If you’re asking “What development language or framework should I learn in 2020?”, then this post is for you! I too was intrigued by this question and it got me wondering how I should go about figuring this out.
It dawned on me that the best way to figure this out, would be looking at what dev jobs are being asked for – not just locally, but internationally too.
My thinking is those job postings by language and country will surely give an indication as to what employers are looking for and what skills are in demand. And here are the results:
Global Top 3 Development Languages
Globally, here are the top 3 languages you should strongly consider learning in 2020: (no shortage of jobs with these skills)
- Java
- Python
- React
(Note: C# came in 4th place)
South African Top 3 Languages
South Africa paints a slightly different landscape. Locally speaking, here are the top 3 languages you should strongly consider learning in 2020: (no shortage of jobs locally with these skills)
- C#
- PHP
- Java
(Note: ASP.net came in 4th place)
Bottom 3 Development Languages
However, based on my findings, the 3 languages/skills with little to no jobs on offer:
- Cordova
- Haskell
- Rust
(in other words, if you’re job hunting, I’d say it’s safe to give these a skip learning in 2020)
Global Top 3 Frameworks
Two front-end frameworks seem to come out on top here.
- React
- Angular
- WordPress
(Note: Vue came in 4th place, with Laravel not too far behind it)
A closer look
Below you’ll find a city in a country with dev languages and frameworks ordered by the number of jobs. To gather this info, I used LinkedIn Jobs to search for keywords, left with the default option of “within 25km” of the city.
Just a note: The cities and dev languages I’ve selected are based on my own interests, but to be broad, I’ve included some languages and cities that don’t necessarily appeal to me but may provide insights to others.
I apologize if a dev language/city you were looking for isn’t listed below.
It should also be noted that these results are based on just one job website (of many) and some countries/cities may not use LinkedIn Jobs to it’s fullest potential.
Cape Town, South Africa
| Language | Jobs |
| PHP | 4582 |
| C# | 4545 |
| Java | 4419 |
| ASP.net | 2020 |
| Python | 1943 |
| Angular | 1745 |
| WordPress | 1257 |
| React | 1086 |
| Node | 973 |
| Laravel | 878 |
| Ruby | 573 |
| Django | 538 |
| Drupal | 335 |
| Ionic | 314 |
| Cordova | 304 |
| Vue | 302 |
| Kotlin | 107 |
| Haskell | 17 |
| Rust | 9 |
Johannesburg, South Africa
| Language | Jobs |
| C# | 4879 |
| Java | 4633 |
| PHP | 3246 |
| ASP.net | 2237 |
| Angular | 1425 |
| Python | 1030 |
| WordPress | 688 |
| Node | 643 |
| React | 606 |
| Laravel | 604 |
| Ruby | 250 |
| Django | 219 |
| Vue | 178 |
| Drupal | 158 |
| Cordova | 150 |
| Ionic | 132 |
| Kotlin | 63 |
| Haskell | 25 |
| Rust | 19 |
Durban, South Africa
| Language | Jobs |
| C# | 659 |
| PHP | 406 |
| ASP.net | 293 |
| Java | 223 |
| Angular | 194 |
| WordPress | 170 |
| Laravel | 95 |
| Node | 94 |
| React | 83 |
| Python | 82 |
| Drupal | 48 |
| Vue | 47 |
| Ruby | 26 |
| Ionic | 24 |
| Django | 17 |
| Cordova | 11 |
| Kotlin | 6 |
| Rust | 0 |
| Haskell | 0 |
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 1648 |
| Python | 1411 |
| C# | 844 |
| Angular | 646 |
| React | 628 |
| Ruby | 423 |
| PHP | 325 |
| ASP.net | 323 |
| Node | 230 |
| Vue | 140 |
| Kotlin | 95 |
| WordPress | 74 |
| Django | 62 |
| Laravel | 44 |
| Rust | 15 |
| Ionic | 11 |
| Drupal | 10 |
| Cordova | 9 |
| Haskell | 8 |
London, United Kingdom
| Language | Jobs |
| Python | 14753 |
| Java | 10704 |
| React | 7300 |
| C# | 6212 |
| Node | 3436 |
| Angular | 3190 |
| PHP | 2688 |
| Ruby | 2501 |
| ASP.net | 1609 |
| WordPress | 1244 |
| Vue | 1107 |
| Kotlin | 991 |
| Django | 876 |
| Laravel | 372 |
| Drupal | 351 |
| Haskell | 176 |
| Rust | 148 |
| Ionic | 38 |
| Cordova | 36 |
Brighton, United Kingdom
| Language | Jobs |
| React | 410 |
| Python | 345 |
| Java | 314 |
| Angular | 239 |
| PHP | 223 |
| ASP.net | 220 |
| C# | 175 |
| Node | 144 |
| Vue | 107 |
| Ruby | 106 |
| WordPress | 88 |
| Laravel | 78 |
| Drupal | 33 |
| Django | 21 |
| Kotlin | 20 |
| Haskell | 1 |
| Cordova | 0 |
| Ionic | 0 |
| Rust | 0 |
Miami, Florida, United States of America
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 725 |
| React | 674 |
| Python | 663 |
| C# | 391 |
| Angular | 207 |
| WordPress | 171 |
| PHP | 155 |
| Node | 144 |
| Ruby | 94 |
| ASP.net | 82 |
| Kotlin | 39 |
| Vue | 31 |
| Drupal | 28 |
| Django | 10 |
| Cordova | 8 |
| Laravel | 7 |
| Ionic | 7 |
| Rust | 5 |
| Haskell | 0 |
New York, United States of America
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 10936 |
| Python | 9695 |
| React | 4391 |
| C# | 2966 |
| Node | 2391 |
| Angular | 2314 |
| Ruby | 2151 |
| PHP | 1316 |
| ASP.net | 1290 |
| WordPress | 669 |
| Vue | 574 |
| Django | 474 |
| Kotlin | 428 |
| Drupal | 282 |
| Laravel | 96 |
| Rust | 82 |
| Haskell | 66 |
| Ionic | 49 |
| Cordova | 41 |
San Francisco, United States of America
| Language | Jobs |
| Python | 16645 |
| Java | 12693 |
| React | 5349 |
| Ruby | 2989 |
| Node | 2568 |
| C# | 2422 |
| Angular | 2255 |
| PHP | 1314 |
| Django | 752 |
| Vue | 648 |
| Kotlin | 610 |
| WordPress | 477 |
| ASP.net | 274 |
| Rust | 211 |
| Drupal | 205 |
| Ionic | 87 |
| Haskell | 85 |
| Cordova | 75 |
| Laravel | 40 |
Auckland, New Zealand
| Language | Jobs |
| React | 173 |
| Java | 156 |
| Python | 137 |
| C# | 114 |
| Angular | 86 |
| PHP | 71 |
| Node | 45 |
| Vue | 39 |
| ASP.net | 28 |
| Ruby | 28 |
| WordPress | 23 |
| Drupal | 18 |
| Kotlin | 16 |
| Laravel | 9 |
| Ionic | 5 |
| Rust | 2 |
| Django | 1 |
| Cordova | 0 |
| Haskell | 0 |
Sydney, Australia
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 1329 |
| Python | 1299 |
| React | 696 |
| C# | 631 |
| Angular | 460 |
| Node | 371 |
| PHP | 343 |
| Ruby | 310 |
| WordPress | 162 |
| ASP.net | 154 |
| Vue | 136 |
| Kotlin | 96 |
| Django | 66 |
| Drupal | 54 |
| Laravel | 33 |
| Haskell | 19 |
| Rust | 16 |
| Ionic | 6 |
| Cordova | 4 |
Mumbai, India
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 1773 |
| Python | 1090 |
| Angular | 778 |
| PHP | 755 |
| C# | 658 |
| React | 590 |
| Node | 543 |
| ASP.net | 477 |
| WordPress | 267 |
| Ruby | 262 |
| Django | 175 |
| Laravel | 154 |
| Vue | 117 |
| Drupal | 85 |
| Kotlin | 78 |
| Ionic | 48 |
| Cordova | 35 |
| Rust | 5 |
| Haskell | 4 |
Toronto, Canada
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 3190 |
| Python | 2471 |
| React | 2188 |
| C# | 1701 |
| Angular | 1644 |
| Node | 1046 |
| ASP.net | 682 |
| Ruby | 624 |
| Vue | 476 |
| PHP | 364 |
| WordPress | 217 |
| Kotlin | 216 |
| Django | 146 |
| Ionic | 74 |
| Drupal | 66 |
| Rust | 62 |
| Laravel | 45 |
| Cordova | 41 |
| Haskell | 4 |
São Paulo, Brazil
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 2121 |
| Python | 1136 |
| Angular | 907 |
| C# | 849 |
| React | 837 |
| PHP | 829 |
| Node | 531 |
| ASP.net | 377 |
| Ruby | 375 |
| Vue | 218 |
| WordPress | 199 |
| Kotlin | 193 |
| Laravel | 153 |
| Django | 95 |
| Ionic | 91 |
| Drupal | 40 |
| Cordova | 25 |
| Haskell | 3 |
| Rust | 2 |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| Language | Jobs |
| Java | 40 |
| Python | 33 |
| C# | 26 |
| PHP | 17 |
| Node | 15 |
| React | 14 |
| ASP.net | 12 |
| Angular | 9 |
| Ruby | 9 |
| Kotlin | 4 |
| Vue | 3 |
| WordPress | 2 |
| Laravel | 2 |
| Drupal | 2 |
| Django | 1 |
| Ionic | 1 |
| Cordova | 1 |
| Rust | 0 |
| Haskell | 0 |
Disclaimer: The job results listed here were taken in early Dec 2019 and were correct at the time of publishing this post.