The Value of Programming Certifications
What is a programming certification? A programming credential or certification provides proof and validation that an individual has acquired the necessary knowledge to perform coding tasks using a particular coding language.
Main Topics
What is a programming certification?
Why are programming skills in-demand?
What are the current skills gaps expected in the United States?
Where can the top programming skills be found?
What are the top jobs for people with entry-level programming skills?
Why is it important for programmers to validate their skills?
What are the top 4 programming-related occupations?
What is a programming certification?
A programming credential or certification provides proof and validation that an individual has acquired the necessary knowledge to perform coding tasks using a particular coding language.
When students obtain a grounding in a breadth of current programming languages, they may further advance into careers in web programming, mobile applications programming, machine learning, data science or analytics, database management or game programming.
The terms programming and coding may sometimes be used interchangeably but there is a unique difference in that coding means writing code from one language to another (i.e., English to Python) and programming means programming a machine with a given set of instructions to run.
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Why are programming skills in-demand?
Technological advancements will support strong employment growth in professional, business, and scientific services industries, including computer systems design and related services, management, and scientific, and technical consulting services.
Computer and mathematical occupations will experience fast employment growth as strong demand is expected for IT security and software development, in part due to the increased prevalence of telework spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for new products associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), and for analyzing and interpreting large datasets will also contribute to fast employment growth for these occupations like statisticians, information security analysts, and data scientists.
More than six hundred thousand new jobs are projected in 2020-30 across the United States in Computer and Information Technology occupations with an expected annual employment growth rate of 22 percent of which more than four hundred thousand of these are specific to Computer and Information Research Scientists, Computer Programmer, Computer Systems Analyst, Database Administrator and Architect, Information Security Analyst, Software Developer, Quality Assurance Analyst, Tester, Web Developer and Digital Designer occupations. Listed in the top five most in-demand occupations, employees in these fields are receiving an average median annual wage of $110,140 in these roles.
Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.1% from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. Enterprise software investments account for 11% expected growth in 2022 resulting from the cloud and digital transformation as organizations focus on upgrading their software stack to software-as-a-service (SaaS) to support continued flexibility and agility.
The US still leads the way in software innovation and is way ahead of other regions in terms of cloud deployments and software-based technologies such as AI, big data and social. US firms benefit from world-class infrastructure and local supply chains, and a return to strong economic growth in the past few years has helped to stimulate demand for investments in emerging categories like AR/VR and AI software. However, the US does not dominate all modern technology markets, with emerging rivals armed with increasing R&D budgets, venture capital and ICT skills.
According to Statista.com, Tech budgets in the United States were predicted to expand by 7.4 percent in 2021 spending around 1.94 trillion U.S dollars on technology products, services and staff, making a recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and 6.7 percent (2.1 trillion) in 2022. These forecasts were more positive than the foregoing ones. This is due to businesses reopening after the pandemic in the United States which leads to an overall positive impact on the growth of the economy. Notably, software spending will be especially strong compared to other tech categories.
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What are the current skills gaps expected in the United States?
According to PwC, the talent shortage and skills gap in the US are expected to cost the country $8.5 trillion by 2030.
Recent jobs posted on Indeed have revealed 291,168 unfilled developer jobs requiring the following in-demand coding and querying language skills in 2022 including: C# (51,353), Java (129,144), C++ (57,317), Python (103,004), HTML5 & CSS (104,210), JavaScript (94,551) and SQL (72,284).
| Skills Required | Jobs requiring this language skill | US Pypl Index Ranking April 20224 | Tiobe Index March 20225 |
| Java | 129,144 | 2 | 3 |
| Python | 103,004 | 1 | 1 |
| JavaScript | 94,551 | 3 | 7 |
| SQL | 72,284 | 2 (Listed on the TopDB Index) | 10 |
| React | 58,766 | – | – |
| C++ | 57,317 | 5 | 4 |
| HTML5 | 53,176 | – | – |
| C# | 51,353 | 6 | 5 |
| CSS | 51,034 | – | – |
| Angular | 44,202 | – | – |
| Go | 38,376 | 14 | 13 |
| TypeScript | 31,594 | 10 | 40 |
| C | 29,036 | 5 | 2 |
| Spring | 23,805 | – | – |
| Ruby | 20,323 | 13 | 16 |
| Scala | 15,524 | 18 | 36 |
| Jquery | 13,092 | – | – |
| Perl | 13,033 | 22 | 19 |
| PHP | 11,724 | 9 | 8 |
| Vue.js | 10,909 | – | – |
| ASP.NET (Visual Basic) | 10,179 | 23 | 6 |
| Kotlin | 9,441 | 15 | 31 |
| PowerShell | 8,631 | – | 41 |
| Swift | 8,457 | 8 | 14 |
| Django | 4,736 | – | – |
| Objective C | 4,602 | 7 | 18 |
| Rust | 3,122 | 11 | 26 |
| Flask | 2,618 | – | – |
| R | 2,138 | 4 | 11 |
| Laravel | 1,527 | – | – |
| Drupal | 1,256 | – | – |
| Assembly | 1,097 | – | 9 |
| Express.js | 955 | – | |
| Haskell | 322 | 19 | 49 |
| Gatsby | 315 | – | |
| Dart | 254 | 24 | 35 |
| Julia | 106 | 17 | 32 |
4 US Pypl Index Ranking April 2022 – The PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language Index is created by analyzing how often language tutorials are searched on Google.
5 Tiobe Index March 2022 – TIOBE is specialized in assessing and tracking the quality of software. We measure the quality of a software system by applying widely accepted software metrics to it. TIOBE checks more than 1056 million lines of software code for its customers worldwide, real-time, each day.
LinkedIn reveals 344,294 unfilled developer job postings in 2022 of which 179,578 jobs are listed as entry-level or associate positions.
The listings show top developer hiring companies include Amazon, Dice, Recruiting from Scratch, Deloitte, Revature, VMware, Apple, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Capital One, CyberCoders, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Microsoft, Toptal, Perficient, Hire IT People, Inc. Salesforce, Jobot, Actalent and Facebook and they’re looking for new recruits on-site across New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Sunnyvale, San Diego, Washington, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Arlington with 36.1% of the job postings being listed as under remote/hybrid.
Skills required for the most in-demand roles continue to evolve rapidly. Based on the Q3 2021 Employment Outlook survey results by ManpowerGroup, IT/Data positions were listed in the top 7 hardest to fill jobs in the United States.
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Where can the top programming skills be found?
Before the pandemic, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that approximately 1,469,200 full-time software developers were working in the U.S. in 2019, earning an average salary of $107,510. Over the next 10 years, BLS estimates the U.S. labour market will add 316,000 software developer jobs, which is a phenomenal 22% growth rate, or an average of about 31,000 new jobs each year.
According to HackerRank, developers ranked by average score across domains show that Washington, Wyoming, California, New Mexico, and Wisconsin are the states where the top programming skills can be found.
However, their top performer by domain also revealed that if you’re looking for Python skills, you’ll be looking at Hawaii, DC, New Jersey, Utah, Connecticut and for Java skills you’ll consider Oregon, Delaware, Alaska, South Carolina, and Washington.
Why highlight Python and Java? Because according to the Pypl index, Python and Java remain to be the top 2 programming languages in the country across all of the states.
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What are the top jobs for people with entry-level programming skills?
According to Indeed, the 2021 job posting reports show that the following list is some of the best entry-level programmer jobs. We have broken these down to include the expected national average salary per year, projected growth 2020-2030 and recommended programming skills:
| Job Role (programmers with 0-1 years experience) | National Average Salary Per Year1 | Projected Growth 2020-20302 | Programming Skills3 |
| Junior Web Designer | $33,739 | 13% | HTML & CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress |
| Junior Software Developer | $39,422 | 22% | Java and SQL |
| Junior Web Editor | $42,900 | 13% | HTML & CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress |
| Junior QA Engineer | $59,193 | 22% | Java and JavaScript |
| Computer Programmer | $61,166 | -10% | HTML & CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and PHP |
| Data Analyst | $68,235 | 7% | Python and SQL |
| Entry-level Application Developer | $62,680 | 22% | JavaScript, C++ and C# |
| Entry-Level Web Developer | $60,017 | 13% | HTML & CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress |
| Digital Analyst | $77,072 | 10% | HTML & CSS and WordPress |
1 Report from Indeed.com
2 Reported from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
3 Certification programs that verify these skills and support the pursuit of these job roles
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Why is it important for programmers to validate their skills?
Programming certifications can give young job seekers the edge over other candidates and increase their earning potential. Regardless of their desired specialization in the software industry, having a programming or developer-related certification can improve their resume and help them stand out from other candidates.
A programming certification can be very useful for individuals with little or no experience in the field. It certainly helps potential employers quickly identify skills when navigating an influx of resumes.
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Top 4 programming-related occupations according to BLS
Information security analysts plan and carry out security measures to protect an organization’s computer networks and systems. Their responsibilities are continually expanding as the number of cyberattacks increases. IT security analysts are involved in creating their organization’s disaster recovery plan, a procedure that IT employees follow in case of an emergency. These plans allow for the continued operation of an organization’s IT department. Employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 33.3 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.
Top programming skills required: Python, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, and C
Software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers are involved in the entire process of creating a software program. Software developers create computer applications that allow users to do specific tasks and the underlying systems that run the devices or control networks. Software quality assurance analysts and testers design and execute software tests to identify problems and learn how the software works. Employment of software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers is projected to grow 22.2 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.
Top programming skills required: Python, Java, C++, and JavaScript
Computer and information research scientists design innovative uses for new and existing technology. They study and solve complex problems in computing for business, science, medicine, and other fields. Computer and information research scientists create and improve computer software and hardware architecture. Employment of computer and information research scientists is projected to grow 21.9 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.
Top programming skills required: JavaScript, Java, Scala, Python, R, SQL and C++
Web developers and digital interface designers create and maintain websites. They are also responsible for a site’s technical aspects, such as its performance and capacity, which are measures of a website’s speed and how much traffic the site can handle. Digital designers develop, create, and test website or interface layout, functions, and navigation for usability. They are responsible for the look and functionality of the website or interface. Employment of web developers and digital interface designers is projected to grow 12.8 percent from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations.
Top programming skills required: HTML & CSS, Java, JavaScript, Python, SQL and PHP