HackerRank 2020 Developer Skills Report: Salaries, Languages, Hiring Trends

HackerRank released its 2020 Developer Skills Report, surveying more than 116,000 software developers from 162 countries, making it the largest developer survey to date.

The survey delved deeper than previous ones, asking participants about their investment in coding bootcamps and related compensation.

HackerRank is a well‑known technical recruitment platform that offers coding practice, interview preparation, and competitive programming challenges across many computer science domains.

The report covers a wide range of topics, from developers' leisure activities to recruiters' views on bootcamp‑trained programmers and preferences for development tools and languages.

Training and Hiring

One‑third of hiring managers have hired developers who graduated from coding bootcamps.

When asked whether they had hired developers who acquired skills through bootcamps, 31.7% of hiring managers (the hiring‑department supervisors, not HR) answered yes, while 48.9% answered no.

72% of those managers believe bootcamp graduates have equal or better advantages.

Among the managers who have hired bootcamp graduates, 72% think these developers are on par with or superior to other candidates, citing faster learning of new technologies, stronger practical experience, and greater willingness to take responsibility.

Skills

38% of hiring managers prioritize full‑stack developers, followed by backend developers and data scientists.

According to the survey, regardless of company size, full‑stack developers are the most in‑demand, with backend developers and data scientists next.

In small teams, developers are often expected to handle front‑end, back‑end, testing, and operations tasks simultaneously.

60% of full‑stack developers have learned a new framework in the past year.

Because full‑stack developers must be familiar with many technologies, 60% reported being required to learn a new framework, and 45% were required to learn a new language.

Data scientists and DevOps engineers are the groups most frequently asked to learn new concepts.

Development Tools (Languages, Frameworks)

JavaScript is the most well‑known programming language, followed by Java and C.

AngularJS is the most recognized framework, followed by React and Spring.

Vue.js and Django are also rising in popularity, though some globally popular frameworks may have lower adoption domestically.

Go is the language developers most want to learn in 2020.

For three consecutive years, Go has topped the list of languages developers wish to learn, followed by Python and Kotlin. Other languages attracting attention include TypeScript, R, Rust, and Scala.

Perl developers earn the highest salaries.

Perl developers’ average annual salary is 54% above the global average, with Scala (+42%) and Go (+33%) trailing. These differences are partly due to a higher proportion of senior developers in those language communities.

Work and Life

Developers in the United States earn the highest salaries.

U.S. developers have an average annual salary of $109,000, roughly double the global average. Australia and Canada rank second and third with $88,000 and $73,000 respectively. Data for Chinese developers were not reported.

39% of developers feel their compensation does not match their effort.

Only 35% of developers believe they are paid fairly; 39% think their pay is inadequate compared with peers, while 26% are uncertain.

61.8% of developers aim to become technical leaders within three years, not managers.

Most developers are more interested in technical leadership roles such as chief architect than in management positions, emphasizing the importance of acquiring new technical skills.

Developers spend a lot of time listening to music and surfing the web.

When not coding, 61% listen to music, 52% browse the internet, and 48% each enjoy food and exercise. A small 3% claim they never take breaks.

For the full report, visit: https://research.hackerrank.com/developer-skills/2020