Based on the rates of its freelance community during the first half of 2020, Upwork has revealed that Golang, Excel VBA and Kotlin are among the highest-paying programming languages.
According to freelancing platform Upwork, there is currently strong demand for programming languages for web, mobile and software developers, and knowledge of languages such as Objective-C and Golang could be lucrative for programmers.
Based on average hourly rates charged by freelancers on its platform in the US in the first six months of 2020, Upwork has compiled a list of the 15 highest-paying programming languages. Each skill listed had a minimum of 10 projects and 40 hours billed.
The top 15 languages were: Objective-C, Golang, Windows PowerShell, Excel VBA, Kotlin, VB.NET, Ruby, Java, Swift, C#, ASP.NET, C++, SQL, Python and C. Those languages topping the list can earn professionals as much as $66 per hour, according to Upwork, while those at the bottom can nab up to $52 per hour.
The freelancing platform also found that despite Covid-19’s economic impacts, developers are still “able to pursue high-earnings potential as independent professionals”.
Adam Ozimek, Upwork’s chief economist, said that the platform’s findings demonstrate the demand for specialised skills. “From artificial intelligence to mobile development, these specialised skills are highly sought after and, as a result, command high rates. And with work increasingly going remote, we are already seeing continuous growth in opportunities for skilled, remote tech professionals.”
Among the highest-paying programming languages, Upwork said the greatest year-on-year growth in terms of contract volume on its platform was recorded by Ruby and Java (which were both up by 127pc) and SQL (which was up 152pc).
Mike Paylor, vice-president of engineering and product at Upwork, said the company is finding that businesses small and large are tapping into independent technology talent for their expert skills.
“Our data shows that there is demand for a broad range of programming skills, including mobile experts using Objective-C or Kotlin, data analysts and engineers using SQL and developers using Java and Go,” he added.
