Programmers are also known as software developers are one of the growing workforces in the present market. With growing online business each day, programming is surely one of the best career choices to make. But, since you are here, you probably have heard that already.

With a whopping average income of AUD 57,476, this has to be one of the most luring jobs available. So, if you are looking for a job which pays you well and at the same time is quite challenging then, you made the right choice.

How to choose the best programming language to learn in 2016?

With lots of programming languages available in today’s world, it is quite a hard and confusing decision to choose the best programming language. Especially, for beginners, it could be a hard and a daunting task to go through all the different programming languages and select one to start with which would suit them.

There are tonnes of programming languages available in today’s market and each programming language has its own particular benefits and drawbacks which you should be well aware of. You also need to take account a lot of things before choosing which programming language to learn. You should always check which languages are on top trending lists in the market today. This is surely the best way to decide between the programming languages to learn. To lower your confusion of going through all those programming languages, we are here to help you choose the right programming language that is not only trending but also easier to learn and will suit you.

However, just like there can’t be a single answer for every problem, one coding language isn’t always enough for every developmental work. You need to know what’s best for you. Luckily, we have done some ground work for you. Here are 5 of the best programming languages to get your grip on the codes.

JavaScript

Not to be confused with Java, JavaScript is completely different programming language from Java which is quickly becoming the native programming language of the web. This scripting language has gained its popularity too fast and has become one of the most powerful programming languages which is in high demand right now. JavaScript is compatible with all browsers and is used to build anything for the web such as websites, games, apps and server side software. This leading web technology is not only easy to learn but is also reliable to take it as your career as lots of modern start-ups and companies are looking for skilled and experienced front end developers.

JavaScript is one of the best programming languages to start with for both the beginner and intermediate coders. This dynamic and flexible programming language derives its syntax from the C Language and can be used for object-oriented programming. In past years, JavaScript has gained use as a foundation of Node.js (a server technology). So, it can be used as a server-side language through the Node.js platform. JavaScript is, however, also known as difficult language as it is un-typed and difficult to debug.

There are tonnes of online platform available where you can learn JavaScript if you are interested and find it fun to learn. Some of my favourite free online resources to learn it are Code Academy and W3Schools.

PHP

PHP was created by a Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994 to be a set of tools to maintain his personal home page(PHP). But, later on, it became a new programming language and today, it is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. Some of the incredibly powerful websites like Facebook and Yahoo! can be created by using PHP. Isn’t it great? This awesome programming language is well suited for those who have high interest in web development or web design.

There are lots of good reasons which make you consider learning PHP today. Some of the reasons are it is easy to start with for both the beginners and intermediate coders, flexible to solve problems and it’s largest communities where each issue and queries are discussed and solved. More than 80% of websites on the web are built in PHP. Both technical and non-technical people choose PHP as a platform in which they want their website to be built in. Though in recent days, PHP might have fallen little down in popularity, still the number of developers using this programming language has not decreased that much. So, it is always the best choice to learn this easy to learn and awesome programming language.

Unlike, C#, PHP is an easy language to learn & doesn’t require sophisticated knowledge to understand it. The best place to start you PHP journey is from its official website PHPNet itself.  However, you can also get your basic training from w3schools and Tutorial points. If you have a little budget and want to learn from the very best, courses from tuts plus are also there!

Java

There are tonnes of programming languages already in the market and each day new programming languages are designed and brought to the programming language race. No matter how many programming languages come into the race, Java has always ruled and is still at the top position of the programming language rankings. Java is a class-based object oriented programming language which is designed to be on most of the platforms, operating systems, and devices. This programming language, specially designed to use in distributed environment is used by more than 9 million of developers on more than 7 billion of devices worldwide.

Java has the high career scope as 90% of fortune companies today use Java. It is the highest paid career which is going to stick around for a long time. This simple and readable programming language is used for dynamic web applications, mobile applications and for game development. The compatibility of Java makes sure that the older applications continue to work now work well in future too. You can easily download Java from java.com for free.

Since Java has been used for a long time and is used by millions of developers, there are lots of Java communities and other communities where almost every question related to Java has been solved. So, you can easily find lots of Java related information on the web. So, this makes it an ideal programming language to learn for beginners as their every query’s answer can be found easily. You can start to learn Java from LearnJavaOnline.

C#

C#, pronounced as C Sharp is a general purpose programming language designed by Microsoft to be used for Microsoft’s.NET framework. The popularity of C# is higher than ever. It is most used language in the development of third party apps for Windows currently. So, if you want to build apps for Microsoft platform then, learning C# is the best and right thing to do.

You can see the use of C# in the web development, game development, and other Microsoft development. It is also a popular programming language on mobile devices and windows phones. C# and Java are pretty similar, so if you find Java easy then learning C# won’t be a problem at all. The features like built-in functional and asynchronous programming capabilities, automatic memory management and garbage collection of this programming language make some programmers favour it. As it was developed by Microsoft to build apps on their own platform, it is pretty sure that Microsoft will keep this programming language updated. So, career wise, there are opportunities in the enterprise level back-end development.

There are tonnes of best platforms or online resources which are always there to help you get best training courses. Some of those are LearnCS, Udemy and Microsoft Virtual Academy.

Python

Python is an open source programming language named after Monty Python. This highly recommended programming language is simple and readable. You can express your concept with just a few lines. Isn’t it a lot easier than other programming languages? Python is used in building websites, machine learning, data analysis and natural language processing. It is a great programming language for both beginners and experienced programmers.

This dynamic, functional and object-oriented programming language is used by companies like Google, Facebook, Reddit, NASA and Yahoo! Django is a web application written in Python which powers very popular sites like Pinterest, Instagram and the New York Times. The demand for Python developers has exploded over the past few years and more than 80% of the top computer science programs in universities have already started teaching Python as an introduction to the program.

Being popular in both academic and professional communities, there are great official tutorials, documentations, and online resources available which are easier to follow. One of the great resources available online to start learning Python is CoderDojo.

What’s Next?

As you have already got some ideas about these five programming languages, now it’s the time for you to go to the resources and start learning it. There are a lot of programming languages that we have left out. Our primary concern was to present the best 5 programming languages which are both popular and easy to learn for beginners as well as intermediate coders like you.

We are surely going to come up with a list of other awesome programming languages that we missed in this article. Hope this article was helpful to you choosing the best programming language to start your career.

Which are programming language mentioned above you going to learn? Please leave your answer in the comment below.