Once again, it is time for the job trends for traditional programming languages. Just like the most recent trends updates, we are only looking at Java, C++, C#, Objective C, Perl and Visual Basic. This list has stayed fairly stable during the past few updates and I am always looking to see if something else should be added. Please let me know if you think some other language deserves to be in this group. Also, please review some of the other job trends posts to see if your favorite language is already in one of these posts.

First, here is a look at the job trends from Indeed.com:

Most of the job trends seem to have gone flat in the past year. Objective-C is showing solid growth and C# is actually showing a slight upward trend. You may wonder why this is happening and in the past I had guessed that this was economy related. Given the activity I have seen in the past year, I am starting to think that the growth in jobs is not happening in these traditional languages as much. There is huge growth in mobile development, especially with Objective-C leading the way in iOS development. You may think that Java should increase given its ties to Android, but Java is starting to slowly decline in the enterprise, so mobile growth is just offsetting this decline. Perl shows a slightly declining trend, but it is not sustained enough yet to really have comments about.

Now, let’s look at SimplyHired’s short term trends:

SimplyHired’s trends are fairly similar to Indeed, but there are some differences. First, Visual Basic looks like it is in decline, which would make sense. Objective-C does not show the same type of growth as the Indeed trends, only gaining slightly. All of the others look fairly steady in the past few months.

Finally, here is a review of the relative scaling from Indeed. This provides an interesting trend graph based on job growth:

Objective-C continues to grow like a weed, with some minor dips every few months. C# growth is solid, hovering around 100% for the past 3 years. Visual Basic and C++ continue to show no growth. Perl and Java are still showing signs of life, but growing at 25% is not very significant.

What does all this mean? First, it is clear the iOS development is hot as is all mobile development. It will be interesting to see if Java can get some sustained growth with the rise of Android developmnent. From the trend perspective, Perl should be watched to see if there is a significant decline over the next year. C# will likely continue its growth as a replacement for C++ and as a language for Windows Phone development. Lastly, Visual Basic really looks like it may finally disappear over the next few years.

UPDATE: For those of you looking for Ruby, Python, Groovy, JavaScript, PHP or Erlang, please look at the February 2012 Web and Scripting Job Trends.

UPDATE: This article is translated to Russian by Everycloudtech.

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