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The Top 11 Programming Languages Employers Look For

A career in software development is extremely rewarding as employers are always looking for developers to join their team. However, with over 700 programming languages to choose from, there can be doubt on which languages you should become an expert in. 

Interested in learning the exact programming languages that employers are looking for developers to have? Continue to the article below.

Here are 11 of the most in demand programming languages in 2020.  

11. SQL

One of the most in demand programming language employers look for is a strong experience in SQL. Employers highly value IT professionals with SQL experience as it is great at managing relational databases and manipulating data. With big data becoming more popular we will most likely see SQL usage go up. 

Why employers look for programers with a background in SQL:
  • Power query language
  • Highly optimised for a large number of table rows
  • Very fast for retrieving data and searching data in the query
  • High availability and consistency of data
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10. R

Made by statistical computing specialists, R is fantastic for machine learning, data visualization, and analysis. With big data becoming more and more prominent, employers need IT professionals with both a strong understanding and experience in R. 

Why employers look for programers with a background in R:
  • Great for ML and data visualization
  • Open-source platform
  • Great for NU/Linux and Microsoft Windows
  • Cross Platform
  • Comprehensive statistical analysis
  • Statical language-which is great for big data
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9. Swift

For employers looking to develop iOS applications, Swift is a need to know language. Swift is perhaps the best language for making apps for iPhone and iPad.

Why employers look for programers with a background in Swift:
  • It’s very fast, as Apple says it is 2.6x faster than objective-C and 8.4x faster than Python
  • High-level language as its easy to add new features
  • No long lines of code
  • Has an automatic memory management features which prevent memory leaks
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8. Go

Also known as golang and “the little language that could”, this is a language with huge upside potential and employers are starting to notice it. Why?

With Google investing in the language and it already having strong capabilities building machine-learning packages, companies are starting to use golang more frequently.

Why employers are starting to look for programers with experience in Go:
  • Ability to compile machine code very fast
  • Great for building web servers, data pipelines, and machine learning
  • Concurrent programming easy
  • Open source language
  • Very fast run time
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7. Ruby

Ruby makes its way on the list as the seventh most sought after programming language. Employers highly value programmers with strong Ruby experience as it is a great general purpose scripting language, as well as a large support of different applications.

Why employers look for programers with experience in Ruby:
  • Requires less line of code
  • Very flexible langue and more forgiving of errors
  • Very Dynamic and general purpose
  • Great use for standard libraries and web applications
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6. C++ / C

Employers highly value developers with strong C++ experience as it is known to be one of the fastest languages. This is mostly used in Microsoft shop companies.

Why employers look for programers with a background in C++:

  • Lots of compilers and libraries
  • Has high scalability
  • Very fast language
  • No garbage collector running in the background
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5. PHP

Coming in at number five is PHP. Employers still have high value for developers with a strong background knowledge of it seeing as 50% of websites are developed using PHP. 

Why employers look for programers with C# background:

  • Very functional and Objective-Oriented Programming
  • Very large open source community
  • Good amount of automation tools available
  • High demand but low supply for PHP developers. This language isn’t really taught in college therefore most developers don’t pursue PHP
  • Facebook’s huge investment in the language makes PHP future look more bright
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4. C# / ASP.NET

Developers with strong experience in C# are almost always in demand. Why are employers almost always looking for C# Developers?

C# is a great hybrid of C and C++ for any company running a Microsoft shop. Additionally,, C# can be used to build almost anything but is the best at building windows desktop applications.

Why employers look for programmers with C# background:

  • Easy integration with windows
  • Fully integrated with .NET library
  • Great access to repository functionality and support
  • Lots of usage with cross-application development and web application
  • Can be used to develop web applications
  • Increasing popularity for mobile development

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3. Javascript

Employers highly value programmers with strong knowledge with Javascript as it allows for the scalability needed in cloud computing. The cloud is becoming immensely more popular, and in the future almost all applications will be cloud-based. Also, most search engineers can process JavaScript very quickly which engages more service-side usage. 

Why Employers Need JavaScript Developers:
  • Can be used in both the frontend and backend
  • Has frequent updated
  • Allows websites to have interactive such as scroll transitions
  • Great with working with other languages
  • Large rage of libraries and frameworks
  • Future looks bright for Javasciprt has it has the ability to expand into innovated technologies such ar virtual reality and IoT
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2. Java

In our experience, Java is the next most sought after language for employers. Why?

Java is the most commonly used programming language in creating web applications. Also, Java gives developers the ability to “write once, run anywhere.” This software developer’s time and company’s money. 

Main reasons why employers seek Java developers:

  • Rich APIs for different activities like XML parsing and database connection
  • Large variety of open source libraries
  • Strong adaptability and Stability
  • Integrated Development Environment makes java a powerful development tool
  • The future of Java looks good with Oracle continuing to develop the language
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1.Python

Coming in at number one is Python. Why is this programming language the most sought after language by employers? 

Python has strong support in the area of article intelligence (AI). 

AI is the future, and because python has strong support in AI, employers need developers that are expert in Python. Python is also very helpful for web/internet development and business applications.

Main reasons why employers seek developers with Python knowledge:
  • Usability with AI and ML
  • Supports multiple systems
  • Very fast programing language
  • Scale with complex applications
  • Large list of extension support libraries

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Notable Mentions:

  • TypeScript
  • Objective-C
  • Kotlin (great for android development) 
  • Scale

Conclusion: What employers really want in developers

What employers are really looking for is a software engineer who specializes in a language as well as related languages.

Most employers don’t want a jack of all trades but a master of none, especially companies with larger IT shops. Unless you want to work with a smaller company where you will be doing almost everything in the IT department, specializing in a few programming languages is what employers need.

Emerald Advice:

Pick a few of these languages and really master them. Become an industry expert and networking with other developers, companies, and recruiters. This will make you a sought after IT specialist, therefore increasing your salary dramatically. 

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