hired said that the most in-demand programming language also varies by experience: if you're a developer with four to six years' experience, Go skills will get you the most interviews, but Ruby engineers with six to ten years' experience are most in demand; developers with more than 10 years' experience are most in demand if they have Scala and Go skills. The company noted that software engineers with 10 or more years of experience get 20% fewer interview requests than those with four to 10.
There is quite a difference between what employers are looking for, and the languages that developers are comfortable with. JavaScript is used by 63% of the coders surveyed, followed by Python (44%) and Java (38%). Hired said these languages were favoured because of their useful and well-maintained libraries and packages. Kotlin, Objective-C and R are among the least used languages. Python, JavaScript and Java were considered the most-loved, with Ruby, PHP and Objective-C the least-loved.
According to Hired, the fastest-growing engineering roles include artificial reality and virtual reality expertise, gaming and computer vision. Blockchain engineer -- last year's fastest-growing role -- has dropped down the charts, likely reflecting how the much-hyped technology has dropped out of fashion. The recruitment company said the data came from more than 400,000 interview requests and job offers from the past year, from 10,000 companies and 98,000 job seekers.