Take your career as a developer further with Python
In fact, according to Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey 2019, Python is now the fastest-growing major programming language, beating out Java this year to become the second most popular language (behind Rust) after having outstripped both C# in 2018 and PHP in 2017.
Stack Overflow’s annual Developer Survey is a large and comprehensive survey of people who code around the world, with almost 90,000 developers partaking in the 2019 survey.
This year, 73.1% of developers rated Python as their most loved language, and it took first place as the most ‘wanted’ language by 25.7% of respondents.
“This growing demand for Python skills is based on the fact that it has become a preferred language for data science and machine learning, allowing businesses to harness the power of AI-driven chatbots, robot process automation (RPA) and the Google Cloud platform, through sophisticated algorithms,” explains Ruan Erasmus, account manager at Datacentrix.
“The benefit for South African developers looking to take advantage of the growing demand for this skill is, firstly, that Python is easy to learn and very readable, with a more gradual learning curve than other languages. At the same time, is it extremely powerful from an automation point of view. This makes it appealing both for those starting out in development as well as for more experienced developers.”
In fact, says Erasmus, developers that are already proficient in languages like Java or C# will find it straightforward enough to add Python to their existing skillsets. And this could be achieved either through a bridging course or even via self-learning platforms, he adds.
“Developer communities like Stack Overflow, as mentioned above, and GitHub foster a collaborative approach, and provide the opportunity for developers to hone their skills on shared projects, as well as to have their code critiqued.”
The next step, says Erasmus, is to find your spot on one of the innovative local projects looking to put these skills in place.
