So, you’ve just finished mastering JavaScript and want to know what programming language to learn after? Well, as a self-taught frontend developer who works in the industry, I have the answer for you!
Learning programming is a tough task, and it’s a lot harder with the sheer amount of information you need to learn. If you want to know what programming language to learn after JavaScript, you need to know why you are learning programming in the first place?
Do you want to become a web developer? If so, do you want to work as a frontend developer or a backend web developer? What about building firmware or operating systems?
Knowing the answer to this question will make it a lot easier to point you in the right direction. Remember that you can always change your mind. However, having direction and goals is important because it is very easy to get wrapped up in learning everything. When you should really be learning the most important things!
What Programming Language To Learn After JavaScript To Be A Frontend Developer?
A front-end developer is responsible for creating the user interface of the application. Including any design elements and frontend logic that may need to be created. If you find yourself to be a more visually-creative person, frontend development may be for you!
I actually already wrote an article about this titled, What To Learn After HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. So I won’t re-write everything I wrote there.
However, if you want to be a great frontend developer, you need to really understand JavaScript. JavaScript is the best and most useful language to use for frontend development. You should have a really deep understanding of the language.
PluralSight has a great course to teach you HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that you should check out.
If you understand a lot of JavaScript concepts you can probably move on from here. Ideally, you should at least be comfortable with the idea of functional programming, map, filter, and reduce methods and concepts like inheritance and prototype chaining.
In addition, you should also be comfortable with HTML and CSS. If you know a lot of JavaScript, this probably won’t be much of an issue.
From here, you actually need to learn a frontend programming framework or library like React, Vue, or Angular.
Although it is possible to find a job as a frontend developer without knowing a frontend framework, it is much more common to be using a framework in 2022. So it’s crucial you learn how to use one!
What Programming Language To Learn After JavaScript To Be A Backend Developer?
What if you want to be a backend developer? Well, the good news is that you can still use JavaScript to build backends. This is most commonly done in a node environment.
However, if your goal is the be a backend developer, I don’t recommend just learning JavaScript and Node. Although I may have an unpopular opinion!
There are plenty of backend languages that are great options to learn for backend development, such as Python, C#, Java, and PHP.
It doesn’t really matter which language you choose. As long as you pick one and learn it well. Knowing one language will be much more beneficial for you than trying to learn multiple at once. This is most true when you are still a beginner and don’t know enough about programming to jump around more easily.
In my personal opinion, if you want to be a backend developer, start with Java. It may not be the “sexiest”, newest languages that your average youtube star will recommend. However, there is a good reason you should learn Java after JavaScript.
Primarily because Java is still widely used, especially in larger corporations and I don’t see it going away anytime soon. It is also a very different language than JavaScript! Unlike languages like Python that has many similar characteristics to JavaScript.
By having both JavaScript and Java on your resume, employers and recruiters (that understand programming), will view you as a more experienced candidate than someone who only knows higher-level languages like Python and JavaScript.
It’s also still one of the most popular coding languages as of 2020.
The reason why I don’t recommend using JavaScript on the backend is that the use of the language is still in its infancy and is only really used in smaller startups. Although it is definitely still a viable option to get a job.
The reason I don’t recommend PHP is that it’s simply a poorly designed language, with problems with its core implementation. But hey, if you want to use it, go nuts! It’s your sanity.
What Programming Language To Learn After JavaScript To Be A Low Level Developer?
What if you don’t want to be a web developer but rather a low-level developer who builds firmware, operating systems, game consoles, web browsers, or a number of other cool low-level projects?
In this case, I highly recommend learning C or C++. It is very difficult and even impossible to build certain projects without a language like C or C++.
Learning these languages will also make you a better programmer. They are more difficult languages to learn that require more programming knowledge to be a good programmer with.
Conclusion
That’s really it! What programming language to learn after JavaScript based on your career goals. Have another goal in mind? Shoot me a message below and I will try to give you some advice!
If you are trying to become a web developer, you can check out my full free guide here.
If you are studying for your coding interview, check out my list of best languages to practice with here.
Happy coding!
