I’ve been programming for decades, though usually for myself, not as a profession. My current go-to language is Python, but I’m thinking of learning either Swift (I’m currently on the Apple ecosystem), or Rust. Which one do you think will be the best in terms of machine learning support in a couple of years and how easy is it to build MacOS/ iOS apps on Rust?
A programming language itself isn’t a marketable skill!
Learn the underlying concepts of programming and how computers work and you’ll be able to move from language/framework to pretty much any language/framework easily.
Language absolutely is a marketable skill because most companies are looking to hire someone who can start working day one not someone they’ll have to train for weeks or even months in a new language that heavily relies on some specific framework.
I have to disagree. I’ve been conducting interviews for a fairly large software shop (~2000 engineers) for about 3 years now and, unless I’m doing an intern or very entry level interview, I don’t care what language they use (both personally and from a company interviewer policy), as long as they can show me they understand the principles behind the interview question (usually the design of a small file system or web app)
Most devs with a good understanding of underlying principles will be able to start working on meaningful tasks in a number of days.
It’s the candidates who spent their time deep diving into a specific tool or framework (like leaving a rails/react boot camp or something) that have the hardest time adjusting to new tools.
Plus when your language/framework falls out of favor, you’re left without much recourse.