Which programming languages are most popular among different types of developers? That’s a vital question if you’re interested in becoming a software developer or engineer.

CodeSignal, a company that produces technical assessments, recently conducted a study of 2,800 people who had taken its General Coding Framework and Industry Coding Framework assessments, and found some interesting things about the programming languages used by certain types of developers. Before we get into the nitty-gritty, here are the most popular programming languages across all respondents:

For back end developers, meanwhile, the most popular and most-used languages included Python, Java, and C++. This makes sense, as these developers must build and maintain the infrastructure that support a variety of apps, services, and websites—much of which is written in these ubiquitous languages. According to CodeSignal, back end developers are well-compensated for their complex jobs, making a median of $120,000 to $139,000 per year.

Full stack developers face an equally demanding work environment, as their responsibilities often incorporate both front- and back-end development. According to a recent Stack Overflow Developer Survey, roughly 55 percent of working developers consider themselves to be full-stack developers—which translates into a lot of opportunity, so long as these developers have mastered a swath of libraries, databases, frameworks, and front- and back-end toolsets.

Here are some of the most popular languages utilized by full-stack developers. Again, much-used languages such as Python, Java, and JavaScript dominate, for obvious reasons. (The median salary for a full-stack developer is between $110,000 and $119,000 per year.)

Front end developers manage the look and feel of a website, service or application. It’s a job that involves a lot of coding knowledge, but also a good deal of collaboration with designers, back-end developers, and other tech professionals. As a result, it’s a job that requires extensive “soft skills” (such as empathy and communication) along with technical skills. In order to fulfill their missions, front end developers rely on the following languages:

As with full stack developers, the median income for front end developers is between $110,000 and $119,000 per year, slightly behind that of back end developers. (According to Dice’s latest Tech Salary Report, the average tech salary stood at $111,348 in 2022.)

If you’re an aspiring tech professional who’s unsure about which specialization to pursue, take heart: many jobs rely on the same collection of popular programming languages, including Python, Java, and JavaScript. Learning these languages can set you up for success.