Ask HN: Do you think it's worth learning Java in 2019 for web development?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21029792

by NotDurga • 7 years ago

8 8 7 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I work with JS and PHP and I want to find jobs outside startups. I'm worried that they might all be working with legacy systems and really old Java versions.

moksly• 7 years ago

It doesn’t have to be old or legacy just because it’s build on java. Java plays a huge part of modern enterprise in large parts of the world and its remained rather relevant.

To get back to what you’re asking, however, it depends on your local job market. In my area 95% of all back-end development is done in Java, C# or PHP and there are almost no web-development jobs that doesn’t require you to know one of those languages.

In other areas it might be Ruby or Django, so the best way to answer your question is frankly to look at the job listings for the jobs you’d like to take.

SavageBeast• 7 years ago

Hit up https://www.indeed.com/ and simply search "Java" with your area. That will tell you a lot about whats on offer in your region (assuming you are US?).

Corporate America has a gigantic investment in Java technology and while some of it is legacy stuff, even those companies still need new products and that work is also done in Java.

Java is the tech stack that companies who's core business IS NOT software are using. In my opinion its absolutely worth learning ( if you already know PHP, Java wont be much of a stretch for you - enjoy having a dedicated Collections lib! ).

Java is not broken so nobody is in a hurry to fix it, save for startups enamored with Node in the last several years. HN can be kind of an echo chamber at times but I promise you companies are not interested in walking away from their Java investment because Rust/Go/Python etc.

Java is a close 2nd behind Python here: https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-top-program...

throwaway13000• 7 years ago

All big companies have HUGE java teams/projects. Its battle tested for distributed systems, has legions of developers who can do any task you ask for. Java is where the big bucks are.

caspervonb• 7 years ago

While it might not be "hip" to get into Java these days, it is still taught in CS (typically you start with C in year one and Java in year two or three).

The U.S "startup scene" appears to be somewhat of a monoculture, following whatever is the latest coolest thing that they've heard of, but it's not representative of the ecosystem at large.

TL;DR yes there's a lot of well paid work in Java, it's "uncool" because of asshat developers like that go "oh java, ewww" on the internet.

rasikjain• 7 years ago

Corporate America has lot of project implementations using Java and Microsoft C# technologies. We keep hearing if Java is relevant for some many years and yet there is a lot of demand in the fortune big companies.

At least in NorthEast, I get bombarded with lot of emails from recruiter with Java, C#, SQL, Oracle etc.

srijanshetty• 7 years ago

Almost everyone is on Java 8 now, and people are warming up to the new release cadence of bi-yearly releases of Java.

Even with Java 8, you get streams, lambdas and powerful Collection classes.

Personally, I've worked on sizable projects involving Java and have been amazed by it's performance and versatality. It's a construct that might go out of fashion for a while but will remain the backbone of most companies out there. My personal take is that Java is evoling at a rapid pace and this will only do good to the language.

neuroticfish• 7 years ago

How do you define "worth"? As far as compensation goes, working with the legacy systems that nobody else wants to touch is a great way to rake in money. There are plenty of Java shops that aren't reminiscent of Dilbert's office.

If you value working with cutting edge technology there are new and interesting Java platforms, but you would undoubtedly be better off learning something more modern.

valand• 7 years ago

Slightly OOT

https://www.theserverside.com/opinion/Microsoft-vs-IBM-A-maj...

IBM is pushing java away while Microsoft is welcoming its community with open arm. Not sure what is Microsoft planning for it though.

Ask HN: Do you think it's worth learning Java in 2019 for web development?

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