Why You Should Learn Java

Learn-java
Sten Morten Misund-Asphaug Sten Morten Misund-Asphaug

Photo by Holger Link on Unsplash

According to Forbes [for], millions of jobs have been lost to automation. The author, Amy Stirling says:

"Entire industries have evaporated from the American economy. This will only expand in years to come. Rather than fight technology, we should embrace it and prepare workers."

I think a lot of people is feeling the wave of change sweeping over us these days, no matter where they live:

The world is changing. In an ever faster pace.

And you know what?

That’s a good thing.

Yes, really. At least it can be.

It all depends on how you meet the wave.

Don’t let the wave crush you: Surf it!

There are two distinct ways of meeting a big wave.

You can let it crush you.

Or you can surf it.

This wave is coming, and it is big. And it will crush you if you try to fight it.

So don’t.

Surf it.

Surfing is fun. Surfing is pleasurable. Surfing lets you harness the forces at play, instead of being smashed to a pulp by them.

Don’t be a pulp.

Be a programmer.

Why Learn Java?

There are many programming languages you could learn.

I say: Learn Java.

Why?

Oh let me count the reasons:

  1. You can get a job today. When Coding Dojo [codo] looked at what programming languages have the most job offerings on Indeed.com, Java was a the very top, with only Python being at all in the same league.

  2. You can get a job tomorrow. What’s more, they also saw more job offerings for Java programmers in 2019, than in 2018 (a 6% growth).

  3. Even when you’re old, Java can feed you. Java itself is old, and that’s a good thing. Java is about to celebrate its 24-year birthday. Not only has it stood the test of time: it is widespread, and still developing. Even if another language might take over the throne for number of jobs offerings for a while, there’s Java so many places you will never be out of a job unless they find a way for all of us to live forever. (Hey, that’s my honest opinion, anyways…​)

  4. Java is still developing. Java isn’t this old dinosaur silently rotting while us scavengers circle around for a piece of the meat. Java is alive and kicking. There’s a feature release every six months. [wik]

  5. Java is mature. This is so important. There’s a lot of whippersnappers with cool new languages and frameworks and whatnot …​ and I mean it, the are really cool …​ but they come with two problems: A: They are prone to disappear after a short while, and B: They lack the proper tooling. Because Java is so old, your programming environment can help you program faster and debug more efficiently. The technology has stood the test of time, it runs a gazillion places …​ it works, it has been working for along time, and it will keep on working for a long time.

  6. Java is fun, too. Java has kept pace with the times.

  7. Java skills generalize to a lot of other languages. Java is in the same class of languages as C, C++, C#, et cetera, and by learning Java, you will have opened up a world of possibility.

  8. Java is a modern language. When I started programming, there was no easy way of getting an internet connection in your program. Writing my first email server felt like talking to an alien who’d recently watch Inception while dropping acid. With Java, you get a modern programming language created for the real world of today.

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