The number of U.S. college students majoring in computer science topped 600,000 last year—a 40% increase from five years ago. Meanwhile, it is simultaneous getting harder for these graduates to find work while competing career changers AND fluctuating demand.
A new study from the software company Good aims to understand the job market by finding the most in-demand skills across tens of thousands of US job postings. The findings can help job seekers figure out which technical points to emphasize on their CV and give career changers an idea of which skills to learn first.
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The researchers started with a list of tech skills, determined exactly how many listings required them, and then matched the skills to median salaries. from Indeed. They found that traditional programming languages such as Java and C++ appeared frequently, while emerging areas such as quantum computing and blockchain did not make the list.
However, this does not mean that job seekers should neglect to study emerging fields.
“The technology landscape is constantly evolving,” Fino co-founder and CTO Mukesh Choudhary said in a statement. “While developing expertise in high-demand areas like Python and SQL is essential, it's equally important to keep an eye on emerging trends and be ready to upgrade skills accordingly.”
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Python and SQL, both used for data science, came up the most — with each named in about 24,000 job listings.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, with average salaries above $140,000, are also on the top 10 list, indicating that cloud computing skills are in demand. Robotics, a wordy skill, was ranked fourth.
“The high ranking of robotics is particularly intriguing,” Choudhary said. “While it's clear that companies are investing heavily in this area, the broad nature of 'robotics' as a skill set can lead to some confusion. Hiring managers and job seekers need to be more specific about the exact robotic skills of required for each role.”
Here are the top ten tech skills that employers list in job postings.
1. Python
Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000
Average salary: $126,673
2. SQL
Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000
Average salary: $92,457
3. AWS
Number of jobs containing the search term: 16,000
Average salary: $140,733
4. Robotics
Number of jobs containing the search term: 15,000
Average salary: $117,234
5. Linux
Number of jobs containing the search term: 13,000
Average salary: $84,939
6. Week
Number of jobs containing the search term: 11,000
Average salary: $92,177
7. JavaScript
Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000
Average salary: $111,620
8. Azure
Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000
Average salary: $140,733
9. C#
Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000
Average salary: $122,372
10. C++
Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000
Average salary: $126,129