The pandemic gave many people a long-term taste of the remote work lifestyle. As many companies roll back those remote work options, some people want remote-friendly career options. With a median salary of a little over $77,000, jobs like web development can look attractive.
Of course, that also means learning to code for people making a major career shift. The question anyone looking to move into professional coding becomes:
“What are the best programming languages to learn?”
While people can debate over the best coding language, keep reading for a handful that will prove useful entry points for any programmer.
In this article
Javascript
JavaScript is one of the main programming languages used in web or front-end development. If your main interest is in writing code for websites or web-based applications, you’ll need JavaScript.
Javascript also opens the doors for JavaScript adjacent languages and frameworks, such as TypeScript and Angular. Get into the Angular framework for TypeScript and you get to play around with template variable options.
Pro Tip: Learn HTML and CSS alongside JavaScript to speed up your entry into web development
Python
Python is one of the all-purpose programming languages that let you do server-side or backend programming, front-end programming, and even works for mobile apps. A lot of people also claim that it’s one of the easier programming languages to learn, although your mileage may vary.
Python sees heavy use in areas like data science and machine learning. Those are and will likely remain high-demand areas for the medium and long term. While you will need some extra education — formal or informal — to get into those areas, learning Python is a big step in the right direction.
Python also enjoys a lot of support in terms of libraries and frameworks.
PHP
PHP is what’s known as a server-side scripting language. That means the code runs on a server, rather than on your local machine.
It sees heavy use in web development. The WordPress platform, which functions as the foundation for around 40% of all websites, employs PHP as its primary coding language.
SQL
If you get into programming at any serious level, at some point you will end up working with databases. Relational databases are very common. SQL or Structured Query Language is the programming language that you use to interact with relational databases.
For example, you can SQL to pull up a list of member names from a database. Working knowledge of SQL basics will prove useful and look good on a resume.
Picking from the Best Programming Languages
Every coding homework starts with one programming language. So, how do you pick one out of the list of best programming languages?
Consider your interests. If you see yourself writing web applications or building websites, a language like JavaScript makes the most sense. If you see yourself in a data science role down the road, you’ll probably want Python or something similar as your entry point. Looking for more tips on getting into coding or learning to code? Check out the posts in our Tech and Education sections.
