StudentDeveloper
Report 2018
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P R O L O G U ESkills First
It’s time to focus the conversation on skill. To dive deeper on understanding the state of student

How do you identify young talent that will have the greatest impact?

developer skills, we surveyed over 10,000 developers across universities worldwide on how they’reFor most companies, the standard practice is to target select, prestigious schools, invest inlearning, what they’re learning, and what they look for in a job. For instance, we learned that evena prime spot during seasonal career fairs, and collect as many resumes as possible to build

though 76% of tech students are pursuing a degree in computer science, 65% of all student

an entry-level talent pipeline. It’s tempting to look at blunt proxies—like GPAs and intern-developers say they are at least partially self-taught. And nearly one third of all developers said

ships at brand name companies—to create a candidate shortlist.

they’re completely self-taught.

As someone who has been on both sides of the university recruiting table, I can tell you that

Self-directed learning is the norm among developers; so when companies focus on hiring based on

this method is not sustainable. First off, in the age of digital transformation, the demand forproven skill instead of prestigious degree or GPA, a massive pool of overlooked talent opens up.

developers won’t be able to keep up with such a narrow strategy. If everyone’s fighting fortalent in the same pools of talent, hiring will be exponentially more difficult. Secondly, if

We hope you find this useful as you prepare your next university recruiting season.

your goal is to make strong hires, grades and alma mater aren’t reflective of true ability.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Back in college, my co-founder Hari Karunanidhi and I used to spend hours competing incoding contests. We had solid fundamentals and were really strong developers, but didn’t
necessarily have the pedigree that recruiters were looking for.
Vivek Ravisankar
I was fortunate that recruiters from Amazon happened to come to my campus for a coding

Co-founder & CEO

competition that I was participating in—I was able to demonstrate my skills. Many otherHackerRankdevelopers may not be as lucky.

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E D U C A T I O N

A degree is not enoughto learn how to code
Although most computer science students are learning software development in universi-

How did you learn to code?

ties, over half of all student developers say they’re partially self-taught. And nearly one thirdof all student developers say they’re completely self-taught.
This prevalence of self-taught knowledge means two things: First, computer science programs lag behind the pace at which technology evolves. For skills that are growing in the3%

31.9%

industry today—like the latest frameworks—students have to rely on self-teaching to learn.
Second, self-teaching is ingrained in the developer DNA. Developers have an insatiable thirstfor learning. On average, students are learning 6 languages, while more senior developers
are learning 4. Developers in the Asian Pacific region are the most ambitious, with the

37.7%

27.4%

average student planning to learn 7 programming languages!
Their thirst for learning makes it clear that Computer Science (CS) degrees shouldn’t be theprimary measure of student developer skills. Instead, teams need to look beyond school
performance—to personal projects, portfolio, skills assessments, and the like—to accurately
evaluate their skills.

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SchoolSchool & Self-Taught

Self-Taught

Neither School nor Self-Taught

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E D U C A T I O N

88%

77%
73%
88%
Students rely more on YouTubethanprofessionals
63% 60% 61%77%
73%
51%
63%
46%
Developers have traditionally flocked to Stack Overflow as a means of learning new skills or working
through problems.
Butthatcould
bechanging
withnewgenerations.
46%
45%
60% 61%
37%
35%
51%
46%
46%
45%
University students today are showing less interest in Stack Overflow compared to professional developers. Instead, YouTube is starting to become morefavorable as a learning tool for developers
37%
35%
with the next generation of developers. We found that 73% of students use YouTube, compared to only 64% of professional developers.
25% 20%25% 20%6% 4%

StackYoutubeBooks
MOOC
OnlineCompetitive Academic
Besides HackerRank, which of these platforms do you use Overﬂow
to learn how to code?
Tutorials
CodingPapersStack
YoutubeBooks
MOOC
OnlineCompetitive Academic
Sites Other
Overﬂow
Tutorials
CodingPapers
Sites
77.3%

88.2%

73%

63.8% 59.9% 60.4%

Students
51.4%
45.5%

50.5% 46.4%
37.5%
35.6%

Students
24.9%

Professionals

Professionals

20.2%
4.5% 5.2%

Stack
Overﬂow

Youtube

Books

MOOC

OnlineTutorials

Competitive
CodingSites

Academic
PapersOther

Outside of the classroom, the face of education is Students
shapeshifting quickly. The
popularity of these more customizable, self-directed mediums is the beginning of a larger generational shift led byProfessionals
Generation Z (those born in the mid 90’s – early 00’s), who make up the majority of today’s college students.
This finding supports recent research by Pearson & Harris Poll, which found that Generation Z (ages 14-23) preferred YouTube and video to learn versus other applications of learning.

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S K I L L S

Globally, demand for JavaScript is outpacing student expertise
While 48% of employers say they need JavaScript skills, only 42% of student developers worldwide say they know the language. When we dug deeper, we found there is aregional difference. The gap is particularly wide in India and Canada. Meanwhile, the US and UK have the greatest population of JavaScript developers.
And that skills gap could be traced back to CS curriculums. By and large, JavaScript isn’t taught in standard computer science curriculums. In fact, of US News and World Report’s
top 10 CS programs, zero explicitly include JavaScript in their core curriculum; skilled students must rely on internships, personal projects, or mentorship to learn the language.
It’s why students that are more likely to teach themselves to code (including American and British students) have a better grasp on JavaScript.
But CS programs are unlikely to incorporate JavaScript any time soon. Their focus on coding theory (versus application) leaves little room for practical, industry-driven languages
like JavaScript. And for the fraction of programs that do want to incorporate JavaScript, feasibility presents a challenge. Almost half of JavaScript developers feel the JavaScript
ecosystem is changing too fast—so even those hungry to include it may struggle to keep their curriculums up to speed.

66.1%

Employers Need

52.7%

66.0%

USA:
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2.0%

0.4%

Lua

3.4%

0.4%

Pascal

1.0%

0.6%

Clojure

3.4%

1.0%

India:+91-888-081-1222

Haskell

2.2%

2.2%

Perl

8.9%

3.6%

R

5.4%

2.1%

Scala

6.1%

3.8%

Swift

6.7%

2.0%

Go

5.1%

8.2%

Ruby

14.5%

PHP

16.0%

18.2%

C#18.6%

C

21.4%

C++

JavaPythonresearch@hackerrank.com
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24.9%

Students Know

32.8%

46.6%

48.0%

42.0%

JavaScript

76.1%

Which languages do employers need versus student developers know?

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S K I L L S

But Ruby, Python, & JavaScript top students’ to-do lists
Despite the JavaScript gap, there’s good news for employers: students are keen on learning it. In fact, JavaScript is one of the top 3 skills they want to learn next, coming in 3rd after Ruby (1st priority)
and Python (2nd priority).
Having a strong foundation of classic lower-level languages, like C, helps developers pick up new languages more easily. And as we saw earlier, students are highly motivated to learn independently,
since the majority are at least partially self-taught. Awareness of the massive opportunities found in JavaScript and JavaScript-frameworks can help bridge the gaps.

66.0%

Know

22.4%

0.6%

0.5%

Clojure

Julia

21.9%
0.6%

Erlang

1.6%

OCaml

0.6%

1.7%

KotlinIndia:+91-888-081-1222

Rust

2.0%

Go

21.2%

24.7%

32.8%

36.4%
22.7%

29.4%
2.0%

2.2%

PerlLua

3.4%

Haskell

2.1%

3.4%

PascalUSA:+1-415-900-4023

Scala

3.8%

Swift

4.1%

TypeScript

26.0%

22.2%

24.7%
5.1%

8.9%

R

Ruby

16.0%

C#PHP

JavaScript

Pythonresearch@hackerrank.com
www.hackerrank.com

27.1%

34.1%

40.3%

33.0%

36.6%

32.4%
24.9%

42.0%

38.9%

24.0%

Java

C++

C

11.1%

21.5%

39.3%

52.7%

Will Learn

22.2%

66.1%

76.1%

Which languages do students know versus plan to learn next?

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S K I L L S

Frameworks are generally learned on the job
Students are underprepared to leverage the frameworks employers need, with the biggest knowledge gaps residing in AngularJS, React, Node.js, and Spring. No individual country’s students could
meet even half of employers’ framework demands.
And again, this discrepancy traces back to fundamentals-focused CS curriculums; in most CS programs, students learn to build knowledge of theories and fundamentals, not job skills. The reason
is multi-faceted: university curriculums have neither the industry feedback, nor the agility, nor the resources to stay in sync with industry trends.
Frameworks are best learned in execution, so students should work on projects that allow them to learn building on frameworks. And hiring teams should adjust their expectations, given thetremendous skill gap, and invest in training new grads and early talent.

33.2%

22.7%

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0.2%

0.2%

Padrino

0.6%

0.4%

RubyMotion

1.4%

0.8%

Pyramid

2.0%

1.5%

Meteor4.1%

1.7%

Struts

2.6%0.9%

Ember

3.1%

1.3%

Cocoa

4.6%

1.6%

Backbone.Js

4.4%

2.1%

JSF

10.0%

6.3%

ASP

React Native

2.8%

9.4%

10.2%
4.6%

Ruby on Rails

Vue.JsExpressJs

Django

2.1%

9.5%

12.6%

8.8%

13.8%
5.7%

.NETCore

5.2%

11.1%

14.3%

Students Know

Spring

8.6%

React

AngularJs

Node.Js

Employers Need

13.5%

18.3%

36.4%

37.9%

Which frameworks do employers need versus student developers know?

A T T R A C T I N GT A L E N T

Growth opportunities
appeal 5x more than perks

Globally, what do student developers wantmost in a job?

To woo students globally, employers should focus first and foremost on students’ #1 job
priority: professional growth and learning.

57.8%

Professional Growth & Learning

52.2%

Good Work-Life Balance

45.9%

Interesting Problems to Solve

Good work-life balance and interesting work are also important to students, landing atpriority numbers 2 and 3, respectively. Highlighting the expertise of the existing team,mentorship opportunities, and the impact of the team’s work can help employers stand out
here. Emphasizing opportunities for work-life balance—like remote working options andflexible schedules—can also help.
Ultimately, students are hungry to learn, and to grow their careers. Capitalize on their

Smart People/Teamto flex their mentorship capabilities.

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19.9%

Company Mission

18.4%

Compensation
Impact with Product16.6%

Preferred Tech Stack

15.3%

Perks

10.5%

Proximity to Where You Live

8.9%

Stability From a Large Company

8.7%

Funding and Valuation

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32.3%

Company Culture

enthusiasm by offering opportunities to own interesting, challenging projects; they’ll
appreciate the opportunity to grow their skills, and seasoned teammates will get a chance

43.3%

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5.8%

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A T T R A C T I N G

T A L E N T

And in the U.S.,
work-life balance
tops growth opportunities

What does work-life balance mean to US students?

Globally, students are aligned on job priorities, but with one exception: the U.S.
U.S. students are significantly more interested in company culture than students
from any other country, and are also the only student group that identify “work-lifebalance” as their #1 priority. More specifically, U.S. students are drawn to flexible
work hours, a focus on outcomes (not hours), and generous PTO benefits.
To speak to these students, employers shouldn’t just talk about work-life balance:

Generous Vacation / PTO Beneﬁts

67.2%

Focus on Outcomes,
Not Hours Worked

67.2%

Support Remote Working

62.8%

Encourage Employees
to Use Vacation Time

61.9%

balance opportunities, they fear what coworkers will think if they take advantage ofthem. Openly encouraging a culture of balance will help them feel at ease.

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50.9%

Foster Creativity

47.8%

Health Initiatives
Discourage After-Hours Emailingthey should actively encourage it. Even when younger generations are offeredresearch@hackerrank.com
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89.7%

Flexible Work Schedules

37.2%

Help Employees with Everyday Tasks

28.4%

Help with Childcare Costs

26.3%

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More ResearchMethodology
We conducted a study of developers to identify trends in developer education, skills andhiring practices. A total of 10,351 student developers completed the 10-minute online survey
from October 16 to November 1, 2017.

Tech Recruiting
Report

Women inTech Report

May 22, 2018

March 1, 2018

The survey was hosted by SurveyMonkey. We recruited respondents via email from ourcommunity of developers, and through social media sites.
Tests of significant differences were conducted at the .01 level (99% probability that thedifference is real, not by chance). Percentages may not always add to 100% due to rounding.

DeveloperSkills Report

The UnitedStatesof DevelopersJanuary 23, 2018

July 26, 2017

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research.hackerrank.com
Match Every Developer to the Right Job

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