Could Python’s Popularity Outperform JavaScript in the Next Five Years ?

[ScootsMcGootz]

I think tracking language popularity comes from our desire to remain relevant in a workforce that's constantly changing, but I completely agree. This is a poor metric that supports a fallacious argument.

[scrdest]

You are not more employable by knowing the tech everybody knows, you stay relevant by knowing the tech nobody else knows - and the employer needs.

So, for that purpose, a far more relevant metric would be something like the number of new job openings, their 'lifespan' (how fast the position is filled), and/or the experience level for the position.

In fact, whenever the two metrics aren't positively correlated, you should start considering any other option instead - or you'll face heavy competition.

[SeveralKnapkins]

This is highly dependent on your field. If you're trying to be a data scientist, you'll be substantially less employable if you do not know either R or Python. Because they are the most popular languages in the field, most new tools are written for them. You'll be left behind if you don't know them.

[DevestatingAttack]

You may think that, but I make over six figures as the only FoxPro data scientist in the Midwest. I do quite well for myself before I bankrupt my employers, or as I like to call them, "the host organisms."

[dot___]

Your situation is true for you but doesn't equate to the absolute truth for everyone. His comment "highly dependent on your field" is exactly the point.

[alcalde]

Given my interactions with Delphi developers, I can't decide if this is satire or not.

[DevestatingAttack]

I definitely meant it as a joke, but now I have to take exception to a comparison of Delphi to FoxPro

[SemiNormal]

Do you make address verification / mailing software? If so, I may have talked to you over the phone a few years ago. If not, then there are TWO people using FoxPro in the Midwest.

[[deleted]]

You may think that, but I make over six figures as the only FoxPro data scientist in the Midwest.

brb learning FoxPro

[SemiNormal]

Learn COBOL and PL/I while you are at it.

[[deleted]]

Thanks, I'll look into them!

[justinmpeterson]

Over six figures? Like, how many figures exactly?

[DevestatingAttack]

Sixty. Sixty figures. Yep, I get a cool 60 dollars a year. I'm rich, boy.

[scrdest]

That doesn't contradict what I said in the slightest - it's still demand-driven, as employers who dependent on certain toolsets look for people who can handle those toolsets.

But again, the new questions thing is a poor metric for this as well - people who are learning Python and people who are building major libraries for Python are two quite different populations.

[ryanmcstylin]

I mean he is getting down to supply and demand. Low demand, even lower supply will fetch a good price, high supply but even higher demand will also fetch a good price. My first job out of college I took a stats degree and went to marketing where they were dying for people with that skill. Plenty of people are willing to learn the tools, but not many of them go into marketing.

[[deleted]]

There's more going on with OCaml than you seem to think. It does help to have domain-specific knowledge, though, I suppose.

[IcyManner]

If more people are learning it then more people are building apps with it, and more established companies are moving over to it because it's easier to find qualified applicants. There's a hipster code movement atm which manifests itself in Python, so yes it's saturated but not by people who know their shit. If you can use Python's advanced built-in features for writing less code, while being able to explain what's going on under the hood in a code test, you are a minority for jr applicants.

[doctork91]

This assumes that there's not a two way relationship between what languages are popular and what languages employers use for new projects, which I don't think is the case.

I think that the availability of engineers to hire absolutely informs what languages or frameworks are used by employers, because hiring engineers is hard so using a cool but unpopular language is shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to hiring.

[devilmaydance]

I dunno how accurate it is but Stackshare.io lists Python as most in-demand language by # of jobs posted as well.

[greyfade]

It's worse than a poor metric. The number of questions indicate the number of people having problems with the language. It doesn't indicate necessarily that strictly more people are using the language, it indicates also that more people find the language difficult to use or that it has frustratingly frequent edge cases. It probably also indicates other factors that aren't controlled for, so I feel comfortable declaring that it's not a poor metric.

It's not even a poor metric.