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Ask HN: What Statically Typed Language Will Add Most To My Resume?

5 points| jcoffey | 14 years ago

I have a background in PHP/Ruby/Javascript but also have some experience with Java, Haskell, C and a few others.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to specialize in at least one statically typed language in order to increase my value to potential employers.

It seems like there's a move towards functional programming in the "enterprise" world with the likes of Scala, F# and C# coming to the fore.

My question is what statically typed language will add most to my resume over the next 5 - 10 years. I'm not talking about a basic understanding/knowledge - I can pick that up pretty quickly. I'm talking about investing a substantial amount of time in really gaining some expertise in one of them. Which one should it be?

5 comments

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samikc|14 years ago

As soon as you talk about jobs and statically typed language, my preference goes to Java. Though there is a great market in .NET and C# but you are limited to MS platform (unless mono picks up in a big way.).

jcoffey|14 years ago

I know there's a lot of Java jobs out there, but there's also a whole lot of Java programmers. Would it not be a smarter move to learn something like Scala over Java? I'm trying to gauge where the demand will be in a few years rather than pander to the current job market. I'm also trying to increase my value rather than my general applicability if that makes any sense?