We recently analyzed which programming languages are most in demand across financial services, but the picture varies by city. Using data from workforce intelligence firm Revelio Labs, we took a closer look at London and New York in particular to see which programming languages appear most frequently in job listings for financial technology roles in each city.
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While SQL is the most commonly requested language in the financial industry around the world, things are a bit different in the world's largest financial centers. The most sought-after financial services coding language in both London and New York is Python. Over 23% of job postings in the latter call for Python, while over a quarter of job postings in the former call for Python, according to Revelio. eFinancialCareers currently has 490 tech-related job openings in New York, with 142 (29%) listing Python.
In comparison, Java appears to be an unfashionable language for finance jobs these days, outside of New York City. While Java jobs are declining globally, both in and outside of finance, New York appears to be one of the few places seeing demand growth, according to Revelio data: 14.1% of financial technology jobs in New York call for Java in 2023 and 14.9% in 2024.
In London, Java's popularity has declined and is falling further: in 2023, 10.9% of financial technology jobs in London called for Java, but this year that number has dropped to 9.1%.
Although C++ has a significantly lower percentage in the global rankings, it is much more prominent in the two major financial centers: C++ is the 6th most requested language in New York and the 7th most requested language in London.
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