We keep our fingers on the pulse of software development so we can better prepare students for the ever-changing job market. Many of our students and developers are interested in working in top tech startups. We did some research to find out what it takes for these companies. We focused on the top 25 “unicorns”, which are companies that are privately owned and have a value of more than $1B. This report used data from Indeed.com and CB Insights as well as PitchBook and Stackshare.
Our research revealed some interesting results, such as the popularity of Go and Kotlin, but it also gave developers a roadmap to help them learn the skills and languages that they need to be hired at their dream companies. Coding Dojo is available online or at one of our ten campuses across the country. It can help you get a job at some the most innovative companies around the globe.
Let’s get to the data, without further delay!
Most popular programming languages used by top 25 Unicorn companies
It’s not surprising to see Javascript, Javascript, and Python as the top three programming languages. They also topped our 2019 Most In-Demand Programming Languages report. Surprisingly, Go and Kotlin were used by so many companies. Go is ranked 15th in the TIOBE Index ranking top programming languages, while Kotlin is ranked 40.
Background: Go (also known as Golang) was created by Google employees in 2009. It is used in Docker Kubernetes, Ethereum, and in Docker. It has seen steady growth in popularity over the past few years. Kotlin, a simplified alternative to Java, is used primarily for Android development. In 2017, Google added support for Kotlin to Android. It became the third supported language after C++ or Java.
Here’s Donovan An, Director of West Coast Campus Operations, sharing his thoughts:
Although most of these technologies and programming languages are familiar to developers, those who want to work for these unicorn companies will need to be able to master them. Our curriculum is constantly updated to ensure that we are teaching students the most current technologies on the market. This research will definitely be a factor in those decisions.
Top 25 Unicorn Companies: Most Commonly Used Framework Technologies
ReactJS was the most popular framework used by the top 25 unicorn businesses. ReactJS, a JavaScript library that Facebook manages and maintains with a large community and companies, is not something you are familiar with. It creates interactive user interfaces that are compatible with single-page apps as well as mobile apps. It also uses data and allows changes to be made even without page reload.
Hadoop and NodeJS tied for second place at 14% each. Node.js allows you to write server-side JavaScript apps and is built on top the V8 JavaScript runtime. It uses an event-driven, nonblocking I/O model and can handle tens to thousands of connections. Apache Hadoop, meanwhile, is an open-source software utility that allows you to use a network of computers to solve large-scale data and computation problems.
Django and Flask are all Python frameworks. This indicates an increase in Python usage. Python is very versatile, so it can be used for web development as well as scripting and software development. Data Science is a rapidly growing field in tech. We see Python being used extensively for this purpose. It makes sense that Python is being used in greater numbers.
Number of programming languages used by top 25 Unicorn companies
There was a fairly even distribution of languages at the top 25 unicorn companies, ranging from 2-10. There was no company that used less than two languages. Most companies used three to six languages. This shows that developers who are well-versed will be more in demand than specialists.
Coinbase and Doordash use 10 languages each, which is a testimony to the broad-reaching goals and innovation these companies are pursuing.
Top 25 Unicorn Businesses Use Most Popular Database Technologies
All standard SQL databases include MySQL, PostgreSQL and Redis. NoSQL has been more prominent, which stands for “Not just SQL”. NoSQL databases such as MongoDB are great for large data sets. Although relationships can be made between these data sets however, NoSQL databases are best used for non-relational purposes such as data scraping and mass data consumption.
Master List of Languages, Frameworks and Databases Used By Top 25 Unicorn Businesses
Are you interested in a job at a unicorn company? To see which technologies you should master before applying, click the chart.
