Just learn a language. Popularity be darned.
Tags: beginners, career
Published: 2018-02-19 17:28:10

---
title: Just learn a language. Popularity be darned.
published: true
description: Diversity of languages and domains means there is opportunity for growth in many directions and your choice isn't that important.
tags: beginners, career
---

Tell me if you have heard this premise before:

{% link https://dev.to/abisekhsubedi/im-lost-and-dont-know-what-to-do--3hah %}

The poster, [Abisekh subedi](/abisekhsubedi) is dealing specifically with the paralyzing uncertainty that comes with breaking into software development or taking an career leap. There are so many options, and plenty of devs to tell you why each is the best. How can a newer dev possibly be sure of their choice when every one is met with a million voices prescribing an alternate path, pointing you to another, only to find the same voices when you venture down the other direction.

I thought this comment was the perfect response:

{% devcomment 2ak2 %}

I'm not sure the official tutorial is _always_ the right place per se. Your mileage may vary on that part, but the advice is appropriate: There are many correct answers in software development. Diversity of languages and domains means there is opportunity for growth in many directions and your choice isn't that important.

In addition to ample career potential in mastering a pretty much any technology in our field, the important part about **_learning a language, popularity be damned_** is that the act of learning something all the way through is the actual skill you'll be using throughout your career. There are many stages of learning and making use of the tools in software development including reading the docs, debugging your issues, combing through codebases, contacting members of the community, attending workshops and conferences, blogging and teaching others and everything in between. Gaining experience in all of these areas is what you are really learning. The technology is simply a detail at this point. You are learning to learn.

All this being said, you need not go in completely blindfolded. Do some basic advice-seeking and figure out what fits your approach and feel free to keep experimenting as you go, but in Abisekh's case and many others, they have some idea of what they might be into, and at that point they can jump in and get going.

_But aren't there some dying technologies I should avoid?_

There are _a few_ languages and domains truly fading away, but the rumors of most software demise is grossly exaggerated. A lot of times "dying" just means "mature" or "boring". Boring is often a good thing. I write a lot of Ruby code, and I've had my concerns about its future place in the word, but I've come to realize that its benefits are as true today as they always were and the future is bright—even if it's fading away from the front page of Hacker News. It _seems_ like Ruby when from "hectic and unstable" to "old and dying" with about five minutes of prominence in-between. But this is all a mirage I assure you.

Here are some great comments from [a thread I started on the topic](https://dev.to/ben/whats-the-state-of-ruby-is-it-trending-down-for-good-or-just-settling-in-to-a-mature-niche-role) a little while back:

{% devcomment 84l %}

{% devcomment 84o %}

### Addendum

It's not going to be easy, and the word _just_ should perhaps be avoided when describing a lengthy and taxing journey. Basically this is what I'm talking about:

{% link https://dev.to/marcuscreo/the-4-letter-word-word-that-makes-my-blood-boil %}