Developer Hiring Trends in 2017
Now that 2017 is really in swing and spring is on its way, maybe you’re thinking about renewing your job search. At Stack Overflow, we have our finger on the pulse of the developer hiring scene, and we’ve put together some data on 2017 hiring trends to help you steer your search.
These are some of the trends we’ve seen in job posting and employer activity leading into 2017.
Changes in Demand
We looked at targeting options for employers on Stack Overflow Jobs that were used by at least 200 companies since the beginning of 2015. The fastest growing targets are ReactJS, Docker, Ansible, and Apache Spark, followed by System Administration and QA.
ReactJS
Jobs tagged with and targeted to ReactJS developers include such titles as Full Stack Web Developer, Front End Javascript Engineer, and Senior UX Developer. See all open ReactJS jobs here.
Docker
Current open positions tagged with Docker include Senior Development Automation Engineer, Senior Infrastructure Engineer, and DevOps Engineer. See them all here.
Ansible
Jobs targeted at Ansible developers include such titles as Data Team Manager, Cloud Ops Engineer, and Linux DevOps Engineer. You can explore more Ansible jobs here.
Apache Spark
Jobs tagged with Apache-Spark include Big Data Architect, Data Developer, and Director of Engineering. Look at them all here.
System Administration
If you identify as a System Administrator, you may be interested in jobs like Full Stack Infrastructure Engineer, Build/Release Engineer, or Cloud Engineer.
QA
Quality Assurance skills are in demand for jobs like Lead Test Engineer, Manual QA Tester, and Senior QA Automation Engineer.
Dwindling Demand
Our data also showed us which technologies are dwindling in demand. If you identify primarily with those technologies showing decreases—for example, Ajax, jQuery, and WordPress—and you’re looking to advance in your career, it might be time to rebrand.
Low Supply, High Demand
The areas showing the highest demand relative to the number of developers available (in other words, the demand heavily outweighs the supply of qualified candidates in these fields) are backend web/cloud, iOS, Android, and DBA/SQL.
Backend web/cloud
Employers are looking for back end developers to fill such jobs as Quantitative Software Engineer, Backend Engineer (Python), and Enterprise Data Architect/Engineer.
iOS/Android
Both iOS and Android showed up on our high demand list, indicating a continued focus on mobile development. Often companies indicate a desire for candidates with knowledge and experience in both platforms. Atlassian, for example, is currently hiring both a Senior Android Developer (which lists knowledge of iOS as a plus), and a Senior iOS Developer (which lists familiarity with Android as a plus). Other examples include Mobile Developer (encompassing both iOS and Android); iOS Software Engineer, Mobile Applications; and Android Mobile Dev Engineer.
DBA/SQL
The demand for database administrators and developers is much higher than the current supply, as well, leading to lots of open positions: SQL Database Admin/SRE, Senior Oracle Database Administrator, and Database Developer, to name a few.
High Supply, Low Demand
The most oversaturated technologies include WordPress and Desktop OSX; if you are hoping to find a new position in these fields, it may be an uphill battle in 2017. Consider brushing up on some technologies that offer higher employer demand and less competition.
Putting these insights into action
A new year is a perfect time to reevaluate your Developer Story and update your experience to reflect your strengths in these high-demand areas. Even if you’ve never had the title of Android Developer, if you’ve had mobile experience, highlight it on your Developer Story. You can do this by adding side projects, showing the questions you’ve answered on Stack Overflow in these areas, or even recommending relevant reading material you found helpful. And if you have had job titles that reflect these technologies, now’s the time to polish up those descriptions and show what you really did as an Android Developer or a System Administrator.
Remember: If you’re interested in seeing open jobs in these fields, you can further customize your search by location, perks, and compensation using our search tool:
So what are you waiting for? Create or update your Developer Story now with these stats in mind to give yourself an edge, and then go see what kinds of jobs are out there that fit your requirements.
48 Comments
I wonder how many of these skills are no longer listed because they are “table stakes”. You used to have to put CSS, JQuery, and JSON on the job description. I wouldn’t expect to have to put that on a Full Stack Developer description today – if you don’t know those then you aren’t a Full Stack Web Developer, and I’m more interested in whether you know the shiny things like React, Redux, and Angular2.
You’re probably right about about CSS but the jQuery one might be significant. Those hiring for React/Angular positions don’t need you to know jQuery and some of them unfairly look down on it.
Yes, “JSON” can be rephrased as “do you know what an object literal is?” and doesn’t really deserve to be called a fully fledged skill.
You aren’t even a front end if you don’t know any js framework. React and angular is not new.
They are quite a bit newer than jQuery, which is what I was comparing them to.
Should the first graph be titled “% change from 2015 to 2016” rather than “2016 to 2015”?
Why is AngularJS not on the list? I’d be interested to see how the demand for it compares with ReactJS
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ef7340c3bfbe6dce899e4fb6a89c30f0c6f8d11b1811268e6f9ae5d43f23397.jpg
React is red, angular blue
pill?
All the people that bet on angular 3 years ago are wishing they could wake up right about now
Nice, now show the rest of the graph, 2016 to nowadays.
It’s all there as of four days ago
This is based on data inside Stackoverflow’s jobs portal of 200 companies only. Not seeing Angular 2 here is thoughtful.
There are more desktop OSX developers than I thought.
The tools have become so much better in the last couple of years, so people pile on…at just the time that it becomes apparent that Apple have lost the hungry, awesome character that defined them for decades.
Windows Desktop is still high on demand, thats a shocker… I like it…
Did you note “Desktop” category? I wonder if it really **excludes** windows
Are PHP frameworks included in “LAMP”? I’m surprised with the growth of Laravel that that hasn’t actually increased lately. I’d be curious to see Laravel vs. other PHP
Dude LAMP is actually not a PHP framework
It’s good to know that programming = 100% web fluff. Who’s going to program the firmware to control the hardware, that the fluff will run upon? I would imagine that it magically programs itself, right?
I know, there’s a deluge of embedded C and C++ positions cropping up (at least in the UK, due to the flood in IoT devices) on more established job boards, but it seems that the majority of companies that advertise on SO are of the ‘pretty buttons’ variety.
So you think the big products like Facebook, Google, WhatsApp and even Stackoverflow are just “pretty button” variety?
They aren’t products – they’re companies. And all of them (except maybe SO) write huge amounts of low-level code.
What about Facebook? You know its basically a website and one of the best companies out there. I agree they have other projects going on where they write low-level code, but basically it started as a “pretty buttons” variety!
What about Facebook? You know its basically a website and one of the best companies out there. I agree they have other projects going on where they write low-level code, but basically it started as a “pretty buttons” variety!!
“You know its basically a website”
Ah, no. No it isn’t. Much like Google, FB run humongous data centres that perform complex analytics and, increasingly, machine learning upon the data the web front end generates – that requires large amounts of custom _low-level_ code. The front end is a small part of the whole operation.
Anyway, you’re somewhat missing the point of my and Fluff’s (admittedly flippant) comments: The jobs advertised on SO are overwhelmingly front-end “fluff”/”pretty buttons”, despite the overall job market being fairly evenly split between high and low level – leading to these trends that are only applicable to a narrow market segment.
> more established job boards
Which are you thinking of in particular? This is relevant to my interests.
I usually use indeed.co.uk, it’s a job posting aggregator so carries a very large and varied number of jobs. I think it’s UK-specific though.
Your first chart on the x axis is labelled “% change 2016 – 2015”. I think this is backwards but either way it is confusing.
It’s good to see iOS is in second position. 🙂 🙂 :p :p
How come Angular is not even on the charts?
Because angular jobs are diluted by Angular JS 1, Angular 2, Angular 4, Angular 5 … Angular Ex. :p
Lol, Angular Millennium, Angular Special Edition, and one thousand more 😛
Angular is dead technology, just accept this fact.
I don’t see why would it be dead. Almost every job ad I see lists it as priority. True, it only used by 0.4% of all websites now, but it’s more preferred for large in-house projects and apps.
Angular is ok for small and medium projects, but definitely not for large. React.JS became new great tool for it.
I don’t think so. But if you mean only Angular 1.X you’re right. The newer versions of Angular are more powerful especially with Redux.
yeah Angular 1.x will be on demand still, because of all the large codebases that rely on legacy Angular. Latest Angular is coming up now, but most folks pick ReactJS. Also VueJS is a great package which is now coming installed with Laravel, which is the largest php framework at the moment.
They aren’t exactly the same, but where either can be used, I prefer React. It still seems like AngularJS and Angular 2 are in more demand, but Angular has had a 3 year head start.
http://blog.techmagic.co/angular-2-vs-react-what-to-chose-in-2017/
Isn’t a full stack developer (in the red) expected to have both front end and back end skills, so wouldn’t they be able to apply for either of those types of jobs (in the green) depending on which they were better in? I’m assuming more companies realized in 2016 that they are not going to have one person handling everything that falls under the “full stack” label and those responsibilities will remain divided and are just listing the jobs based on which specific role needs to be filled rather than the generic “full stack”. I have seen some pretty insane ones though, listing every damn popular stack and related as well as mobile development as required skills for the “full stack” position. Or perhaps there really is an abundance of full stack developers and they’re struggling to find work?
Full stack developers while capable of doing both front-end and back-end work, are also expected to do both. Where as there are job positions specifically for front-end or back-end. So I think the difference is what the job position expectations. A company may prefer 2 developers (one to focus on front-end, and another that focuses on back-end), as oppose to a single (or multiple full stack developers).
I think full stack developer value not just can doing both front-end and back-end work.but is can cross front-end and back-end to communicate and make their work to better
“% change from 2016 to 2015″—huh? Is this perhaps from 2015 to 2016?
Surprised no .NET there at all
C# 3578 vs Golang 56 Jobs on Taiwan ….Orz