Advice on which language to learn

[FoXtroT]

Hi everyone, was hoping to get some advice from people in the industry as to what programming language I (as a non-tech grad) should learn.

But a bit of background first:

I graduated last year with a degree in economics from UCT but I have been struggling to find a job. The problem being that I am not overly excited to become a 'Economist' nor be a part of the financial services industry which are the two areas grads with my degree tend to get hired into (I know, bad degree planning on my part but I didn't know what I wanted to do then and thought the degree gave me the most interesting learning experience). So I now find myself in a bit of a rut.

However the reality of the need to know at least some programming in this world has "slapped me in the face" so to speak. Looking at any sort of start up today and it seems 98% of them are using those skills to leverage themselves to compete with the bigger players and scale up quickly.

So, while I don't necessarily want to become a full blown developer. I do want to be able to combine any programming skill that I do learn, with my business degree, to at least help me get something off the ground should I think of anything.

I want to learn something that is relevant, specifically for web apps, yet also somewhat easy to learn and which can hold my interest. I don't really want to get bogged down at the most fundamental level and thus lose interest.

I do have some programming experience; I learnt Java (and simple SQL) at school and while I was good in the sense I could solve the problem 90% of the time, my code was never very elegant. It did help me at uni as it gave me a leg up with understanding some the statistical programs we used but otherwise I haven't actually done any coding (and as I understand it Java is somewhat frowned upon for anything new these days?).

If anyone would be able to provide me with some insight or point me in the right direction, that would be great.

I am thinking of learning the language I select off www.edx.org since it is free but at the same time the courses are accredited.

 

[halfmoonforever]

English... learn English (not trolling, just saying, some dev have such bad communication skills that you'd think they skipped the whole "English" thing)

 

[trianglex80]

Halfmoon seriously?

 

[Necropolis]

If you did a bit of Java at school then why not pick that up again?

 

[JStrike]

Javascript

 

[halfmoonforever]

Halfmoon seriously?

Okay... Afrikaans then?

This isn't a new question, even though the OP thinks he is special. He wants to be able to do stuff on the web? Cool. HTML. There. Could have googled that

 

[Hamster]

Oh we're doing this again...

 

[Necropolis]

Okay... Afrikaans then?

This isn't a new question, even though the OP thinks he is special. He wants to be able to do stuff on the web? Cool. HTML. There. Could have googled that

/sigh.

 

[Ancalagon]

Where are you based now? Still in CT?

What do you want to do? Start your own thing? Get a job? If you want a job, what type of job do you want?

 

[FoXtroT]

Where are you based now? Still in CT?

What do you want to do? Start your own thing? Get a job? If you want a job, what type of job do you want?

Ideally I want to do my own thing but that requires an idea. However coming from a business background and seeing how things are going everyone appears to be moving towards web based apps which is why I thought of going in that direction.

If I am looking for a job then it would be something like business development. You see the key thing would really be that the programming would not be the main skill I would tout but something interesting to add to my CV.

Necropolis, I thought of that but I am getting the impression it is being used less and less? (correct me if I am wrong)

Halfmoon, yes I have googled and everyone seems to give you different answers even for some thing like web apps. I just would like to hear from the horse's mouth so to speak.

Edit: I am in Durban but would love to move back to CT (did have interest from a dev company there as they wanted to experiment with hiring a non-dev person but no joy so far on that front)

 

[FoXtroT]

Okay... Afrikaans then?

This isn't a new question, even though the OP thinks he is special. He wants to be able to do stuff on the web? Cool. HTML. There. Could have googled that

No need to be an ass. I don't think I'm special I just would like to hear from people that are in the industry in SA and who know what they are talking about. I also didn't have an open ended question, I gave a specific set of requirements that I would like peoples advice on. I don't want to invest time doing something that a) I might lose interest in or b) will be redundant in the future.

So if you don't want to help that's fine, just keep it to yourself.

 

[Hamster]

Since you already know some Java you can just as well stick with it. If you are a Windows user, C# is in my opinion an easier language/ecosystem to with.

And JavaScript for front end web stuff.

 

[FoXtroT]

Since you already know some Java you can just as well stick with it. If you are a Windows user, C# is in my opinion an easier language/ecosystem to with.

And JavaScript for front end web stuff.

Ok sounds like a plan, I think C# uses a similar syntax as well so may be easier to learn in the future?

So in your opinion Java isn't becoming outdated?

 

[Hamster]

Ok sounds like a plan, I think C# uses a similar syntax as well so may be easier to learn in the future?

So in your opinion Java isn't becoming outdated?

I think Java should burn in hell for what it has become.

 

[FoXtroT]

I think Java should burn in hell for what it has become.

Oh...well that seems contradictory.

 

[Hamster]

Oh...well that seems contradictory.

Java is still very relevant and even with the advent of newer and "better" languages like Go and Rust it will take years maybe decades for Java to become obsolete.

Doesn't mean I don't think it is a crock of scht.

 

[FoXtroT]

Java is still very relevant and even with the advent of newer and "better" languages like Go and Rust it will take years maybe decades for Java to become obsolete.

Doesn't mean I don't think it is a crock of scht.

Haha ok then. Thanks for the help

 

[CamiKaze]

Follow the money... ABAP.

 

[biometrics]

I've been looking around the past month and I'd say most of the programming jobs I've seen is for either C# or Java.

 

[CamiKaze]

One thing though, I have a friend that is doing his PHd in economics at Maties and he told me that he also feels that he made a mistake choosing Economics in the beginning.

Why though? You guys went that far with your studies just to change once you grad... I'm a bit confused.