Jobs requiring coding skills pay $22,000 more than positions that don’t, and the demand for employees with such skills is expected to grow 12 percent faster than the overall job market during the next decade, according to a report published Wednesday.
The findings from market research firm Burning Glass Technologies show nearly 7 million job openings in the U.S. required coding skills last year, representing 20 percent of the total market for "career-track" jobs – defined as those that pay at least $15 per hour.
Burning Technologies CEO Matt Sigelman says the most surprising finding of the research is how coding has become a necessity in positions outside the tech industry that never used to require it, including finance, manufacturing, health care and art design. Researchers project demand for jobs in the tech industry that require coding skills will grow 25 percent faster than the overall labor market.
“To land a good job in the 21st century job market you need to learn how to code,” Sigelman says. “We see this as a broader trend of jobs hybridizing – of requiring people to wear more hats by doing coding tasks like creating and analyzing databases. Technology has become more accessible and has, therefore, become more critical to a wide range of jobs that didn’t used to require tech skills.”
To determine the experience sought by employers, Burning Glass analyzed 26 million online job postings published in 2015 on job boards, newspapers and websites, along with indicators from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market research firm compiled the report for for Oracle Academy, Oracle's philanthropic educational program aimed at advancing computer science education globally.
Data from the College Board suggest not enough students are getting an early start in the field. Only 2 percent of students in the College Board’s advanced placement program studied computer science last year, and only 22 percent of those students were female. Computer science was the fastest growing Advanced Placement test in 2014 and 2015, however, as the number of students taking those tests increased 25 percent.
“Coding is not just for coders anymore,” Sigelman says.
Corrected on June 9, 2016: Oracle Academy is a philanthropic educational program aimed at advancing computer science education globally.
