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The number of college students in the U.S. majoring in computer science hit 600,000 last year — a 40% increase from five years ago. Meanwhile, it's simultaneously getting harder for these graduates to find work as they compete with career changers and fluctuating demand.
A new study from software company Finoit aimed to understand the job market by finding the most in-demand skills across tens of thousands of job postings in the U.S. The findings can help job seekers discover which technical points to highlight on their resumes and give career switchers an idea of which skills to learn first.
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The researchers started with a list of tech skills, pinpointed exactly how many listings required them, and then matched the skills to average salaries from Indeed. They found that traditional programming languages like Java and C++ came up often, while emerging areas like quantum computing and blockchain didn't make the list.
Still, that doesn't mean job seekers should neglect to study emerging fields.
"The tech landscape is constantly evolving," Finoit co-founder and CTO Mukesh Choudhary said, in a statement. "While developing expertise in high-demand areas like Python and SQL is crucial, it's equally important to keep an eye on emerging trends and be ready to upskill accordingly."
Related: The AI Job Market Is Surging and Paying Up to $300K a Year. Here's How to Snag a Role.
Python and SQL, both used for data science, came up the most — with each named in about 24,000 job listings.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, with average salaries above $140,000, are also on the top 10 list, indicating that cloud computing skills are in demand. Robotics, a vaguely worded skill, ranked fourth.
"Robotics' high ranking is particularly intriguing," Choudhary stated. "While it's clear that companies are investing heavily in this area, the broad nature of 'robotics' as a skill set may lead to some confusion. Hiring managers and job seekers alike need to be more specific about the exact robotics skills required for each role."
Here are the top ten tech skills that employers list on job postings.
1. Python
Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000
Average salary: $126,673
2. SQL
Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000
Average salary: $92,457
3. AWS
Number of jobs containing the search term: 16,000
Average salary: $140,733
4. Robotics
Number of jobs containing the search term: 15,000
Average salary: $117,234
5. Linux
Number of jobs containing the search term: 13,000
Average salary: $84,939
6. Java
Number of jobs containing the search term: 11,000
Average salary: $92,177
7. JavaScript
Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000
Average salary: $111,620
8. Azure
Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000
Average salary: $140,733
9. C#
Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000
Average salary: $122,372
10. C++
Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000
Average salary: $126,129
