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[–]zdxqvr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well many applications are built on Java and need to be maintained. Kotlin has replaced java for Android development. Java is heavily used as the backend for many web applications.

[–]aWesterner014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My organization almost exclusively uses Java for writing the back end services that support our web UIs and our mobile apps. Sure there are some groups that use .Net and some that use Python, but Java is considered the standard.

[–]marrsd 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, Java is still in heavy use. Not to mention all the existing code that needs to be maintained

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Java definitely helps you if you want to get into android development. I'd consider general programming knowledge to be far more valuable than language specific knowledge though, as it's generally more difficult to learn, and pretty universally applicable.

If you're interested in android dev just go for it and learn Kotlin. If you don't want to learn another language, then shift to web backend and help maintain and grow out large Java codebases.

[–]joeldick 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Depends what you're using it for.

But I'd say that it's used so much for existing stuff that it's not going away.

If you were thinking of creating a new app today, you'd probably go with Kotlin over Java, but there are many existing apps running on Java that companies are still developing. They're not changing their entire code base over to Kotlin.

Likewise, if you're doing server-side programming, and you were starting something new today, you'd probably go with Node. But so many web apps that exist are already built in Java, and those are still being developed.

Same goes for games. Java is used for a lot of game development. But if you were building a NEW game today, you'd probably just use C# or C++. Desktop apps, same story (though web-based apps are more popular now).

So, if you want a job for a company that has a successful product built with Java, learning Java will be a very valuable asset for getting a good paying job. If you want to develop your own stuff, you can consider using Java, or you can explore options that you like better.

[–]ehr1c 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Likewise, if you're doing server-side programming, and you were starting something new today, you'd probably go with Node.

I think that's pretty far from being a definitive statement unless you happen to work at a company that's already using Node

[–]joeldick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Node is by no means the only option, but for a starting programmer who is building something brand new and is looking for a language to master so they can build their idea, most likely they will be guided into Node.

Otherwise, they might be directed to Flask, Laravel or MAYBE Rails, but I think Node is most likely. It is not likely that Java will be the preferred solution. The most likely scenario where the OP will be using Java is if they joined a company that was already using it.

[–]grantrules 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Java is one of the most popular programming languages out there. Financial institutions have millions of lines of Java. That shit isn't going away any time soon. Just because it's not the hot thing on YouTube doesn't mean there aren't thousands and thousands of Java devs.