Hello forum!

I know a lot of people say "programming languages are just tools" and pick the right tool for the job.

But as it seems, companies want experts at certain tools.

Now, I'm not really sure if I want to be an expert for one tool, I want to be a great developer instead.

Knowing my way around Git and how to write readable, decoupled and maintainable code.

This requires knowledge of paradigms and patterns of a language of course.

At the moment I'm learning a lot of rather advanced C++, just because I enjoy it. It is fun.

But I love to temper with other languages, too. To be honest, I do not really mind what language or technology I have to use.

I just want to create.

Now, often there are multiple possible tools to pick from. If I want to write an easy cross-platform tool, I pick C#/Mono or Java.

Let's assume I would prefer C# over Java, what now? If I become really good at C# and look for job offers, will people rather look for .NET-framework experts?

As I'm not interested of .NET, there would probably a large chunk of the industry gone for me.

So specialising Java and practising Java seems to be more rewarding, especially since Java seems to be even more mainstream.

I really dislike to think about all of this. When I started programming, I just picked something and did the job, now, the industry is my mind and what they expect.

If I know C++ very well and found an interesting offer about a project that I like, but they want Java experts, I'm technically rejected already, right?

There are so many cool technologies, as Electron, offering cross-platform GUI desktop application, but practising seems to be more for personal usage rather than being interesting on the mar

I know, I should be able to know more than one language well, but I cannot predict the future nor do I know what languages are being commonly used in certain areas of software development.

Are there any sources for that? Listing programming languages in their often used areas?

I wish I could just learn things I'm interested in and stop bothering even a second about this. It feels like it is wasting essential time to just develop nice applications.

Is there a trick to determine the right programming language/technology for a project? Any tips for this?

This is not only about usual business applications but about pretty much every kind of application. Java and C# were just prominent examples in my head.

Thanks for reading, I'm really struggling with this.

This is the primary reason I have avoided the development sector of IT. I love programming...as long as it's something I want to program. If you truly want to get your foot into development the last thing you wanna do is avoid things that you don't fancy. Sure, it's easy to go to an interview, and say, "I may not know it, but I can learn it" as opposed to, "Pfff, that? I know that". The former is still good, but the latter is best. In IT, whether it's System Administration, Network Engineering, Development/Devops, hell even low-end Desktop Support, you have to keep up with Technology. You don't want to put yourself in a position were your beta-maxed two years into your career.

Like, right now. .NET development, and ASP.net (MVC) is the all the flippin' rage around my area. I to dislike .NET, but than again, i'm not actively trying to break into the development sector as of yet. Also I love being able to leave my office in 15 minute delimiters and jog around the server room. I don't know if I have it in me to sit...and code...for 8 hours. That does not sound fun to me, for others it does, so it's up to you to decide.

Marcus Hansen

I know a lot of people say "programming languages are just tools" and pick the right tool for the job. But as it seems, companies what experts at certain tools.

They worry a lot about continuity, and integration of the expensive software that they have made by programmers. They want to be able to shift programmers, or hire new ones. The best strategy for that is to pick one main stream language that works in the application domain, and use it for everything.

Second, you need guys that can program, what do you ask for? People that can program in that main stream language, of course, as that's what they need to do.

Looks completely logical and good strategy to me.

Now, I'm not really sure if I want to be an expert for one tool, I want to be a great developer instead. Knowing my way around Git and how to write readable, decoupled and maintainable code. This requires knowledge of paradigms and patterns of a language of course.

I see no contradiction here.

At the end of the day, they want a solution in their mainstream language, they hire you to do that, so you better actually program a solution in that language, if you want money in exchange for your time and skills. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable trade.

What I believe your mismatch is coming from, is from the hiring ad "wanted: Java programmer". Obviously that means you'll have to code a solution in Java, but I think they don't actually want a Java coder. They want an allround skilled programmer that you aim to be, that can code his/her solution in the Java language. (Or at least, that is how I read such ads.)

Programming is not about languages. It's about the data structures, and the algorithms, how you hook things together. How you break down the problem in a number of tasks and steps, and how these things interact, making sure you meet all the constraints. Employers add just one more constraint, "give me the result in language X". It's typically a very easy constraint.

Compare

class Pair {
public:
    int x;
    int y;
};

public class Pair {
    public int x;
    public int y;
}

class Pair:
    def __init__(self):
        self.x = None
        self.y = None

Looks pretty much the same, right? I mean, the words change a bit here and there, but no structural changes at all. The Python one gets a constructor, but it's not even needed, strictly speaking.

So if my algorithm needs an xy pair, I write one of the above, depending on what language I use today.

This holds for a lot of things in various programming languages. Much of the ideas are the same everywhere, the words are just a little different. There are also deeper differences. One of the bigger changes are reference-based languages (Java, C#, Python) versus value-based languages (C, C++, Pascal, assembly language). There are things you can do in one language and not in another. Since the employer is so kind to give you his constraint early in the process, it's something you can design for. Some algorithms won't work nicely in a reference-based language. Some data structures however become possible, or become easier.

You know the language constraint during the design, and you can adapt and exploit that constraint just as you do that with other constraints and options. (Ie if I need speed, have a lot of expensive-to-compute data, and I have memory, I pre-compute in memory on application start-up. If I don't have memory but a disk, I pre-compute at design-time, and load from disk. You shift the design around the constraints. A language constraint is no different.)

I wish I could just learn things I'm interested in...

One step further is to become an indie developer, you'll be free to code whatever you like, but you'll have to find a way to make enough money for living.

Another thing, if you're a new guy, an employer won't give you total freedom. You're a nobody until you have shown to deliver. Typically the 'better' jobs are not for new hires, they are for people that have earned trust.

Tech companies tend to be technologically-narrow minded when hiring engineers. If their tech stack is Java, then they would normally only want to hire Java engineers. I think it's pretty sad, but it is their choice. They can hire whoever they want.

So, if you are looking to get hired, then you should pick the most popular languages/frameworks out there to maximize your coverage.

First, thanks a lot to everyone!

These two statements are fundamentally contradictory. Either you don't care and you'll just go learn the right tools for the job, or you do care and picking the right tool is an inconvenience that you'd rather avoid.

Haha, I've been too unclear, I guess. I do not care if somebody would tell me to use Java or C# or create a time travel machine via Lisp. The pure idea of creating something that works and is interesting to me, is what I like.

But that is not the reality. There might be jobs that want C# or Java or ... I just would love to walk to a project and be like, hey, I want to do this, the programming language you require is not something I used as much as C++ but deeply learning it would be no problem to me.

If I could say that, I could try out things like Electron without worrying about practising technologies/languages that are actually highly wanted.

Additionally, as I'm not sure in what programming job direction I would like to go, it is difficult to specialise on something already.

At the moment I'm trying to analyse the market, see what programming languages are marketable.

I love to work in C++, but e.g. I'm not interested in developing a low-latency software for a bank.

Are there any overviews or neat websites that show what programming jobs use/require/commonly use what languages/technologies?

Like, 3D programmers probably need to know all kinds of graphics APIs: OpenGL, Direct3D, ...

Web-developer should know Node.js/PHP and so on.