Developers are basking in the glory of an employment boom, and thanks to the evolution of tech tools and trends, they now have the opportunities and the capacity to push industry boundaries.

According to IT and engineering consulting firm, Modis, tech employment in 2018 is expected to see a 12 per cent bump by 2024, compared to the meagre 6.5 per cent projected growth in all other industries. Breaking these numbers down, the web development industry is expected to grow by 27 per cent, while IT security is expected to grow by 18 per cent.

The tech industry is booming, and developers couldn’t be happier.

While these stats indicate blissful career opportunities for decades to come, it also means there’s a growing demand for tech tools and services.

And so, without further adieu, check out some of the latest tech tools that are expected to put a little pep in a developer’s step in 2018.

Talking A Developer’s (Programming) Language

Rust: The love for Rust is expected to remain strong in the new year. Stack Overflow, an insights consulting firm, conducts an annual survey asking developers about their favourite tech tools and software. In the 2017 survey, 64,000 developers from around the world proclaimed their love for the Rust programming language, and it doesn’t look like that infatuation will fizzle out anytime soon.

Rust is a systems programming language that, “runs blazingly fast, prevents segfaults, and guarantees thread safety,” reads the Rust website.

Featuring zero-cost abstractions, pattern matching, minimal runtime, trait-based generics, and efficient C bindings, Rust provides an effective and easy-to-use coding language for industry professionals and do-it-yourself amateurs alike.

Viper: If you’re a developer searching for a new language to test out, then you’ve probably already heard of Viper. As an emerging competitor to Solidity, Viper is a new Ethereum-based coding language that boasts features such as decidability, support for signed integers, and overflow checking. Although still in the experimental phase, Viper is definitely a language developers are eager to start learning.

Frameworks and Libraries: a Developer’s Dream

React: React was beloved in 2017, and with their interactive design views, developers will likely remain head-over-heels for this Javascript library in the new year. According to Stack Overflow, 66.9 per cent of developers surveyed in 2017 vouched for React’s range of features, namely their declarative views that make code more predictable and easier to debug.

Vue framework is beloved by developers. Photo credit: Vue.js Twitter.

Vue.js: Giving React a run for their money, Vue is a rapidly growing framework that is arguably easier to use and smaller in size.

“If you have an existing server site application, you can plug Vue into just one part of your application that needs a richer, more interactive experience,” says the Vue team, via an explainer video on their website.

Node.js: Although React was the most loved library in 2017, Node.js landed the “most wanted” designation, and is expected to gain significant ground in 2018. Built on Chrome’s V8, Node.js lets a developer write Javascript in the backend, making it easy to go from backend to frontend. In other words, Node.js is great for quick prototyping and full stack developers. Node.js uses an “event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient,” reads the Node.js website.

Developers and the Future of Blockchain

Blockchain may have been the most notable buzzword of 2017, and for good reason. The 2017 UpWork Skills Index ranked the 20 fastest growing skills in the U.S. freelance job market, slating blockchain developers as the second most in-demand industry professional.

“The 20 fastest growing freelance skills in Q3 2017 all experienced more than 100 percent year-over-year growth, while the top ten grew more than 200 percent compared to the same time period last year,” reads the report.

With blockchain technology and development capabilities expected to explode in 2018, developers are searching for the best-in-class industry tools and services to aid in their future tech endeavours.

Here at Quixxi, we’re working hard to meet this demand by combining our already expansive development network with blockchain capabilities. In fact, our platform was purposely designed to inspire the blockchain community to push the boundaries of what is possible, and develop service modules that anticipate and meet emerging customer needs.

In 2018, the Quixxi marketplace will be furnished with extensive libraries and API services for individual developers and enterprises to integrate blockchain features, such as crypto-payments, secret storage, identity management, and token creation. Developers will also be able to publish custom API services and libraries on top of blockchain modules. For more information, check out our website.

Blockchain technology is evolving rapidly, which is why it’s important that our team provides developers with the latest industry tools and resources to create effective and progressive digital solutions in 2018.

About Quixxi

Leveraging on blockchain technology, Quixxi is a marketplace for developers who want to build the world’s best digital solutions. Register for the Quixxi newsletter to find out about pre-sale bonuses for the Quixxi Token. Stay in touch by following Quixxi on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Receive project updates on their community channels, Telegram and Reddit, and lastly, keep an eye out for updates at tde.quixxi.com.

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