Recently a colleague forwarded an article I published on Mashable,"10 Programming Languages You Should Learn in 2014"Although that article discussed some of the most popular programming languages today and urged developers to learn at least one of them, I still want to advise everyone to be very cautious when choosing a language to invest in, because once the goal is wrong, it is like going south while your destination is north—no matter how hard you try, you only get farther and farther from your destination.

Below I will share some practical key points and precautions. If you are considering learning a new programming language, don't miss this.

1. What are your career goals?

If you are like me and like to dabble in many areas, the first step is to narrow down your options. Ask yourself: What are my career planning goals? In which direction do I want to develop in the next ten years? What work do I think has the most growth potential and the most experience value?

2. Basic programming knowledge is key.

When I was studying the computer science programming major at my alma mater, Colorado State University in the United States, they required you to take courses in several different programming languages and learn the core and fundamental programming concepts of these languages. In those three years, the programming languages I learned could be counted on one hand: Java—an object-oriented programming language, C—a functional programming language, and C++—a multi-paradigm programming language. At first I was a bit resentful that I had learned so little after so much time. Because when I searched for jobs online, I found that there were so many kinds of programming languages, and I felt uneasy: I knew too few.

Now, looking back on these things, I can't help but sigh at how young and ignorant I was. Honestly, I underestimated the value of these courses. When I got involved in projects with other programming languages, because of my solid fundamentals, I did it more easily and learned faster than others.

Don't get me wrong—I'm not suggesting that everyone needs a four-year college degree. Of course, if it's useful to you, that's fine too. My real advice is to spend more time mastering key programming concepts, which will play an indelible role in your future career development planning.

3. What does the market demand?

A friend of mine, Wally McClure, pointed out that programmers should consider the market demand for programming languages and the current popularity of various languages. Take a good think—"What talent does the current software development industry need?" Only then can we find a programming language worth investing in, and also, on the basis of learning languages the market demands, seek more opportunities.

4. There is no so-called "one-size-fits-all" method for learning programming languages

Finally, I hope this article can be helpful to everyone. As the saying goes, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand readers' eyes; everyone's learning method is different. There is no so-called "one-size-fits-all" method that can let us quickly master a new programming language, so my suggestion is to follow your own career planning path and work hard step by step.

Source: http://www.codeceo.com/article/choose-programming-language.html