HackerRank's survey of 116K+ developers across 162 countries finds that Go and Python are the top programming languages that developers want to learn next
A huge developer survey reveals trends in developer education, job prospects, skills acquisition, and salaries.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the third consecutive year of independent surveys converging on the same signal: Python's climb began with Stack Overflow site metrics showing it as the highest-trafficked tag on the site, was confirmed by its fastest-growing major language status in the 2019 Stack Overflow survey, and now HackerRank's 116K-developer poll puts it alongside Go at the top of the want-to-learn list.
The finding matters because HackerRank sits on the assessment side of the hiring funnel — its data doubles as a map of where the candidate supply is heading. A later HackerEarth survey of experienced developers replicated the result with Go first and Python second, suggesting this is not one platform's artifact.
First-order effects
- Developers planning their next skill investment get a clear demand signal: Go and Python lead the learn-next ranking across 162 countries, ahead of whatever they currently use day to day.
- Employers using HackerRank's assessments gain visibility into a candidate pool that is actively re-skilling toward Go and Python, tightening the match between job requirements and available skills.
Second-order effects
- Training platforms, bootcamps, and course providers face pressure to prioritize Go and Python curricula, since learners follow the survey-backed demand rather than legacy enterprise stacks like Java.
- Teams still hiring primarily for Java or JavaScript — which a separate 17K-developer survey shows remain the most-used languages by active developer counts — may find Go/Python-fluent candidates commanding a premium as supply lags stated demand.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across successive surveys, language ecosystems consolidate around a small set of general-purpose choices (Python, Go, JavaScript), raising the stakes for any vendor whose tooling assumes a different stack.
- Survey data itself becomes a competitive asset for skills platforms: HackerRank's funding trajectory noted in related coverage suggests these reports function as both market research and customer acquisition for the assessment business.
The trend: Developer surveys have tracked Python from fastest-growing site traffic to a top learn-next pick over three years, with Google's Go emerging as the other language developers bet their careers on.