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Best Language for Employability?

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iphigenie:
Once you have learned 2 languages it is easy to pick up new ones. I'm a language bulimic, I find it so interesting :D

I am also a framework bulimic, again I find it so interesting - the key dilemnas are always the same, and seeing what choices and compromises people choose to make and what the resulting strenghts and weaknesses are is fascinating.

I'm hoping to go back to more purist stuff, and learn lisp next - I doubt it will improve my employability but with about 12 languages under my belt i don't think any other language would. Besides I kind of moved out of development for now, except as a hobby - i just keep up to date so I can still jump in and help and keep my developers on their toes.

Any one in southeast london/kent want a relaxed perl job, let me know ;)

Grorgy:
A quote from a manager/supervisor type in a development i was involved in once
'I don’t care if it works or not, I want it on time and on budget' so depending as to how prevalent that view is, it may not matter a lot what you know  ;)

CWuestefeld:
Ehtyar, your attitude is convincing me not to hire you  :o

For an entry-level developer I want you to be familiar with the platform and able to work enthusiastically with the team. Your argument here violates both -- you are refusing to work with the team (viz the normal dev environments, most likely VS.Net by far) in order to avoid using important parts of the platform.

I really don't care if you can do from memory what IntelliSense will prompt you for anyway, especially since with IntelliSense you can save time by not having to type the whole word. I don't care if you know the names of every little Property that the GUI designer will generate into your code; you'll (almost) never need to do it by hand, and you're just wasting time typing it yourself.

For an experienced developer, where you've shown the ability to function in many different environments, I don't care a lot about the specific language. As long as you've got a good track record and can demonstrate mastery of something in the same language family, I'll be satisfied. That is, I'm really looking for C#, but any C++-derived language is sufficient to show that you've got the mindset for OO in a statically-typed structured language.

Another bit of advice: a single programming language doesn't go very far anymore. A non-trivial application is going to include elements from many different areas. You're likely to need to understand other things like SQL, XSL, etc.

I also want a lot more than just programming. I want to know that you're good with design and documentation. I want you to show me that you'll be good through the whole lifecycle (requirements gathering including customer communication; design; implementation; testing; deployment; support).

Ehtyar:
I know the SDLC, thank you, in fact i know most of what all of you have told me. Seeing as you're all far more interested in criticizing my current approach rather than making suggestions as was asked, i will have to assume I'm better off continuing down the Systems Administration path as i have been the past year and keep software development strictly as a hobby, to be used in the workplace only when necessary. Thank you to all those who made suggestions.

Ehtyar.

[edit]
You may also be interested to know i was a junior mechanic from age 11, and could replace a fan belt among other things before i received my learners license, perhaps this is just habit for me ;)
[/edit]

mouser:
CWuestefeld response sounded harsh to me, i don't think he was meaning it to be.  And some of the other posts did as well, but if you look deeper you will find some reasonable statements.

First it should be said, that you are in the very small minority of programmers who actually jump into the deep end and are capable of learning the nitty gritty stuff that can be so important to learn.  Many people will avoid such stuff at all costs, and lean on their tools like crutches.  So that's a good thing.

But some of the other comments people have made are also quite true, which is that in terms of getting a job, there are a lot of other skills that are probably as important or more important that skill at a particular language.  There are a few books i would really recommend for this kind of stuff, books like:

* Code Complete
* The Pragmatic Programmer
The last comment that really bears repeating is to find a niche that you love and get good at it.  Programming is too much work, and has too much of a potential to be so fulfilling and enjoyable, to focus on an area you don't enjoy just because there are a few more jobs there.  There are enough jobs in almost every language and area that if you are good and enjoy it you can find work.

Oh and let me also agree with KyleLanser, that there is no reason to limit yourself to just one tool or language -- they get easier to pick up as you go along, and you are learning key skills of programming that don't have to do with any particular language.  The more you program, regardless of what language, the better you get at coding, no matter what job you take.

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