What can we learn from software development job posts? (Java, SAP, Oracle, SQL, and C#/C++ will get you a job!)

Several months ago, I posted some analysis of IT-related jobs listed on Dice and Monster. At the time, the hot job skills were SQL, Java, and XML. Things haven't changed much since April - although some specific skills have moved down or up on the list.

In summary, here are some conclusions we can draw from this data:

• In almost all job skills, there are more jobs posted now than there were in April or last year in June.
• The most popular skills are Java, SAP, Oracle, SQL, and C#/C++.
• Job posts mentioning specific programming languages and popular applications have experienced the largest increase in jobs posted over this period.
• The biggest jumps (by percentage, sometimes from a small base) were in job posts mentioning Android, Google, Facebook, iPhone, Salesforce.com, and AJAX.
• The biggest drops (by percentage) were in job posts mentioning Fortran, PowerBuilder, and Informix.

Here are the top 20 skills listed in job titles on Dice.com and Monster.com:

Rank	Skill	Total Jobs	Previous rank
1	Java	6316	3
2	SAP	4357	13
3	Oracle	3561	2
4	SQL	2461	1
5	C#	1778	10
6	C++	1319	12
7	Unix	1189	5
8	Linux	1092	6
9	Peoplesoft	955	-
10	Windows	947	4
11	SQL Server	817	8
12	PHP	657	19
13	Embedded	489	-
14	Siebel	405	-
15	PL/SQL	367	17
16	JavaScript	337	-
17	Mainframe	306	-
18	Perl	265	14
19	Salesforce.com	253	-
20	Ruby	240	-

The methodology in the analysis continues to evolve, so the results aren't perfectly comparable.

Some additional findings:

• Language skills showed the largest increase in demand as a category, up 78%. Applicatoins grew 45%, platforms grew 36%, and databases grew 33%.
  
• Database: Given the large base, there was a surprisingly large jump in posts for Oracle jobs (up 34%). SQL Server and MySQL also had large jumps, but from substantially lower bases. If you're going to invest in learning a database, at this point, Oracle is the clear leading choice.
• Applications: Salesforce.com had the largest jump by percentage (up 113%), but from a relatively small base (118). SAP (and related skills of ABAP and BASIS) had a large jump from a large base (up 50%). Siebel also had a big jump in mentions (up 36%).
• Languages: There was a huge increase in job posts for Java skills (up 92% from a large base). Other languages that showed large increases from large bases include C# (up 47%), PHP (up 57%), and C++ (up 28%).
• Platforms: Only in the platforms category was there a lot of change other than just growth. Unix was still the largest platform skill by mention, but Linux passed Windows with 34% growth. There was substantial growth in mentions for Google, Android, iPhone, and AJAX. There was healthy growth for most platforms, with the notable exception of Blackberry-related jobs.
• Skills that are not in high demand or growing: Informix, Sybase, PowerBuilder, Fortran, Blackberry, Palm WebOS, Yahoo, Widgets/Gadgets.
  
• Skills that are surprisingly low in demand: HTML5, Azure, Facebook.
• Overall, there was an increase of 50% in job posts on these two sites.
  

If you have any skills you'd like to see tracked in these posts, please post a comment and I'll see about including them next time. Thanks!