News
Software Engineering Report Ranks TypeScript Among Top Skills to Learn/Know
Careers firm Hired's latest report on the state of software engineering shows TypeScript as one of the top skills to learn or know.
TypeScript ranked fourth on the survey-based report when respondents were asked "What are the top 3 skills software engineers should learn/know right now in your opinion?"
Named by 36 percent of respondents, that put it behind Python (64 percent), JavaScript (49 percent) and SQL (44 percent).
Meanwhile, Microsoft's flagship programming language, C#, also made the top 10, barely, listed by only 12 percent of respondents.
[Click on image for larger view.] Skills to Learn/Know (source: Hired).
In fact, TypeScript beat out C# on several other questions. When asked about language preferences, respondents scored TypeScript with a 7.1 ranking, placing it in fifth place, just above C#, with Python again leading the way with a 9.8 score.
[Click on image for larger view.] Programming Language Preferences (source: Hired).
Those standings were similar to last year's report, except for SQL coming out of nowhere to place ahead of TypeScript and C#.
[Click on image for larger view.] Software Engineers' Favorite & Least Favorite Languages (2022 Report)(source: Hired).
Otherwise, there was no mention of C# at all except for a list of most common engineering skills by subrole, where it last on a 10-skill list (again topped by Python).
TypeScript, meanwhile, again cracked the top 10 on list of demand for coding skill vs. Hired marketplace average demand.
[Click on image for larger view.] Demand for Coding Skill vs. Hired Marketplace Average Demand (source: Hired).
And there wasn't much more of special interest to Microsoft-centric software engineers in the firm's latest annual report, titled, "Big Transitions in the Tech Industry: Hired's 2023 State of Software Engineers." In fact, there was only one mention of .NET, which was way down the list of "hottest engineering manager skills vs. Hired marketplace average," just behind TypeScript.
[Click on image for larger view.] Hottest Engineering Manager Skills vs. Hired Marketplace Average (source: Hired).
TypeScript has been surging in such reports over the past couple years, as evidenced by articles such as:
Going beyond the special interest purview of Visual Studio Magazine, other highlights of the report as presented by Hired include:
- Engineers believe AI and Python will be the hottest areas and skills for 2023: 57 percent of surveyed engineering candidates said that AI/ML/data science will be the sector to keep an eye on, followed by fintech (49 percent), and healthtech (44 percent). 64 percent of engineering candidates ranked Python as the number one programming language to master in 2023; followed by JavaScript (49 percent), then SQL (44 percent).
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) engineers saw the highest salaries: NLP engineers experienced the highest salary growth (10 percent increase) compared to 2021 and received the highest average salary in 2022 ($179K/year) out of all software engineering roles.
- Backend engineers saw the highest demand: Backend engineers received 59 percent of all interview requests on Hired's platform, up 3 percent from 2021 -- higher than Fullstack engineers (56 percent) and frontend engineers (25 percent). Employers surveyed said that, if they were still hiring for engineering talent, the most difficult roles to fill over the last six months were backend engineers (41 percent), engineering managers across all areas (38 percent), and full stack engineers (27 percent).
- While the crypto industry has been volatile, demand for skilled blockchain engineers has held steady: the number of interviews for blockchain engineers dropped substantially from Q2 2022 to the close of 2022, but the salary for the role remained relatively level at $173K -- the second highest engineering salary for 2022. In a shift from the crypto boom times of 2021, the least amount of surveyed candidates (4 percent) responded that they're passionate about building products and coding for alternative currencies.
- Ruby on Rails was the most in-demand skill: Ruby on Rails was the most in-demand skill, followed by Ruby, Scala, and Go (2022's most in-demand skill). Engineers proficient in Ruby on Rails had nearly 1.64X more interview requests from employers when compared to the marketplace average.
As for methodology, the report analyzed trends in demand for skills, salaries and work preferences from over 68,500 candidates and 494,000 interactions between employers and software engineering candidates between January 2021 through December 2022, while also surveying more than 1,300 software engineers and 120 talent professionals and hiring managers on Hired's marketplace.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer for Converge360.