This guest post was created in collaboration with Venturi Group, one of the UK’s top IT recruitment agencies.

As an IT recruitment agency, we work with developers who are skilled in many different coding languages. We always keep tabs on those languages that are increasing in popularity so we can keep our candidates informed about the likely future direction of the job market. Learning an in-demand programming language at University is a great way to improve your employability before you graduate. Based on the roles we recruit for, we have listed our top 5 languages for 2018 to help boost your chances of landing your first job in software development.

 

JavaScript

If building beautiful, interactive websites is your thing, Javascript is a must. JavaScript is now a very pervasive language. Chances are, your first job will involve at least some JavaScript work. 65% of professional coders and developers use the language regularly according to a survey from Stackoverflow. There are a number of different JavaScript frameworks each of which have different applications. The most popular frameworks are AngularJS, ReactJS, and NodeJS.

 

PHP

PHP, like JavaScript, is used everywhere. Facebook use it, Twitter use it and WordPress use it. The last company on the list is especially important as the majority of websites on the internet are built with WordPress. A solid grasp of PHP will open the door for you to edit, create, and manage WordPress sites. This means you’ll never be short of work. Fortunately, it’s also a relatively easy language to learn.

 

C#

C# is a great language to learn as it can be used on all major operating systems –  Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. It’s very versatile and shares many similarities with Java. Getting to grips with C# makes life much easier should you wish to learn Java at a later date.

 

Python

Companies around the world are adopting Python at an unprecedented rate. Many businesses are now in the process of migrating their workload over to the language. Python was first created in 1991, but in the past few years it has emerged from relative obscurity to take centre stage in the world of software development. The language has a reputation for being quick and easy to learn as well as lightning fast to use. There aren’t many other languages out there that are simultaneously super powerful and uncomplicated. It can be used for general purpose programming right through to machine learning. As the applications of AI and machine Learning continue to grow, so will the value of Python.

 

Go

Go is a language we predict will grow rapidly in 2018.  It’s a little trickier to get your head around than some of the other languages on our list, but Go is built to last. Its status as an up-and-coming language was confirmed in 2016 when it was named TIOBE’s programming language of the year. Many developers are now opting to familiarise themselves with Go as it’s features make it uniquely suited to fast-moving projects. There is already a shortage of Go developers and demand is set to increase considerably this year. For this reason Go experts command salaries that are much higher than the market average.