HackerEarth, a San Francisco-based company that connects developers around the globe with employment opportunities, recently released a survey of more than 16,000 developers, providing insight into their interests, priorities and concerns.
Data science is king
Among the survey’s findings is the proportion who expressed having a keen interest in data science — among respondents, 63% of student developers and 61% of working professionals indicated that data science is the most sought-after developer skill.
Proficiency in data science was followed by expertise in cybersecurity (36% of students, 26% of professionals), the Internet of Things (32% of students, 35% of professionals) and blockchain (28% of students, 32% of professionals).
Go is the programming language to go to
When asking about programming languages, the survey revealed that 29% of students and 32% of experienced developers indicated that Go is the programming language they are most interested in learning.
The survey also found that student developers are interested in learning to program in JavaScript, Kotlin and C#, while working professionals are looking to learn Python and Kotlin. Top programming languages that student developers know are C++, Python and HTML/CSS, while senior developers frequently code in SQL, Java and HTML/CSS.
Other findings from the survey
- Developers who worked longer hours were happier at their jobs, provided that work is meaningful and challenging
- 70% of developers reported that fewer meetings would greatly improve their productivity
- 70% of student developers and 53% of working professionals use online coding platforms to improve their skills
- Developers also depend heavily on YouTube tutorials to acquire new skills, along with online educational platforms such as Coursera and Udemy and developer platforms such as StackOverflow
The 2020 HackerEarth developer survey was conducted from January to February 2020. In total, 16,655 developers, of which 20% were female, across 76 countries responded to the survey.
