What Programming Language Should I Learn?

August 25, 2009 at 12:03 pm

There are a lot of web programming languages, scripting languages, and frameworks out there: PHP, ASP.NET, Python, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and many, many more. Some are targeted at perfectionists. Some are meant for just about anybody. And some are the language of choice for douchebags.

I’d wager that you probably aren’t fluent in every language out there. I’d also bet that you tend to focus on one or two products, but you’d like to learn more about another one, either to make yourself a better developer or just to have fun.

I’m also guessing that you don’t have the time to do ‘Hello world!’ projects for every language you’ve ever heard about. So how do you effectively pick a new programming language to learn with your precious spare time?

I’m going to offer you some practical advice that is going to make a whole damn lot of sense. This is not the typical ‘choose my favorite language because all those other guys are stupid’ post. I’m not going to give you a comparison of code efficiency, learning curve, or average CPU temperature. I’m going to use geography.

What Language is Most Popular in Your City?

Guess what? Programming language use, much like fast food chain placement, is regional. There will likely be a dominant language where you live and work. For instance, I used Indeed.com to do some basic job searches in 3 major cities:

Number of Job Listings by Language Seattle
PHP	318
ASP.NET	768
Python	231
Ruby on Rails	107

Number of Job Listings by Language San Francisco
PHP	1,020
ASP.NET	366
Python	932
Ruby on Rails	347

Number of Job Listings by Language New York
PHP	1,330
ASP.NET	1,479
Python	1,061
Ruby on Rails	399

So a good starting place would be to research what is most popular where you currently work. It’s a good idea to do this type of search regularly; language popularity can change quickly, and you want to be as employable as possible.

What Language is Most Popular in Your Dream City?

Most of us have a place we’d like to live someday. A good way to prepare for that is to do another job popularity search for the city in which you’d like to eventually live. Based on the numbers above, it might be a good idea to start playing around with ASP.NET if you’re in love with the Pacific Northwest; if you’re drawn to Silicon Valley, you’d better brush up on your PHP.

What Language is Most Popular at Your Dream Job?

If you don’t have a Dream City, you might instead have a Dream Job at a company you love. Using LinkedIn, we can now gather an insane amount of data on just about any company and their employees.

For example, let’s say I’m interested in a web developer position at Bungie. Using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search, I can find jobs by keyword and company:

If you’re lucky, you might find someone who has shared some valuable information about their job and responsibilities:

You can also search current job openings at a company to find out what they’re currently hiring for. Any data you find can be a big help in your decision-making process.

Putting it All Together

So, if you’re ready to dive into learning something new but don’t know what to focus on, try doing some research on location. This is by no means infallible; just because one language is popular in one area doesn’t mean you should ignore everything else. But it might help give you a better look at the big picture.

Tags: asp.net, indeed, jobs, linkedin, php, programming language, python, ruby on rails

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