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What languages to focus your time learning?

4 points by walterbell2331 ↗ HN
I'm in the job market right now looking at Web developer openings. In my area it seems that each opening has a different set of technologies they use. (I'm in the Oceanside, CA area.) How do you know what languages to focus your time learning? Right now I know HTML5, JavaScript, Java, PHP, and Python. Learning AngularJS and NodeJS. Just finished a contract job as a Web Developer at Life Technologies that lasted two years. What languages do you know and use at your job that are in demand?

8 comments

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na85
Well you've covered most of the standards for Web. Nobody's going to ask you to write a web app in C. I'd say learn your databases, CSS and then maybe pick up Ruby and C# (in that order). Employers are typically looking for accomplishments, i.e. projects you've created or worked on rather than just a list of languages. If the job calls for a language you don't know, buy that language's reference manual, learn it, and then say you know it. Once you've picked up one language, other ones are usually just a matter of syntax.

The Systems Programming side of things is different, of course. I'm a mechanical engineer by training so as a consequence I know some embedded languages like Assembly for certain chips, Tcl, as well as C/C++ and a little bit of Fortran. If you stay on the web side it's unlikely you'll encounter these very often. My Javascript kung-fu is weak because I pretty much never do web stuff.

It's all about having a relevant portfolio of demonstrable skills.

walterbell2331
I know CSS and SQL also.
na85
Mkay, well I'd suggest Ruby and C#.

If you already know Java, C# should be a snap as they're very similar.

read
Is your goal to learn languages that are in demand? Or is it to become a good programmer -- even if the languages that can make you a good programmer aren't in demand?

Don't look back years later to the answers in this question only to realize you had set a goal you wish you hadn't.

walterbell2331
My goal is to be a better programmer. I started learning web development so that I could make websites of my own that earn my money.
AnimalMuppet
That doesn't actually clarify much. Is your goal to make money, or to be a better programmer? (I realize, better programmers in the end make more money. But which one's the real goal?)
walterbell2331
It would be to make money. I enjoy programming. I have spent most of my time (+4 years) learning all I can about it. I also have a background in New Media Compositing, Authoring and Distribution.
hkarthik
I'm going to buck the trend and say that you've got an impressive list of popular tech that will get you a web developer job. Adding Ruby might give you a few more options, but nothing discernibly different than what's already available to you.

If you really want to do something different, start learning Clojure, ClojureScript, and React.