As Google figures out how to safely reopen its offices amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s worth taking a look at what roles the company is hiring for, and which technology skills it seems to want its newest employees to possess.

In order to glean that information, we turned to Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country. Specifically, we looked at Google’s job postings from the past 60 days, which gives us an interesting perspective into what the company values as it readjusts its hiring in response to the nationwide lockdowns. (Although Burning Glass is a comprehensive platform, it’s also worth noting that Google doesn’t rely on job postings for all roles; for example, some of its experts in highly advanced segments such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (A.I.) are recruited directly.)

Here are the technology skills that popped up frequently in job postings:

What can we conclude from this list? Google is on the hunt for technologists with a grasp of tried-and-true technologies such as Python, Java, SQL, and Linux. Java makes particular sense, since it underpins Android, Google’s mobile OS. Python is also a versatile language utilized in a variety of platforms, so it’s likewise no surprise that Google wants technologists who are skilled in it.

As the standardized language for relational database management, SQL (Structured Query Language) is also key for a variety of roles, from datacenter management all the way to mobile app development. 

It’s worth noting that many of Google’s “top skills” also appeared on a broader Burning Glass analysis of tech jobs and skills. Although new skills such as TensorFlow attract an outsized share of developer and media buzz, keep in mind that “old school” skills such as Python are always prized by companies that not only need new apps and platforms built, but also must maintain huge amounts of legacy code.

Another interesting thing to point out about these Google job skills: Swift, Apple’s programming language for iOS and macOS development, has been cited a few times in the past 60 days—but Kotlin, a “first class” language for Android development, didn’t make it into this list of the top 28. Is that a reflection of how Kotlin is viewed within Google itself? Hard to say, but it’s worth watching. 

Meanwhile, here are the top tech jobs that Google has been hiring for over the past 60 days:

Few surprises there: Google clearly wants software developers, engineers, architects and analysts who can keep its systems running. As the nationwide lockdown has forced millions of people to work from home, the usage of Google’s apps and systems has increased (along with the pressure on those systems), and it’s likely that anyone hired by the company now will have to help the company successfully absorb those spikes in traffic, particularly database architects. 

Again, Google isn’t sourcing all of its talent via job postings; for example, it often likes to poach experts for highly advanced and secretive projects such as its quantum computing efforts. But like Apple and other big tech firms, it seems the bulk of the hiring is indeed focused on developers and engineers who know the fundamentals, and can extract great results from widely used tools and languages.  

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