Python vs Java: Jobs

Python and Java are two extremely popular programming languages. Each can be found and deployed in an astonishingly diverse set of applications, and each is routinely recommended to new programmers as a great place to start learning. 

But when choosing languages, skills, and projects, it’s always worth pausing to ask what are the employment prospects offered in exchange for time spent learning? 

Programming can be a lot of fun, and it’s something everyone should at least tinker with. But if you’re going to invest the time and energy in learning an entire programming language, it’s fair to want to know what that’ll do to your career trajectory. 

We’re going to answer how Python and Java will do that. 

Jobs for Python Programmers 

There are plenty of Python jobs available, and more springing up all the time. The payoff for learning Python, therefore, could be extremely good. 

Favored for its famously straightforward syntax and its being easy to learn, Python is a multi-paradigm language that’s dynamically typed. Python supporters and data scientists in particular have taken Python and expanded it into something that’s almost a platform. There are 3rd-party Python code libraries to do almost everything, and Python frameworks for backend web development. 

However, where Python leads in the frameworks and libraries used in data science, in particular machine learning and artificial intelligence. Python has recently hit the top spot on PYPL as the most popular language, partly because of its use in cutting edge data science.

Relative to languages like PHP and C#, Python adoption has grown at a staggering rate, with little evidence of slowing down. And Python programmers earn salaries that are comparable to developers working in other languages. 

If you’ve asked yourself ‘is there a demand for Python programmers’, then the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’ 

Jobs for Java Programmers

Depending on who you ask, Java is sometimes billed as the most popular language in the world. It should come as no surprise, then, that there are plenty of jobs available for skilled Java programmers. 

Java is a statically typed, object oriented language. Unlike Python, which is multi-paradigm, Java is bound to the object oriented coding style. Java is also semi-compiled, where the Java Virtual Machine compiled the Java code into a lower language, which is then interpreted at runtime. 

Java was one of the earliest and most successful cross-platform languages. So, like Python, there are more 3rd-party Java libraries than you could hope to explore if you lived to be as old as Gandalf. 

Some of the largest companies in the world use software that is either written in Java or relies heavily on it. But Java is also growing in popularity as a language for data science and machine learning, which are two of the most popular fields today.

For these reasons, Java isn’t going anywhere. Learning it would be a great use of your time. 

Learn Java and Python

Of course, the best strategy for a new software developer would be to learn both Java and Python. They’re both popular, powerful, and becoming more so all the time. Even better, they represent different approaches to coding. In the same way that learning two natural languages makes picking up a third easier, the more programming languages you have under your belt, the better you’ll be as a developer.

Summary

Python is considered the most popular language by some metrics. It is the language of choice for cutting edge data science and AI applications. Java is the most popular language in the world by other metrics. It’s well established and many companies depend on it.