With almost half of 2023 gone by already, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to present some industry insights for the year so far. Technology changes fast, and with it comes changing demand for particular technologies and skills. These changes are reflected in how users interact with the DevSkiller platform. Here, we present a rundown of the big movers in 2023.
Increase in the number of test invites
One constant so far for 2023, is that test invites on DevSkiller are increasing. This not only reflects confidence in DevSkiller but also offers valuable insight into how companies are utilizing our products.
For instance, the number of coding and developer tests sent by organizations using DevSkiller, to external candidates, overall, is increasing year on year. In the month of April 2020, 10,643 test invites were sent out; compared to an increased figure of 13,288 by April 2023.
An increase alone might suggest growing confidence in DevSkiller TalentScore as a pre-employment testing platform. However, the number of internal test invites sent is also increasing, which means organizations are turning to DevSkiller to assess the skills of those already within their organization. What this tells us is that, as well as growing confidence in the DevSkiller platform, there is also a general trend for internal assessment and internal hiring across the technical hiring industry.
To plug the skills gaps that come with the ever-increasingly difficult task of technical hiring, organizations are, more and more, turning to reskilling and upskilling their current workforce to answer their hiring needs.
Test completion rate is growing
It is not only the number of assessments on our platforms that is increasing. The completion rate of DevSkiller assessments is also increasing. An increase in completion rate suggests an overall change in how seriously candidates take their assessments. It has been claimed that “70% of employers in the tech sector anticipate a skills shortage, whilst 24% believe it will significantly impact their recruitment.” (Robert Walters). It is possible that candidates, and their employers, are realising that their future success depends on the development of the right skills today. Therefore, workers are being encouraged, but also pushing themselves to achieve more.
Skills development & management is the primary focus of DevSkiller TalentBoost –
Most popular technologies in 2023 so far…
Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay
By far the most popular technologies tested on the DevSkiller platform are Java, JavaScript, and SQL. At DevSkiller, we affectionately refer to these technologies as ‘The Premier League’ or the top 3 most tested technologies on our platforms. Currently, they account for 62% of the total answers provided by test candidates.
JavaScript
JavaScript is the most popular programming language tested on our platform. JavaScript doubled in popularity between 2021 (1000 assessments sent) and 2023 (2000 assessments sent). The popularity of JavaScript on DevSkiller platforms reflects the general popularity of the programming language worldwide. An estimated 12.4 million developers use JavaScript. The language is popular for its ease of use when it comes to building websites. It is used in 97% of all websites.
Java
Java (not to be confused with JavaScript), remains in the top 3 most popular languages tested on the DevSkiller platform, despite a drop in popularity between 2021 and 2023. Averaging more than 4000 monthly test invites in early 2021, the number of Java assessments has now dropped below the 2000 mark on average.
SQL
The third most popular language on DevSkiller platforms is SQL. Despite dropping in popularity by 5% year-on-year, SQL is still one of the most popular languages for DevSkiller assessments, and worldwide.
Second tier most-popular languages 2023
Outside of the top 3 languages being tested on DevSkiller platforms, 26% of the total percentage of assessments is made up of tests in QA, HTML/CSS, DevOps, .Net#/C, Python, and PHP. QA tests, for instance, increased in popularity by 165% year-on-year; with HTML/CSS assessments just behind, with a 143% increase in popularity.
Perhaps most surprising, is the drop in popularity of PHP. Which is down 44% compared to the previous year. This reflects a drop in PHP’s usage as a whole worldwide. However, given that PHP is used by huge sites like Facebook and Wikipedia, it is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Score Digital alluded to this in a recent article reflecting on the TIOBE index of the most popular programming languages:
“The declining popularity of PHP in recent years has caused many to doubt its future. It’s crucial to keep in mind that a drop in PHP’s ranking on lists like TIOBE doesn’t imply a decrease in its overall usage. All it means is that PHP is being used less frequently than other languages.”— Score Digital
Increase in senior-level assessments
DevSkiller’s April 2023 statistics (see below) show that senior-level answers provided in technical assessments, increased between October 2022 (955 answers: 14.69%) and April 2023 (1112 answers: 16.48%).
This increase could represent a change in the hiring trends of junior and senior developers as a whole. The advent of ChatGPT and the question of whether it can do the work of junior developers is potentially causing a change in the recruitment habits of tech hiring managers.
“Almost 80% of advertised tech roles are at the senior level potentially obstructing those at an earlier stage in their career from getting relevant experience in tech.” —Tech Nation
New types of assessment added to the DevSkiller platform
“Products such as Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT have enabled a wider set of enterprises as well as individuals to access and interact with deep learning models…the implications are enormous, from improving search to increasing developer productivity.”— Harvard Business Review
The advancement of AI seemed to take a giant leap forward in 2022 when the release of ChatGPT caused a worldwide stir.
Many organizations specializing in technical assessments were rocked by the news that the advanced AI tool could crack their coding tests. Not DevSkiller. 90% of DevSkiller assessments remain uncrackable. Unless the candidate has the knowledge needed to succeed, then they will not pass. In fact, rather than worrying about advanced tools like ChatGPT, DevSkiller’s tech team understands how useful the tool can become for helping developers to work quicker in the future, and how vital AI will be in shaping the future of tech.
“59% of hiring managers say the rise of AI will have a substantial or transformational impact on the types of skills their companies need.” Salesforce
Advanced AI like ChatGPT, will undoubtedly change the face of tech hiring. Junior developers will have to know how to utilize ChatGPT in order to get the most out of it. They will still need to possess an amount of coding-related knowledge, in order to know the specific commands to pass on to ChatGPT. Put it this way, an automated car can get you to a destination faster than walking, but you still need to tell it where to go.
“Despite the programming skills that ChatGPT has, only those who know programming can make the best of ChatGPT for programming work.”—Level Up
With this in mind, DevSkiller added 15 new ChatGPT-related assessments to its TalentScore platform in April 2023. In the previous chart (above) we can see that the number of answers provided in the junior developer category also increased, as well as in the senior category.
This might suggest that although junior developers are not being replaced by AI programs just yet, there does seem to be a growing need to adapt how developers work in response to tools like ChatGPT. The addition of DevSkiller’s new ChatGPT assessments is a testament to this.
“Future programming-related work belongs to those who use AI technology.”—Level Up
Summary
As you can see, although tech changes quickly, there are certain constants year-over-year. JavaScript is continuing to lead the way as the most popular technology, both worldwide and on the DevSkiller platform.
We can also see a potential shift in technical hiring trends when it comes to hiring junior developers. Not only have advancements in AI led to tools like ChatGPT being able to crack the technical assessments of some organizations, but it has also brought into question the future of junior developers on the whole. Furthermore, it brings into question just how much of a role AI will play in the future of technical hiring.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
