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C# Shows Strong in Tech Skills Reports
Microsoft's C# programming language continues to show strong in tech industry skills reports, with the most recent examples coming from a skills testing company and a training company.
The new report are fresh on the heels of an earlier report based on data from Burning Glass, an analytics software company that provides real-time data on job growth, skills in demand, and labor market trends. That report showed C# making the top 10 list of top programming skills, based on job postings from the prior 30 days.
One of the new reports comes from DevSkiller, a company that provides technical screening and online interviews powered by a proprietary testing methodology. In its new "Top IT skills report 2020" that shows demand and hiring trends, C# (grouped with .NET) made the top 5 list of both the top languages tested on the DevSkiller platform and a list of the top languages most companies are looking for technical skills in. JavaScript led both of those charts, followed by SQL, Java and HTML/CSS and then .NET/C#. While .NET/C# made the top 5 lists, it lost ground in the percentage of companies who test for it in the tech stack.
[Click on image for larger view.] Popular Skills (source: DevSkiller).
Also, in the .NET/C# technology stack, the DevSkiller report listed the top 5 individual components, led by ASP.NET:
[Click on image for larger view.] Top .NET/C# Stack Skills (source: DevSkiller).
"This clearly shows that JavaScript remains essential as the premier front-end IT skill, a trend also seen in the open-source community with JavaScript holding the top spot in GitHub’s The State of the Octoverse," DevSkiller said. "SQL, on the other hand, remains the premier database IT skill. You do see a bit of push and pull between Java and .NET/C#. Considering that these two tech stacks are used to solve similar problems, it seems that companies are moving towards Java and away from .NET on the margins. Still, they remain very popular among a large number of companies."
The other new report comes from Pluralsight, which is out with its "2019 Year in Tech" report. While programming languages like JavaScript, Python, React and Java figure more strongly throughout the report, C# did make the list of most benchmarked skills of 2019, based on the company's Skill IQ skills assessment.
[Click on image for larger view.] Top Benchmarked Skills of 2019 (source: Plurarsight).
Other Microsoft technologies also made the report, as SQL Server was the No. 1 "must have" skill in the data world, followed by Tableau and R. Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect, meanwhile was deemed the most popular "Role IQ," which measures the collection of skills making up the most in-demand roles.
Even though the report is based on 2019 data, Pluralsight said it can help guide developers in the new year. "12 months of data holds invaluable insight into what the next era of tech progress is shaping up to look like," the company said. "The key takeaway? If you’re not committing to building technology skills, you’re sure to be left behind in the year ahead. So we’re taking our skills back in time to learn from what heated up and cooled off across the globe in 2019 -- all in the name of preparing for what’s next."
Coincidentally, in a recent report on programming language popularity compiled by the TIOBE Index, C# just passed Visual Basic .NET for fifth place and was cited as being in the running for "Programming Language of the Year" for 2019, an honor awarded to C a couple weeks ago.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.