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?"

It's 2014

[StripedCow]

Answer:
Corporate Finance, Intellectual Property Law, Data Mining

Stick with what you are doing

[PsyMan]

But learn whatever it takes to webify those embedded systems with utterly pointless interfaces to appeal to the new generation of people who wont even buy a loaf of bread unless it can be monitored by their mobile device. Now, off to the shop to buy toilet paper as my iWipe assroll monitor says that the bathroom is reporting only 3 slices left. Get off my........

Web Development

[Anonymous Coward]

So we wont have to put up with this horrible slashdot beta crap.

Re:Work on the basics

[VortexCortex]

whose only knowledge of C is that it's the third letter of the alphabet.

Actually, 'C', is the second letter of the alphabet's char array. 'A' is zeroth.

Re:Work on the basics

[Daniel Hoffmann]

Actually C is the 0x47th letter in the alphabet I use.

Duh

[hackertourist]

Antigravity, nuclear fusion, holodeck.

Re:Work on the basics

[Opportunist]

C'mon, if you're trying to go alpha-geek on us, at least say that C is the 10th letter of the alphabet.

Re:Work on the basics

[mysidia]

Javascript/jquery front ends, php/python/ruby/sql backends.

Don't forget to learn SQL and libbdb/BerkeleyDB for databases; Qt for user interfaces; Davlik for Android. Java.... Java EE... Java JUnit.... C#. C++... Objective-C OCUnit, Cedar. Behavior-driven test tools, JBehave. Selenium framework; Cucumber, RSpec, and Capybara for testing: Javascript jasmine; Python Lettuce or Splinter . C# MSpec, SpecFlow, WaitN.

Re:2014 = Let Java die.

[Anonymous Coward]

Java = var lookatme = 640000000;
C++ = unsigned long lookatme = 640000000;

It really isn't that hard guys...

Apparently it is, because you just wrote some JavaScript instead.

Re: Work on the basics

[arielCo]

C is for Cookie, and your browsers store them for me! (Omnom nom, nom)

Re:Work on the basics

[dkleinsc]

Actually, most developers and a lot of systems I encounter use a character encoding that they say is UTF-8, but actually kinda uses ASCII. This causes all sorts of interesting issues, which is why I've dubbed this encoding WTF-8.

Re:It's not about which technology

[TWiTfan]

"What do I want to do 10 / 20 / 30 years from now?"

I'm not sure how useful that question is. I suspect I would need something somewhat more concrete than my REAL answer, which is "Sleeping on piles of $100 bills with many beautiful women."

Re:It's not about which technology

[pr0fessor]

So your new career path is pro-athlete or rap star.

Re: It's not about which technology

[lostfayth]

there's always sex-work.

you dirty whore.

Re:Work on the basics

[Giblet535]

iOS is a shrinking market (not growing as fast). Don't fanboy out on us. Android owns the vast majority of that market and is growing rapidly (very rapidly in China and other emerging markets). Obj C is a good skill, but not as valuable as jscript/jquery. C++ pays better, but the jobs are few and the projects boring. Python has more real-hire jobs. Java still leads in real-hire for some weird reason. If employment security is your focus, learn Linux, Java and javascript/jquery (Android path). Learning LAMP/WAMP is never a bad idea. If wealth is your focus, learn politics or specialize in diseases of the wealthy. If women are your focus, you are in the wrong forum, but report back if you're successful.