16 most in-demand coding languages worldwide

February 21, 2020 Hired

By: Hired
Hired identifies the top 20 coding languages as per the latest annual State of Software Engineers report.
The report found the following 16 most in-demand coding languages for 2020, based on the average number of interview requests per candidate on Hired in 2019.

1. Go (9.2)
2. Scala (8.5)
3. Ruby (8.2)
4. TypeScript (7.9)
5. Kotlin (7.1)
6. Objective-C (6.8)
7. Javascript (6.6)
8. Swift (6.5)
9. PHP (6.4)
10. Java (6.4)
11. HTML (6.2)
12. Python (6.1)
13. C++ (5.4)
14. C# (5.4)
15. C (5.2)
16. R (3.3)
The 2019 report also crowned Google’s Go as the most in-demand language. The 2020 report reveals that Go has only grown in demand over the past year, with engineers earning an average of 9+ interviews over two to six weeks.
Compared to 2019’s report, the order of languages remained fairly consistent. The report found that the supply for these skills has not yet caught up with demand; when they level out, the data is more likely to shift.
Most loved coding languages
While Go, Scala and Ruby were the most in-demand languages, they were not the most loved. Python, JavaScript and Java were listed instead as the preferred languages for developers.
“Sometimes developer interest and employer demand do align, but not always,” said Mehul Patel, CEO of Hired.
“Employers have to hire developers that can use the programming languages most critical to their own company’s digital infrastructure,” Patel said. “When that doesn’t align with developer preferences, they can find other ways to attract premium tech talent, such as offering opportunities to contribute to open source software during work hours.”
Python, JavaScript, and Java were also listed as three coding languages developers use the most. This familiarity may be why they are also the most enjoyable, Patel said, but that isn’t the only explanation.
“When we look at why developers prefer certain languages over another, it’s clear they value a strong ecosystem with lots of well-maintained libraries and packages—73% of survey respondents cited that as a reason to love a language,” he said.
“Additionally, 70% cited ample resources available for learning and development as a reason to love a language, and finally, 68% said that they simply find programming in certain languages to be more fun than others,” Patel said.
Experience matters
The report also analyzed the top programming languages by years of experience, which did make a difference.
For those with four to six years of experience, Go was still the top language, averaging 11.2 interview requests. However, those with six to 10 years of experience are better off with Ruby, which averaged 11 interview requests.
Software engineers with more than 10 years of experience were actually at a disadvantage, earning 20% fewer interviews than those with less experience. The top programming languages for them were Scala and Go, both averaging 9.1 requests, the report found.