It's always interesting to see what keywords are popping up in the various posting on job boards and mega-placement centers. Java continues to show well, but the big gainers are in and around the mobile device market, with specific mention given to Objective C. 

What does all this mean? First, it is clear the iOS development is hot as is all mobile development. It will be interesting to see if Java can get some sustained growth with the rise of Android developmnent. From the trend perspective, Perl should be watched to see if there is a significant decline over the next year. C# will likely continue its growth as a replacement for C++ and as a language for Windows Phone development. Lastly, Visual Basic really looks like it may finally disappear over the next few years.

Job Trends: Trational Programming Languages

I am a secretary in a renowned corporation and we're now hiring accountants and auditors for the newly exposed account.

Java is supposedly at the top of the market job trends. And it is so considering the vast amount of Java jobs available. However I suppose this cannot be equated with being the best or even the highest paying programming languages. Infact, the more number of jobs available, the lesser the competition and so lesser packages.

I would say more jobs available equals bigger employer competition which in turn equals harder to find good employee. This usually means employers have to propose better packages.

I did some little Objective-C programming for an iPhone app. I liked it and I like Objective-C being a former long-time Smalltalk developer. The daily rate you get for mobile apps is much too low and an app project takes only some months. So doing Objective-C development is a bit risky. If you can't find a follow-up project you have to change back to Java where in the meanwhile lots of new things have poped up where you have to take an effort to catch up. For me Objective-C development is therefore too costly. Wished there were a true alternative to Java. But all the JVM languages so far are not there to stay.

The sub-headline for this article said that Objective-C is skyrocketing.  Really?  It is firmly in last place and not moving up at all.

The "skyrocketing" shows up only in the relative job growth graph which is misleading.  If Objective-C jobs increase from 0.1% to 0.3% you could call that skyrocketing, but it's still pitifully small.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics