Why learning JavaScript is relevant today

According to StackOverflow.com, the biggest community website for professional and enthusiast programmers, JavaScript has been the world’s most popular language for 9 years in a row.

Knowing JavaScript opens numerous possibilities for a developer. Thanks to a versatility it provides we can use JavaScript in several different areas of software development without compromising anything.

For starters, JavaScript is the one and only language of the web when we are talking about front-end development. Front-end in web development means everything we see in the browser, all the webpages we interact with if they do any functionality are powered by JavaScript. There is no other language which can run directly in the browser. And by using front-end libraries, such as React, we can build scalable, fast, powerful and reusable front-end web apps.

And again, there is no other library as popular as React.js among developers and recruiters. This year React.js surpassed jQuery (the oldest JavaScript library which is mostly obsolete now but is still maintained in the millions of websites)

Next important area of software development is the back-end or server-side development. Servers are indispensable part of web. mobile or even desktop app when you need to implement features like persistent data storage, users authentication, interactions between users, secured online card payments, sending email notifications, etc…

While where are many alternatives to choose from in the server-side development, JavaScript holds it’s strong position for many years now thanks to Node.js engine and the most popular server framework Express.

And that’s not it. If we are looking at mobile apps development we can also do it with JavaScript’s library called React Native. It gives us a way to build native mobile apps for both platforms — iOS and Android — at the same time!

With web and mobile software development being two main biggest directions those skills are always in-demand in the job market. According to HackerRank 2020 industry research, 53% of hiring managers are looking for the developers with JavaScript skills, which is the biggest share.

Even professional developers understand the demand and state React.js as the top priority tool they want to learn:

Companies and recruiters seem to fully embrace the versatility and effectiveness of full-stack developers — developers capable of building both, back-end and front-end apps, with full-stack developer being the most in-demand role in 2020.

For us as a school teaching JavaScript, React.js, React Native, Node.js, Express this data is another confirmation that our curriculum is the most beneficial for the students. Another positive signal is this: nearly 1 in 3 hiring managers have hired a bootcamp grad in 2020.

This is a very good sign proving that companies widely recognizing the efficiency of coding bootcamps and are willing to hire graduates.