Programing Languages for 2021

 Greetings!

It’s been a while since I blogged about a technical topic. I thought that this is the right time to write something useful for a few (class of 2020). What a great day to restart tech blogging on Gandhi’s birthday, October 02.

You are graduated, well done. Now you need a job. There is a digital transformation and there is a pandemic! To get a well paying stable job, obviously, you should know one or two programming languages.

Here is my sample list: (not necessarily complete but to give you an idea to get a job)

#	Language	Platform	Domain	Job
1	C	RHEL/Ubuntu	Systems programming	Networking companies like Cisco, Arista, Palo Alto Networks, etc Storage companies like Netapp, Nutanix, Cohesity, etc Plus other tech companies
2	C++	BOOST Library for RHEL/Ubuntu OR MFC/Windows	Systems + Applications	Tech companies like Facebook, Google, Ping, and others. Follow Microsoft applications in banking, telco, healthcare, etc.
3	Java	Oracle JDK and Open JDK	Platforms + Applications	A wide variety of jobs. Pick your stack carefully and go deep. If you want to work at tech companies like Google then start from JVM/GC If you want to work at enterprises like Wells Fargo then get expertise in App Servers such as Tomcat, JBoss, etc If you want to work for a startup then you get expertise in microservices frameworks like Spring Boot
4	PHP	LAMP stack	Web Applications	If you want to work for tech companies like Slack, Facebook then you need to know the internals of PHP including the latest PHP 8. These companies will mostly use it for front-end If you want to work for enterprises, they may use this stack for an end to end web apps.
5	Python	Django, Flask	Server-side web application	If you want to work for tech companies like Pinterest, LinkedIn then you need to know the internals as you will be dealing with massive web traffic If you want to work for enterprises or govt agencies like NASA, need to know the full stack
6	JavaScript (Front end)	ReactJS, Angular, DOJO, JQuery	Web GUI	The secret to success here is learning browser architecture, AJAX, REST API, and fundamentals of HTTP. Then learn JavaScript language (ECMA 6) and pick a library like ReactJS to go deep into the stack. Every company is a software company and no matter what they do, they need Web GUI
7	JavaScript (Back end)	Node.js (Express, Koa, Meteor, Sails)	Server-side web application	You love JavaScript. You love Event Loops. But not GUI. No problem You can use your JS skills in Node.js and build backend applications. Many tech companies like Paypal need Node.js programmers. Specifically targeting mobile apps.
8	Swift	Apple's Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks XCode, LLVM compiler	iOS apps	A wide variety of opportunities from tech companies to enterprises. The key to success is understanding the full Apple platform and build faster/responsive apps
9	Java/ Android	ART(Android Runtime)/Linux	Android apps	A wide variety of opportunities from tech companies to enterprises. The key to success is understanding the full Android platform and build faster/responsive apps
10	C#	Visual Studio/.NET/IIS	Business Applications	Business applications. A ton of them.
11	COBOL	IBM/Mainframe	Legacy applications	½ century-old language. If you swipe ATM, most likely a set of COBOL code gets executed.  High demand in govt agencies and banks. (still)
12	Fortran		CAD/CAE	Like COBOL, Fortran is well alive in the engineering simulation domain but mostly suitable for Mechanical Engineers.

I hope you have read through this list entirely. I want to stress two things for young programmers:

• Learn the full programming platform

• Get expertise in a domain

First, you should learn the language in detail. For this, you should read the language specification itself. Then you should learn the entire programming platform. The question is how do you choose one? The answer is CS + X.

Let's say you are an artist (in addition to programmer) and your X can be Web GUI. Your passion for art can naturally make you an excellent GUI programmer. In this case, you have 3 choices and let’s say you start with #8 in the above list: Swift. Learn Swift, then understand it’s predecessor Objective-C and ask yourself why Apple is deprecating Objective-C. Then go ahead and learn the underlying framework: Cocoa and push your boundary of knowledge further to LLVM in the compiler to iOS kernel. Not enough, learn REST API and TLS 1.2 because you need to bring data from the backend in JSON format. This is called a full-stack Swift programmer. Now from Coca-Cola to Tesla may like to hire you!

Let’s say you are a mathematician, and your X can be a Data Scientist. Start with Python and go deep with a framework like Apache Spark.

There are so many opportunities in this digital economy. You just have to find your passion and get deep expertise in “one full programming platform” to get a job. Just knowing the programming language itself is NOT enough. Remember, GitHub is your resume - the more you write code and publish, the better it is to get a high paying job. 

All the very best.