The year 2022 may not have been the best in terms of the world economy, but as a silver lining, it taught us a few crucial lessons about the importance of skills intelligence.
Amidst the socio-political ups and downs of 2022, the world experienced a record talent shortage and left organizations with one of two options:
- Mass layoffs
- Hiring skill-specific candidates or reskilling/upskilling their existing workforce
While companies that could afford to let go of a chunk of their workforce chose option one. Now it’s time for others to focus on creating a skills-first work culture and reskilling/upskilling their existing employees.
Ideally, these initiatives will only require a robust hiring/L&D strategy and a reliable Talent Acquisition/Talent Development solution like iMocha. But when the market is as volatile as it is now, you’ll also need unique insights on what skills are in-demand and how they will help you make 2023 a smooth sail.
This is why we have curated this report to help you understand the top coding skills of 2023 and how they can assist you in staying competitive in the coming future.
But before that, let’s talk about:
What skills can help your organization prevent layoffs?
Amidst constant technological disruptions and economic instabilities that change the way we work and imagine the future, there are a few must-have ‘recession-proof’ skills that your team needs to acquire moving forwards:
- Cloud Computing
As AI, ML, and Data Science are booming, cloud computing has become a necessity to support such powerful resource models. Furthermore, most organizations these days are shifting towards a cloud-based environment because of its ease of access, stability, and cost. This is why ‘Cloud Computing’ is among those skills you must have in your organization’s artillery skills. - Containers (Docker and Kubernetes)
For ease of deployment, the knowledge of containers and tools such as Docker and Kubernetes is necessary for all software developers and data scientists. Using containers, developers can test applications in a unified environment and deploy all dependencies quickly. - Data Structure and Algorithms
Data structure and algorithms are universal skills that all developers and programmers should be well versed with. These skills are recession-proof and evergreen, as nearly all programming languages depend on data structures such as arrays, linked-list, and sets. - IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)
IDEs such as Visual Studio and Jupiter Notebook are a go-to choice for C, C++, and C# programmers and Python developers. Knowing IDEs is extremely important for maximizing programmers’ productivity as they provide tight-knit components with familiar user interfaces. - Object Oriented Programming
The knowledge of OOP languages such as C++, Java, and Python is the core of any developer’s skill set. For freshers and beginners, it’s extremely crucial to have a good understanding of these languages to stay updated with the ongoing technological changes and adapt as per market requirements.
Most commonly tested coding skills in 2022
Last year, the iMocha platform conducted over 1.4 million tests. Based on the data it collected, we have visualized the most in-demand programming languages your organization will need to adapt as per ongoing and upcoming technological/market changes.
Out of the 25+ languages tested on our platform, ten languages experienced an exponential demand among recruiters. These ten languages were:
- Java
- C
- Python 3
- C++
- SQLite
- MySQL
- Python
- Python with ML
- C#
- JavaScript
Java, C, and Python were amongst the most commonly tested languages, with 2,03,635, 1,51,938, and 1,16,121 respective test attempts.
Comparison between most commonly used coding languages in 2021 vs. 2022
Based on our platform’s coding languages assessment data, we compared the top languages from 2021 to 2022.
Java retained its spot on the top with over 20% more attempts than last year, followed by C (7,610 attempts in 2021). Although, in 2022, Python 3 surpassed C++ as the third most popular language with 113,612 more test attempts this year.
Coding skills you need to focus on in 2023
Based on the ongoing market trends, it's likely that Java, C, and Python 3 will continue to remain popular languages in 2023.
Alongside, as per a recent study by the University of Denver, there is a high chance that knowledge of skills such as Data Structure and Algorithm (DSA), Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), Database and SQL, and Web Development may also come in handy in 2023.
That being said, it will remain a wise call that organizations continue to focus on developing their organization’s skills intelligence and tackle the global talent shortage by either hiring talents based on ‘skills over degree’ or training/upskilling their existing employees with these aforementioned coding skills.