How Well Do You Think You Know Javascript?
Which Coding Language Should You Focus On?
So, you want to get into a coding career, but not sure which language is the best to focus on?
The following fives factors affect which programming language can deliver the biggest 'bang for your buck', as far as career goes:
- Career advancement
- Ease of learning
- Accessibility
- Community support
- Long term prospects
In this article, I take a look at each point in more depth.
Career Advancement
As a professional developer, one of your key concerns has to be your career. After all, it's pointless investing time, effort, and money, only to end up in a worse spot.
Job Openings
According to a recent survey by Coding Dojo survey, in 2018, Java and Javascript have the most job openings:
•Java – 30%
•Javascript - 26%
•HTML - 18%
•Python – 17%
•C# - 15%
•C++ - 12%
Salaries
(Salaries shown are average international salaries. U.S. salaries for coders are significantly higher.)
According to StackOverflow's 2019 survey, The highest paid coding jobs are Clojure, F#, Go, Scala, and Elixir. But demand for these languages is not very high.
Balance Demand with Compensation
Potentially high salary but few job openings is frustrating. But a low salary with lots of jobs is not much better. You need to find a good balance between salary and job opportunities.
With an average U.S. salary of $110,279 and high job openings, Javascript Developer is a compelling career choice.
Ease of Learning
Traditional courses begin with lots of theory before you get a chance to do anything fun.
The fastest way to kill someone's interest is to overwhelm them with boring, overly complex details.
Think about when you learned to ride a bike as a kid. Did your Dad walk you through the mechanics of how force is transferred through a clever series of gears? Or, explain how friction is applied to the wheels via calipers, cables, and brake pads?
No!
Kids give things a go, first. They fall over. Usually, they graze their knees. Then they pick themselves up and have another go.
If they happen to struggle, hopefully, a knowledgeable person is nearby who can give a few pointers. And, it's this combination of experimentation, studying results, and guidance that leads to rapid insights.
Putting this in the context of coding, a programming language should lend itself to experimentation, even if you only have a little bit of knowledge.
In this respect, Python and Javascript are top candidates for ease of learning.
How Well Do You Think You Know Javascript?
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Accessibility
While Python undoubtedly is a better language, in general, you still have to know how to set up a development environment. For many, this extra complexity can be enough to prevent them from going further.
With Javascript, on the other hand, you can experiment immediately. You don’t need a server. All you need is a modern Chrome Browser to start playing in what's known as the 'console'.
To open the console in Chrome, press the F12 key on a PC, or Control Option J on a Mac.
Just copy this text and paste into your console, and voila, you've written code that print's out some text.
console.log(‘I made my console print out some text!’);
Might not seem like much. But, as you build a repertoire you'll eventually know how to do all manner of things from moving objects on a website to developing a mobile app... a game... or even a fully scaled desktop application.
Once you get started, the possibilities are endless.
Community & Support
Coding on your own can be tough. When you run into problems you can't solve - which I guarantee will happen - you'll hit a brick wall. Which is why having an established community is essential.
Thankfully, there are thriving communities built around all of the popular coding languages mentioned in this article. But Javascript has the biggest community of them all. For example, on StackOverflow, there are over a million questions related to JavaScript.
If you get stuck on a problem, chances are someone else has already asked the question and received solutions you can learn from.
Long Term Prospects
Languages come and go. But, no matter which language you choose, you will learn things like variables, arrays, objects, loops, and functions.
Understanding these concepts is more important than the language you choose. That's why when you learn one language, the next language is 10X easier to learn.
In saying that, let's look at the future prospects of the top coding languages.
Javascript, Python, and Java will probably be the most popular languages for the next few years to come.
Conclusion
If you're starting out as a professional coder, great languages are Javascript, Python, and Java.
Javascript is probably the best language to start with, for the reasons already mentioned. That is, it has a combination of great job prospects, it's easy to learn, it's easy to get started, there are thriving communities of people who can help you when you get stuck, and it's got strong prospects for the future.