http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/whatlanguage Questions tagged with 'whatlanguage' at Ask MetaFilter. Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:35:49 -0800 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:35:49 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/43017/Looking%2Dto%2Dreenter%2Dmy%2Dfield%2Dbut%2DIm%2Dterribly%2Drusty%2DBest%2Dchoice%2Dto%2Dsharpen%2Dup I haven't worked in my field for over a year, so I need to spend some time getting back in the habit of programming, and probably to learn some more current skills. The problem is: which? I graduated from St. Lawrence Collge with a Computer Programming Analyst diploma. I came out of the course with a pretty good knowledge of COBOL, Java, C++, and Visual Basic. During and previous to that time, I'd taught myself PHP, Flash Actionscript, and some pretty exceptional Visual Basic.<br> <br> None of the languages I feel really confident in are in high demand by most companies looking to hire people with my (lack of) experience, plus I've been doing non-programming work for over a year now due to a lack of local jobs.<br> <br> I've accepted that I'm going to have to be willing to move to find a job programming, but the question now is, which language to bone up on in the meantime? I'm (in general) a very good coder, with very good business practices (version control, proper commenting, coding style, Code Complete is my Bible, etc.), so I'm not worried that I'm embarrass myself with a lack of professionalism. Actually, I stand out from the crowd of entry-level programmers in that respect. But what language or languages should I be focusing on to make myself seriously marketable? tag:ask.metafilter.com,2006:site.43017 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:35:49 -0800 programming programminglanguage whatlanguage Imperfect