Is It Worth Learning Multiple Programming Languages ?

May 21, 2023

There are so many programming languages out there and it can get really confusing to understand which one to learn. Some might say that it is fruitful to go into java backend development, but python seems easy to start with, some might tell you to go for javascript as it is used in many popular frameworks, some will geek out over the power of writing concurrent systems in Go and so on. The time is limited and one cannot get expertise in so many programming languages. So which one should you learn ?

If you are wondering this question, you should first understand that you are not alone in thinking this way. Everyone on the internet has their opinions about programming languages. In reality, there is no one right answer that fits all the situations. The language you chose to learn should be dependent on your end goal. So I will address the most common end goals in this post and tell you about the languages that will help you reach that goal.

Interview Preparation

If you are looking to prepare for tech jobs, you should learn an Object Oriented Programming language. Reason being, in interviews, you can be asked questions on OOPs concepts and such language will help you learn coding along with preparation of these concepts. Both C++ and Java are good candidates. You can pick based on your preference. I myself started with C++ and used it for all my competitive programming and interview preparation. Fortunately, my first job at Adobe was also in C++.

Front End Development

If you are looking to build front end applications for personal projects, participating in hackathons or for building your own side hustle, I would suggest you choose between Dart (with Flutter) or JavaScript (with React). These frameworks will help you build both web and mobile apps. With flutter you can build frontend of web, mobile and desktop apps using a single codebase. I am myself a Flutter developer, you can check how Flutter compares to React in this discussion here. One benefit of learning JavaScript is that it can be used for backend development as well.

Quick Prototypes

If you are looking to write some automation script, or quickly build backend systems, or want to do some data analysis and create graphs, or wish to develop machine learning models, Python is a very powerful language for you. It can help you build quick prototypes. The learning curve is very less and there are lots of libraries available out there to help you with your tasks.

These are some most common use cases that I have addressed. If you want to know about any other particular programming language, or have an end goal in mind, write it in the comments section and I will be happy to answer.

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