Jack Of All Trades or specialization.

Question

The thing i am struggling with most throughout my development adventure is deciding to specialize or not. For instance I love building native desktop applications and am very comfortable in Javascript. Should I specialize in Javascript and build those applications through an Electron framework or should I attempt to get comfortable in multiple languages. I have some knowledge in Python and C++ and am relatively comfortable in Java, but for each course I take in another language is time I could have been practicing Javascript more. To land a software development job would it be more beneficial to focus soley on JS or get to where I am somewhat comfortable in a library of languages?

Answer 1

Hi Brandon,

I think I can answer this question very well, I had the similar dilemma.

I had a decent knowledge in JavaScript and currently I am learning C# at Work. So I can only say about my JS to C# transition experience.

JavaScript is getting awesome every year but it gets messy when project gets big but you can have a lot of fun with this language.

C# is very powerful and as every day passes I am realizing how puny my knowledge base was with JavaScript.
I am exploring the OOP World that is so vast and not practical (or even possible) with JS. I guess it also has the best syntax any language can offer. But again it's only been few weeks for me so dont take me seriously( coz there might be language domain based partiality).

I ll suggest if you're comfortable with Nodejs, new ES6+ features, event based and asynchronous nature of JS then move onto something else. Other wise stick around a bit longer with JS

Answer 2

Honestly for me the question is usually not "do I study a new language" or "do I study javascript", but rather "do I study a new language" or "do I watch a movie and pass out on the couch".
And I end up doing more javascript regardless of my choice. I see your question a lot on here but I think it's not an "either/or" thing at all!

I think learning lots of languages looks good on a resume and helps your understanding of programming in general.
I also think even more important than that is learning your datastructures and algorithms, how computers and the internet work, etc.
I also think specialization happens fastest at a job, where you encounter lots of real-life problems really fast.

Answer 3

Depends on many factors but in general it is good to have a strong foundation / specialised in a few languages and have a fundamental soundness in the others...

Answer 4

Thanks Morpheus , one of the only real reasons I am building user desktop apps using node is the simplicity of building a UI in html using electron. Its very simple and versatile. How simple would it be to build a good UI in C# without having to worry about liscensing (Like the QT with Python mess)?