Ask Slashdot: It's 2014 -- Which New Technologies Should I Learn?

An anonymous reader writes "I've been a software engineer for about 15 years, most of which I spent working on embedded systems (small custom systems running Linux), developing in C. However, web and mobile technologies seem to be taking over the world, and while I acknowledge that C isn't going away anytime soon, many job offers (at least those that seem interesting and in small companies) are asking for knowledge on these new technologies (web/mobile). Plus, I'm interested in them anyway. Unfortunately, there are so many of those new technologies that it's difficult to figure out what would be the best use of my time. Which ones would you recommend? What would be the smallest set of 'new technologies' one should know to be employable in web/mobile these days?"

Comments

Re:Work on the basics

[crutchy]

dunno what retard modded parent down... maybe he's just an asphole

as much as javascript is as shit as python, it's like that annoying relative that you just can't get rid of so you may as well get used to

client-server has been at the forefront for years and will continue to be the case, particularly as clients evolve in the mobile arena the only fixed baseline is the trusty ol' web browser

Stick to what you know

[rodrigoandrade]

You got 15 years experiene writing C code, good luck finding a "whiz kid" who can do it better than someone who's been doing it for that long.

You said it yourself, C isn't going away anytime soon. Stick to it as your bread and butter.

If you want to learn to program for Android/iOS, that's great, but do it as a hobby. Employers nowadays want 10 years experience on a tech that's only been available for 5 years (yes, it's that crazy), so by the time you get up to speed, the market will have already moved on to the next shiny thing.

You started with "It's 2014..." What will you do in 2025? Like I said, when it comes to your bread and butter, stick to what you know best.

It's not about which technology

[Taco Cowboy]

The question that TFA asked "Which technology should I learn" is in itself, a wrong question.

The author should have asked him/herself "What do I want to do 10 / 20 / 30 years from now?" and then proceed from there.

There will always be technologies - many old technologies will still be around and some new technologies will be discovered / created - and once the author knows what kind of situation he/she wants to be in the future, he/she can start picking which route to go

Many people have chosen the wrong tech and end up in the wrong career, but at the end of the day, it's up to that person to "right the wrongs" and to make the best situation out of the mudane, for its his/her life and he/she should be the master of his/her own life

Take me, for example. Some 40 years ago I ended up in the States and did not know what to do. At that time there wasn't much for me to chose - genetic wasn't available, laser tech wasn't mature, and many fields were closed to me, a person who is not a born American.

So I ended up in computing. I dabbled in both hardware and software ever since.

Would I choose computing if I got the chance to start over ? Perhaps not. But, as I have said, back in the early 70's there wasn't a lot of tech fields opened to a nerdy kid from China.