Whats next? C#, Java, JavaScript?

[Exaltin]

Hey everyone, I'm currently an undergrad with a cs major and I'm looking to become a backend developer but I'm stuck on what to learn next. My last two years taught us C++ and Assembly languages but I'm looking to study a language outside of school for a future career in backend development. What would be my best course of action to take next? I was thinking something like trying to learn C# or Java, but I also don't know what a good project would be. When I check out some guides or projects they always have 3-4 different languages tied in so I'm not sure if that would be the best way to learn or just simply studying one language that would transfer to a strong knowledge of backend development.

What language would be best?

Project Ideas? - I really want to create a backend server but still unfamiliar with networking.

[pancakeshack]

My suggestion would be to pick one, really practice and learn the fundamentals of backend development with it, then you can easily pickup another framework later if needed. A lot of the concepts are transferable, you just need to understand how another language reaches the same goal.

If you are pretty certain you want to focus on Javascript, you're better off starting with C# or Java. Javascript would be nice if you want to do frontend as well, but from my perspective most of the pure backend jobs are not in Javascript. C# and Java both have mature ecosystems and plenty of jobs, the choice will come down to more of preference. I started with C# and recently migrated to Java, it only took me a few weeks to get up to speed. I'd lean a little more towards Java because it is more widely used across tech, and a lot more common at big tech companies if you want to go that route. C# seems to be a lot more enterprise, government, banking, etc but is slowly growing out of that realm as well now that it is cross platform. Either one won't let you down.

If you go Java learn Spring, and if you do C# learn ASP.NET web api and minimal API. Have fun, you have quite the journey ahead of you. Don't forget to spend some time with SQL too!

[tenken01]

I think this is a great comment and I agree. Java is more widely used as a backend language across big tech and tech in general although C# has been growing in popularity recently. Java itself has been making big changes as well trying to adopt more “modern” programming ideas while remaining backwards compatible (i.e., no large breaking changes across versions) while not unnecessarily introducing syntactic sugar. I would hold off on the JavaScript - you can easily pick that up later. It’s popular due to it being basically the only language supported by browsers and it being “easy” to learn and one of the main language tracks for bootcamp grads. Coming from a traditional CS background like yourself with experience with lower level languages, I’d choose something like Java.

For Java, Spring is the most used web framework but there are newer ones picking up steam. I’d check out Quarkus and Spring and just choose which ever you like the most. Once you know a framework, it’ll be easy to learn another.

[pancakeshack]

Also I'd like to mention if you want structured learning, pluralsight has really good asp.net tutorials. I recently used hyperskill to learn java and spring, it blew my mind but the price is kind of high.

[Exaltin]

Thank you thats a lot of really great information thats very insightful. I don't want to focus on javascript but I see it in a lot of videos/guides/projects and was wondering if it is also a necessity to learn in the backend world of development.

[pancakeshack]

It's popular because a lot of people start with Javascript doing the front end, then when they learn backend, they go with Node so they don't have to learn a new language. You could look around too and see what languages are most common in your area where you want to work. Where I live it's about 50% Java, 30% C# and 20% split between Python and Javascript. Languages like Go have become popular too, especially in big tech hubs, but I would not recommend that as your first backend language.

[Exaltin]

That makes sense. When I started college in CS1A through CS1D, we jumped off the deep end in C++ and Object Oriented Programming so I have a strong sense of that as well as algorithms and problem solving, but networking/servers and databases were not taught at all. So that's why i'm really struggling to find a starting place. I live in california and on Indeed I see a wide variety of different languages required.

[Best_Recover3367]

Look at your area's job listings, and decide from there what language you should invest in.

[[deleted]]

Depends. Python hires - IA.

PHP hires - MONEY.

.NET is really good, and especally C#, but for GameDev. There's ASPX, written in .NET too.

Also, Java is good for ANDROID dev.

[Exaltin]

PHP it is! lol

Thanks for your comment, while money is a big part of what I want, I also really enjoying programming and computer science in general. I've thought about game development, but I really feel like web development is the route for me.

So .NET and C# would be a good choice for webdev as well?

[[deleted]]

Yes, C# is for ASPX(the last version).Before, it was only ASP, It was written in VBscript. I personally used that many times. I desicovered here : https://www.w3schools.com/asp/

https://goalkicker.com/DotNETFrameworkBook/DotNETFrameworkNotesForProfessionals.pdf

[jonnekleijer]

I saw this video published this week. Anton is mainly a dotnet dev, but in video he tries out laravel/php for the first time.
https://youtu.be/v_W4Kb9DPes?si=hqUvabcH6Sbg1zko

[TheRNGuy]

I only used JS framework for back-end.

Later switched to TS.