Every time I’ve switched jobs I’ve changed languages. I got a lot of raises that way. Don’t get stuck thinking of yourself as a language-specific programmer, figure out the types of companies you like and the kind of work you thrive doing.
Some people like the constant greenfield work of agencies, others like to go deep in domain expertise by doing corporate work. Some like front-end web, some like backend and databases. Find your niche, but don’t be afraid to explore outside of it.
Getting into COBOL to be able to write your own checks is a valid answer.
Pretty much every job. I think the paradigms in most modern languages are similar enough that the actual language doesn’t matter as much as how you think about structuring code.
Yes. Clisp to Java to Scala and to the Java finally. Every switch was to get more money. As a result in the end I got more money and more domain experience. Most switches were traumatic for a week and then it was back to normal.
Changed from ColdFusion to C#. I was able to stretch minimal C# exposure during a contract into enough experience to convince someone to give me a full time gig where I was able to learn on the fly. I did pick up some bad habits that I had to unlearn as I gained more experience.
