Java security, mainframes having a moment, and more industry trends

A weekly look at open source community and industry trends.
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As part of my role as a senior product marketing manager at an enterprise software company with an open source development model, I publish a regular update about open source community, market, and industry trends for product marketers, managers, and other influencers. Here are five of my and their favorite articles from that update.

How secure is Java compared to other languages?

In this article, we'll look at how the most commonly used programming languages rank in terms of security. I'll explain some factors that make one language less secure than another, and why identified vulnerabilities have increased so much in the past few years. Finally, I'll suggest a few ways Java developers can reduce vulnerabilities in code.  

The impact: If software is eating the world, then hackers are... I guess the thrush thriving in the gullet? Hyperbole aside, the more stuff made of software, the more incentive clever people have to try and figure out how to do things they probably shouldn't be able to. This applies to Java too.

Mainframes are having a moment

In addition to being abundant, mainframe jobs pay well, and so far, appear not to be as affected by the pandemic as other areas of tech employment. Salaries for entry-level enterprise computing jobs average US $70,100 a year [PDF], according to a 2019 report from tech analyst Forrester Research commissioned by IBM. As recently as this week, jobs boards such as Indeed and Dice.com listed hundreds or in some cases thousands of openings for mainframe positions at all levels. Advertised pay ranges from $30 to $35 an hour for a junior mainframe developer to well over $150,000 a year for a mainframe database administration manager.

The impact: That is much, much better than a poke in the eye.

The developer skills on the rise, and in decline

Indeed.com analysed job postings using a list of 500 key technology skill terms to see which ones employers are looking for more these days and which are falling out of favour. Such research has helped identify cutting-edge skills over the past five years, with some previous years’ risers now well establish, thanks to explosive growth.

The impact: The "on the rise" skills outnumber the "in decline" skills. Bad news for browser developers...

The IT Pro Podcast: Building cloud-native apps

The cloud is eating enterprise IT, and while on-premise applications are going to be around for a long time to come, the importance of being able to successfully take advantage of cloud technologies should not be understated. However, it’s one thing to simply port an existing application to the cloud, but developing software to be run in cloud environments is a different matter altogether.

The impact: What is technology if not manifested mindset?

Communication is key to culture change

The outcome is staggering. Business teams feel invested in the development of the solution, they feel a sense of excitement and ownership. So much so, they go out into the corridors of the organisation to evangelise and promote the solution. Conversely, this improves the status of the developers within the business. It allows them to integrate with other stakeholders, contribute to new processes and help to achieve common goals. 

The impact: As a communications person, I couldn't agree more. Communication is the difference between an organization and a movement.

I hope you enjoyed this list and come back next week for more open source community, market, and industry trends.

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Tim Hildred stands with arms crossed.
I'm Tim. I like to write about how technology affects people, and vice versa. I’m constantly engaging with the news, tech, and culture with an eye to building the best possible sci-fi future.

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