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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.
Sort of. I was a "language of the month" hobbyist. Then Visual Basic and Access with VBA came along and I could actually be productive enough to ditch my labour jobs in favour of a small freelance operation that generated comparable income, but was way more fun and much easier on my back and joints.
Java to c# about 2 1/2 years into my career 8 years later I have no desire to ever go back. Bit of ts / angular too but I try to leave the front end to the devs on my team who are better at it.
Twice so far.
Proprietary language to commonly used language - Got something on my CV that other future employers would appreciate more. Also was a chill job anyway. But I got bored.
Then I hopped jobs to another completely different commonly used language (not just different in syntax, but one that required a completely different way of thinking about things). I learned a lot, but project itself was way too stressful, so I quit at the end of my probationary period. Not a good outlook on my CV, but overall I can, without lying, say I pick up on new languages and frameworks very quickly and if I get a take-home assignment in a language I've never touched, I can still complete it in a reasonable time frame. So there's some good out of it.
Both times also came with a significant salary increase so that's also nice.
I'm withholding details about the languages because I might be too easy to identify given I've also mentioned my homeland in previous comments.