Top 10 Programming Languages Every Developer Must Learn in 2021

Albert Christopher
4 min readApr 16, 2021
As the technology keeps growing, so will the skills and programming language change. As a developer, you need to keep updating skills to stay relevant in the labor market.

Almost every year Coding Dojo tends to come up with the news of listing the topmost used or loved programming languages for developers.

As a result, we have the list of these programming languages for 2021.

They make it easy by checking out job posts and thus analyze which languages are likely to pop up at every job posting on Indeed.

To be precise, when looking to upgrade skills, most developers ensure to take a look at certain factors critical for their profession. Such factors include longevity, ease of learning, demand, and the potential salary is drawn.

As quoted by Richard Wang, CEO of Coding Dojo, he says, “We track which programming language cropped up most often in job descriptions and compare it to previous years. For the first time, every language has dropped due to COVID. With so many people out of work due to COVID and layoffs, this year’s report has important insights for anyone looking to train for a new or more lucrative job in tech.”

Let’s delve right in.

The demand for developers

According to Wang, the number of jobs has seen a steady surge for most programming languages since 2017. And if we talk about this year, we will see that there are only three programming languages that had gone below the 2019 level. These programming languages are PHP, Perl, and C++.

Nonetheless, the strength of other programming languages is an indication that the demand for developers is not going to cease any time soon.

Older programming languages such as Java, C++, and SQL are still on the list because many older applications built using these languages. And the legacy systems are making it difficult to change it to another different language.

According to Wang, Python is an important language he recommends every developer to start learning this year.

Below are the top ten programming languages employers are seeking to hire in 2021, according to Coding Dojo:

1. Python programming language — 70,497 job postings worldwide

2. SQL — 69,033

3. Java — 59,369

4. R — 55,978

5. Visual Basic- 54,253

6. JavaScript — 49,724

7. C++ — 35,034

8. C# — 27,525

9. Objective C — 25,082

10. Ruby programming language — 13,279

We’re amid the fourth industrial revolution said, Wang. What he actually meant to say is, we’re all surrounded by technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), data science, and machine learning. Therefore, one of the major reasons why Python plays a significant role in the present era.

Not only will Python allow you to develop code applications but also play a significant role in data science and AI. More so, it is one of the bedrock languages of machine learning and data science. Isn’t it amazing to see how this programming language is covering multiple spectrum of technology application? Therefore, it is promising to say those job roles like artificial intelligence engineer and data scientist might be the go-to career to opt for moving forward. And since it is also one of the most versatile and easy to learn a programming language, having extensive knowledge and practical application in Python is add-on advantage.

Though Coding Dojo didn’t make comparisons about the salary potential of each programming language, Wang mentioned that any developer having knowledge in Python will definitely help him get a high-paying job. However, other programming languages such as Ruby might end up getting you a lower-paid job.

Although Ruby programming language might be a great language to use as a prototype, it might not be a great language to upskill today.

Wang says, “Anybody can learn Ruby. So, the pay of a Ruby job may be like, I would say, 50 grand to 60 grand per job, that kind of thing, it’s not really something you want to hang your career off,”

Needless to say, opting for a better programming language to learn in 2021 would be an ideal choice.

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Albert Christopher

AI Researcher, Writer, Tech Geek. Contributing to Data Science & Deep Learning Projects. #coding #algorithms #machinelearning