Rust's presence in Hacker News job postings continues its upward trajectory, further solidifying its position as a sought-after language, particularly for backend and systems programming roles. While Python remains the most frequently mentioned language overall, its growth appears to have plateaued. C++ holds steady, maintaining a significant, though smaller, share of the job market compared to Python. The data suggests a continuing shift towards Rust for performance-critical applications, while Python retains its dominance in areas like data science and machine learning, with C++ remaining relevant for established performance-sensitive domains.
This blog post, published by Martin Wojczyk in February 2025, analyzes job trends related to the programming languages Rust, C++, and Python as observed on Hacker News' "Who is hiring?" threads. The author specifically focuses on the period between January 2020 and February 2025, providing a five-year overview of the relative popularity of these languages in the job market as reflected by mentions in these monthly threads.
Wojczyk's methodology involves scraping data from the Hacker News archives and counting the occurrences of "Rust," "C++," and "Python" within the job postings. He acknowledges potential inaccuracies stemming from case variations (e.g., "rust" vs. "Rust") and the possible inclusion of incidental mentions of these languages that don't directly relate to job requirements. However, he argues that these inconsistencies are likely consistent across the dataset and thus don't significantly skew the overall trends.
The analysis reveals a notable rise in the demand for Rust programmers. While still trailing behind C++ and Python in absolute numbers, Rust demonstrates the fastest growth rate amongst the three languages. The author presents this growth both visually, using graphs to illustrate the change over time, and numerically, showing the percentage increase in Rust-related job postings. This upward trend suggests a burgeoning interest in Rust within certain sectors of the tech industry, potentially due to its performance characteristics and memory safety features.
C++, a well-established language, exhibits relatively stable demand throughout the observed period. While not experiencing the same rapid growth as Rust, it maintains a strong presence in the job market, indicating its continued relevance and importance for performance-critical applications and systems programming. The data suggests that C++ remains a sought-after skill in the industry.
Python, known for its versatility and wide range of applications, including data science and machine learning, also demonstrates steady demand, albeit with a slower growth rate compared to Rust. While Python holds a leading position among the three languages in terms of overall mentions in job postings, its growth trajectory appears less steep than Rust's, possibly reflecting a more mature and saturated market for Python developers.
In summary, the blog post presents a five-year analysis of job trends for Rust, C++, and Python based on Hacker News' "Who is hiring?" threads. The data reveals a significant rise in demand for Rust developers, stable and continued demand for C++ expertise, and steady, although slower-growing, demand for Python programmers. The author provides visualizations and numerical data to support these observations, offering valuable insights into the evolving landscape of programming language popularity in the job market as reflected on Hacker News.
Summary of Comments ( 84 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43111615
HN commenters discuss potential biases in the data, noting that Hacker News job postings may not represent the broader programming job market. Some point out that the prevalence of Rust, C++, and Python could be skewed by the types of companies that post on HN, likely those in specific tech niches. Others suggest the methodology of scraping only titles might misrepresent actual requirements, as job descriptions often list multiple languages. The limited timeframe of the analysis is also mentioned as a potential factor impacting the trends observed. A few commenters express skepticism about Rust's long-term trajectory, while others emphasize the importance of considering domain-specific needs when choosing a language.
The Hacker News post discussing Rust, C++, and Python job trends in February 2025 based on Hacker News job postings has a moderate number of comments, offering some interesting perspectives.
Several commenters discuss the limitations of using Hacker News job postings as a representative sample of the overall job market. They point out that Hacker News has a specific demographic and culture, skewing towards startups, specific industries (like software and web development), and a younger audience. This means the trends observed on Hacker News might not reflect the broader job market or more established companies. One commenter specifically mentions that it's not surprising to see web-adjacent languages like Python and Typescript prominently featured, given the Hacker News audience.
There's a discussion around the continued dominance of Python, with commenters acknowledging its versatility and large existing codebase. Some speculate that Python's maturity contributes to its enduring popularity, suggesting that companies with large Python codebases are more likely to seek Python developers for maintenance and expansion.
The rise of Rust is also a topic of conversation, with some commenters noting its increasing adoption in specific niches like systems programming, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications. While its overall presence is still smaller than Python or C++, the trend suggests growing interest and potential for future growth.
A few comments touch on the challenges of accurately categorizing jobs based on programming language requirements, as many positions often involve multiple languages. This adds another layer of complexity to the analysis and makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the relative demand for each language.
Finally, some users express skepticism about the methodology used in the analysis, pointing out potential biases and the limited scope of the data source. They advocate for more comprehensive studies that consider a wider range of job boards and data sources to provide a more accurate picture of the job market.