NJIT Tops National Ranking For Computer Programming
New Jersey Institute of Technology leads U.S. universities in teaching programming languages, according to a new survey by HackerRank, which sells products to help human resources departments evaluate software developers.
NJIT's Ying Wu College of Computing prepares students to program in Python, Java, JavaScript and the REST application programming interface for web services, better than other top performers including those close to New Jersey, such as Columbia University and Rochester Institute of Technology, the survey found.
“HackerRank confirms what we already know,” said Craig Gotsman, dean of the Ying Wu College of Computing. “Not only do we generate the highest quantity of computing professionals annually among all universities in the tri-state region, but we also generate the highest quality, striking a good balance between breadth and depth. As companies compete fiercely to attract top tech talent, we are proud to be contributing in such a significant way to the talent pipeline. We are also fortunate to have a very diverse student population, adding another important dimension to our contribution.”
"We analyzed more than 1 million certification attempts conducted by university students on HackerRank’s platform, then found which universities around the world have the largest populations of students with these skills — many of which companies are hiring for," the Silicon Valley-based company stated.
Across the industry, Python and Java are in demand, but JavaScript less so, as determined by the number of students seeking HackerRank certifications, the company said.
HackerRank said it reviewed more than 1 million certification attempts in 14 skills by university students between January 2020 and April 2021. "This included 1,149 universities from 102 different countries. We included universities with only statistically significant volumes of attempts, including (but not limited to) those like MIT, Stanford University, Harvard University, CalTech and the University of Illinois. From this data, we established a performance-based university ranking for different skills," the company stated.
Professor Baruch Schieber, who chairs the Department of Computer Science, noted that the department rigorously teaches traditional languages such as C and C++. He added that plans are being made to teach Kotlin, which is a Java-compatible language common for Android applications.
Outside of class, NJIT students can further their coding skills through special-interest groups in the university's chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). Students who feel a competitive urge can test themselves against their peers from other universities in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), where a Highlander team performed well last spring.
