

Fear of making the wrong choice, advice needed - Nathandim

Hello everyone. I'll try to keep it short. After deciding to learn programming I picked Python because of the online programming classes that are available for free and because I want to start with web development.<p>The problem started last week in a different programming community where someone mentioned that there might not be enough job opportunities for beginners and that it's better to invest my time to PHP or C# instead.<p>I'll skip that this comment was accepted with positivity to a community which is strictly made to help beginners to learn programming but, he genuinely made me think: Is it a way that this will end bad? Is there a possibility that after reading and learning for huge amount of hours daily that I won't be able to offer my service to add value to a company or customers?<p>What makes this decision heavier is my perception that I'm not young enough to afford to make a wrong choice (I'm 30 years old) and I'm not from U.S. (which I might say the job market for Python and Ruby developers looks bigger). To add to that even more, I'm not planning to stay in my country but I'll most definitely stay in Europe.<p>To sum it all up, should I consider the search results from monster and other career websites, coupled with the mentioned advice given to me (and, in effect, many beginners who read that forum) as good measurement of a programming language's job prospects or is there some kind of flawed perception involved?
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redguava
I think you should code in a language you enjoy. If Python seems fun, then
stick with Python. If you become a good programmer, you should be able to find
work no matter which language you choose.

Also, it's harder to learn to program than it is to learn a language. You are
currently learning to program, you will find it much easier to learn your next
language (and if you stick to programming, you will learn more languages...
this will just be your first).

I would stick with Python, have fun and look for jobs when you're ready. A lot
of people have opinions on a lot of things, just keep going. Constantly
changing won't get you anywhere.

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bravoyankee
I really agree with this. Go with the programming language that you enjoy the
most.

Why? Because its going to get very hard down the road.

For me, I'm toiling on a project that is taking longer than I though. The
bills are piling higher. I'm short on rent this month. I'm starting to get
doubts. However, I remind myself that I would rather do this than anything
else, and it helps anchor me.

If you enjoy it most of the time, you'll see it through when times get tough -
and they will.

~~~
Nathandim
Thank you for your input. Would you mind sharing your language of choice?

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hdra
I know most people would probably call this a bad advice, but if the reason
you want to start to learn programming is to develop websites, PHP would be
the easiest way for you to start with, and really, when PHP starts being a
'bad' language for developing websites for you, you should be able to learn
and switch to other language easily. But, if you just looked at web
development as a starting point and plan to dive deeper in programming, Python
is a great choice. It is a language that is widely used in many fields, not to
mention the community support it has..

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Nathandim
While I consider web development as my original approach to programming, I do
want to get a firm grasp around deeper programming concepts. With that said,
what I care about most right now is to hit 2 birds with 1 stone: Learn
programming with a language that will make me employable.

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bmelton
As someone who originally learned to develop with PHP, then hopped around from
language to language trying to find something that I could click with that
also fixed all the things that were broken in PHP, I eventually landed on
Python.

For what it's worth, Python is a _great_ web language, and while sure, there
aren't quite as many job opportunities as you might find in PHP, I'd wager
that the average pay for the Python jobs you find is higher than the average
PHP programming opportunity (even wit Facebook screwing up the averages.)

It's also worth saying that there are tons of Python jobs available, just as
there are plenty of big websites built in Python. Regardless, Python is a
fantastic learning language, and you'll be in a much better position to learn
a new language when you know more about programming in general than you are
now (in my opinion).

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duiker101
What I suggest you is to not learn a language, but instead learn to code. That
is the hard part. Learning how to say something is easy, learning what to say,
is hard. Each language has it's features, use case, pros and cons. But when
you know what you want to achieve, learning a new language is something
relatively easy. If you choose to learn something and stick with it you will
only find the jobs for that. If you learn how to think, a language will no
longer be a problem.

This is not an easy thing to do considering you are a beginner. But I strongly
suggest you to go for it. Lear something from python or c# or php and then mix
it. PHP is good because you can then mix it with html javascript & css to
create a complete set of web skills. C# might be good to learn about classes
types and other things. Each language has it perks. Learn a mindset and you
will unlock them all.

I also suggest you to spend more time coding than reading books. Avoid videos,
huge waste of time. Doing things, making mistakes and trying to understand how
things works will teach you faster than anything.

Good luck.

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Nathandim
Thank you very much for your input. I'm definitely focused on learning the ins
and outs of the fundamental programming concepts and I must say that I'm
enjoying every moment of it!

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vermasque
If there is a group of companies that you would like to work for, you could
learn the programming language that those companies use. That could be less
risky in order to get a job with them.

Another option for getting job experience as a beginner would be to do small
freelance work available from a site like freelance.com or odesk.com (or a
similar European site). The barrier to entry may be lower as someone doesn't
have to hire you for a full-time position to do some paid programming. You
could learn a programming language that matches the needs of jobs available on
those sites that you are interested in.

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helen842000
I think if you can execute & build out your ideas - it doesn't matter what
language they're written in - you have a valuable skill.

Whatever your first language is it will be the hardest, after that, the
learning curve isn't as steep. Transitioning to another language is simpler
because you're already familiar with the concepts.

Don't get caught up in looking over your shoulder at what else you could be
learning. Get caught up in having fun, building & accomplishing something
great.

