
Ask HN: Do you think it's worth learning Java in 2019 for web development? - NotDurga
I work with JS and PHP and I want to find jobs outside startups. I&#x27;m worried that they might all be working with legacy systems and really old Java versions.
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moksly
It doesn’t have to be old or legacy just because it’s build on java. Java
plays a huge part of modern enterprise in large parts of the world and its
remained rather relevant.

To get back to what you’re asking, however, it depends on your local job
market. In my area 95% of all back-end development is done in Java, C# or PHP
and there are almost no web-development jobs that doesn’t require you to know
one of those languages.

In other areas it might be Ruby or Django, so the best way to answer your
question is frankly to look at the job listings for the jobs you’d like to
take.

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SavageBeast
Hit up [https://www.indeed.com/](https://www.indeed.com/) and simply search
"Java" with your area. That will tell you a lot about whats on offer in your
region (assuming you are US?).

Corporate America has a gigantic investment in Java technology and while some
of it is legacy stuff, even those companies still need new products and that
work is also done in Java.

Java is the tech stack that companies who's core business IS NOT software are
using. In my opinion its absolutely worth learning ( if you already know PHP,
Java wont be much of a stretch for you - enjoy having a dedicated Collections
lib! ).

Java is not broken so nobody is in a hurry to fix it, save for startups
enamored with Node in the last several years. HN can be kind of an echo
chamber at times but I promise you companies are not interested in walking
away from their Java investment because Rust/Go/Python etc.

Java is a close 2nd behind Python here:
[https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-top-
program...](https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-top-programming-
languages-2019)

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srijanshetty
Almost everyone is on Java 8 now, and people are warming up to the new release
cadence of bi-yearly releases of Java.

Even with Java 8, you get streams, lambdas and powerful Collection classes.

Personally, I've worked on sizable projects involving Java and have been
amazed by it's performance and versatality. It's a construct that might go out
of fashion for a while but will remain the backbone of most companies out
there. My personal take is that Java is evoling at a rapid pace and this will
only do good to the language.

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neuroticfish
How do you define "worth"? As far as compensation goes, working with the
legacy systems that nobody else wants to touch is a great way to rake in
money. There are plenty of Java shops that aren't reminiscent of Dilbert's
office.

If you value working with cutting edge technology there are new and
interesting Java platforms, but you would undoubtedly be better off learning
something more modern.

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valand
Slightly OOT

[https://www.theserverside.com/opinion/Microsoft-vs-IBM-A-
maj...](https://www.theserverside.com/opinion/Microsoft-vs-IBM-A-major-shift-
in-Java-support)

IBM is pushing java away while Microsoft is welcoming its community with open
arm. Not sure what is Microsoft planning for it though.

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rasikjain
Corporate America has lot of project implementations using Java and Microsoft
C# technologies. We keep hearing if Java is relevant for some many years and
yet there is a lot of demand in the fortune big companies.

At least in NorthEast, I get bombarded with lot of emails from recruiter with
Java, C#, SQL, Oracle etc.

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throwaway13000
All big companies have HUGE java teams/projects. Its battle tested for
distributed systems, has legions of developers who can do any task you ask
for. Java is where the big bucks are.

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caspervonb
While it might not be "hip" to get into Java these days, it is still taught in
CS (typically you start with C in year one and Java in year two or three).

The U.S "startup scene" appears to be somewhat of a monoculture, following
whatever is the latest coolest thing that they've heard of, but it's not
representative of the ecosystem at large.

TL;DR yes there's a lot of well paid work in Java, it's "uncool" because of
asshat developers like that go "oh java, ewww" on the internet.

