Python vs C++ vs Java. Which coding language pays the most?
Python, Java and C++ are three of the four most commonly used programming languages according to the TIOBE index and each is well-loved at a variety of levels across finance... but which gives you compensation-based bragging rights?
Engineering insights company Stack Overflow has released its 2024 developer report, which might provide the answer: Python. Engineers in the programming language earned a salary of $67.7k on average, while C++ and Java engineers each earned less than $65k on average.
The problem... pay has fallen for each by a fair amount. Since 2023, each language saw a decline in salary of more than 13%. Java, whose popularity has been plummeting, was affected the worst of the three. The table below shows salary changes for the three languages, as well as showing how common each language is in financial services this year.
Those with their eyes on a job in banking might be dismayed at the salary totals here, but the data is for all engineers, not banking specifically. Our 2024 compensation survey earlier this year showed that technologists in finance earned an average salary of $153.7k in 2023. Finance also tends to pay bonuses more than most industries and, while technologists are much lower paid on the bonus scale than other functions in finance, they still earned $60k on average in bonuses for last year. The figures above might suggest Python jobs skew above the average more so than the other languages.
If you're looking for the elite $600k hedge fund engineering jobs... That's a very different story. The highest paid developers in finance tend to be quant developers in trading, with C++ being the usual language of choice. Roles with elite salaries will be available in Python and Java, but don't expect to find too many of them.
On eFinancialCareers, the highest paying engineering jobs are in C++ and Python. A high frequency trading firm is looking for a quant in each respective language, with total compensation reaching up to £600k ($762.7k).
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: alex.mcmurray@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance.
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