

Ask HN: Which Language to Start With for Beginner (with good job prospects)? - junglejim456

I am looking to start a journey into web development that will (hopefully) lead to being in a good place to get a job in the web development field.<p>I know basic HTML and CSS but in regard to what comes after that I am a bit overwhelmed with the choices (Python/Django, Ruby/Rails, node.js, PHP etc).<p>I am a totally blank slate so I have no bias for any language, I would ideally like to learn one that will be in high demand within 6 months to a year when I will feel comfortable developing with it - I don't suppose there is a clear favourite language that most new startups are going with?<p>I guess my question is - if you were to start over again today, which language would you choose to start with?
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junglejim456
After doing some initial research I think I've narrowed it down to either
Python/Django or Ruby/Rails (unless someone else can suggest another option).

Which is the most popular in the industry at the moment (or the fastest
rising)? I noticed on the Tiobe index that both Python and Ruby popularity is
falling, but I don't know how reliable Tiobe is.

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jemeshsu
You can't go wrong with either one. The best way is to spend some time to
learn the basic of both languages and find out which one suit you more.

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DanBC
Do you know any programming? Or is your experience only with HTML / CSS?

Maybe start with " _Learn Python the Hard Way_ "

(<http://learnpythonthehardway.org/>)

See how you do with that.

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junglejim456
I did some Java, C++ and a bit of Python during my CS degree, but I haven't
done any in about 3 years.

Out of the 3 I much preferred Python, but I haven't done any Ruby or PHP so I
don't know if I'll prefer them to Python. I also don't know if the job market
for Python in the UK is very big, when I did a search it seemed PHP had many
more jobs listed.

