The programming language or framework you learn first doesn't matter

The programming language that you learn first doesn't really matter as much as you think it does. If you're someone who is struggling to figure out what to learn, or if you're someone who is stuck in a learning hell of sorts, and trying to learn every new thing that's coming out, this video might help you. When I first wanted to learn to program, I had to first pick a language, and I wanted to pick the best language that I could find. So I did some googling and I basically looked at these statistics of top programming languages of 2020, 2021 and so on. And I found two languages that were at the top or near the top in almost every ranking or every page I found. And those were JavaScript and Python. Now I couldn't decide which language to learn first. And this analysis paralysis kept me from learning and from starting to learn for weeks. So I basically just gave myself two choices. I would either learn Python or JavaScript because these two were the main languages that I kept seeing were at the top, like the most used, most popular languages. So I decided I would just learn one of the two. Now, ultimately I did choose Python and that became my main work language for the next couple of years. But this, just think of all the time I wasted trying to decide which language to start with when really the right answer was to just start. So many beginners struggle with this, like so many beginners struggle with this one thing of what they should learn or what they should start learning first. And I see posts on these all the time on Reddit and other communities like, Oh, what language should I learn first? Should I learn Python or JavaScript? Should I learn this new language or this new framework or not? And if you're going through the same conundrum that I was going through and that all these other new beginners are going through, let me help you. Programming is not about which language you start with or which framework you pick or choose. Programming is not about any of those things. programming is about literally just about problem solving. Once you've been programming for a couple of years professionally, you start to realize that all programming languages and frameworks are kind of similar. Like, yes, there's some major differences in all of them, but most of them are sharing the same core concepts. The core of programming is still problem solving. Because like, here's the thing, new frameworks and languages are coming out all the time, especially in the JavaScript world. It's like you blink your eyes and there's a new JS framework to learn. And it's like you can't learn every single framework or every single language that comes out. And most of them are not even worth learning. The main skill you want to learn is how to use all of these tools that you have, which are your languages and frameworks and algorithms, data structures, libraries, design patterns, all of these things. These are your tools. and you have to develop the skill of how to use these tools to solve valuable, important problems. Your boss doesn't care that you're a React developer. He just wants you to build a beautiful, fast, high-performing front-end for his business so that he can deliver more value to his customers and ultimately so that the company can make more money. Your client doesn't care that you're a UI, UX designer. He just wants you to build intuitive and lovely interfaces that will keep his users engaged so that they can turn visitors into paying customers Those are the problems that you being paid to solve The problem is that when we learn a new language or framework we start to define ourselves by that language or framework Like we make it a part of our identity. We assign a label to ourselves. Like let's say I just learned React. Now I'll start calling myself a React developer. What that does is it creates an unconscious limit on you. You place an unconscious limit on yourself and your own abilities because you start to define yourself as a react developer instead of someone who solves complex problems on the front end and that kind of mindset will limit your possibilities programming and especially web development is a field an industry that's constantly changing and evolving and there are always new tools and new technologies coming out new things that you have to learn or that you should learn and the thing is you don't need to learn all of these things you just need to learn the tools and use the tools that you need to solve important problems. You don't need to learn every single thing that comes out. You don't need to be stuck in some sort of learning hell or analysis paralysis where you're trying to decide what to learn next or what you should be doing with your extra time. You should not be doing that. You should only be learning the tools and the technologies you need to solve important problems. That's exactly what makes us more valuable to our employers and our clients, especially in the age of AI. In fact, let's talk about AI a little bit because AI is developing really, really fast. So many developers are trying to figure out how to be irreplaceable in the age of AI. They're scared that they may be replaced by AI. They're scared of what AI means for them and their jobs. The thing is, AI is just a tool. And if you only think of yourself as a tool, then you are going to be replaced. That's just the reality of things. If you define yourself as a React developer or a Python developer or a Django developer, those are tools and tools will get replaced as technology keeps evolving and keeps getting better and better. That's just the nature of technology. But if you're a problem solver who can learn to combine and use different tools and the right tools for the job, and you can learn to combine and use these tools to solve important problems for your clients or at your job or workplace, then you've suddenly become a hundred times more valuable than the average developer. And you become irreplaceable by AI. AI is just a tool and tools can never replace problem solvers who can constantly solve more valuable problems. There will always be better and more efficient tools coming out all the time. That's just the nature of technology. It keeps evolving. It keeps getting better and better. But in the meantime, and all jobs are going to get automated in the near future, sooner or later, on a long enough time horizon, all jobs are going to be automated. That's just the reality. But in the meantime, the developers who can solve complex, valuable problems for other people are the ones who are going to succeed the most. They are the ones who Those developers are the ones who are going to get the jobs, the money, the clients, all of those things. So let's talk about WordPress and small business websites. Small businesses need websites and WordPress has emerged as a solution to provide those websites. And it works. It works great for small businesses because all you need to do is drag and drop elements on a screen. And that's a lot easier for small businesses to do. They don't need to learn how to code and they don't need to learn how to use some programming language or web framework So WordPress was supposed to replace web developers and in a weird way it done the opposite of that It created more jobs In fact I would argue it's created a whole sub industry in web development for WordPress jobs and that happened because WordPress at the end of the day is just a tool. Just like AI is a a tool just like all these programming languages and frameworks that you use are all tools and tools alone will not make a great website and it will not make a great product are you solving the right problems because that's what really matters in the end so let's think of let's let's think of problems in in website and web development does the website you build load fast is it intuitive Does it have a good design? Does it have any performance issues that you should be aware of and that you should try to solve? All of these things matter. And these are the problems that you're being paid to solve. And you can use any tool you want to solve these problems. But the important thing is to solve the problems. You can use AI. You can use your own code. You can use WordPress. You can use some other tool. but the important thing is to solve these problems. You don't use these tools for your own sake. AI at the end of the day is just a tool and it can't replace us because we need to use the tools to solve the problems, to solve the complex valuable problems. That's what we get paid to do and that is something tools cannot do. Let's say you're applying to a job. If you Google around for resume advice, people are going to tell you to only add work experience or project experience that you think is relevant to the job you're applying to and this is good advice this is really good advice but even more than that you need to show how you can solve the important problems that the company is facing because you can have all the skills you want you can have all the skills in the world But if someone can prove to that company that they can solve all their problems, then the company is going to hire them because that's ultimately what we're being paid to do, solve important problems for the company. So let me tell you guys another story that I remember. I was reading Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson, and there's a hiring story I remember. back when Apple was designing its graphical interface and they were hiring designers to design that interface and one of the interview candidates came in and he wasn't really well prepared. He was really nervous and because of his nervousness, he lost the interview. They didn't select him and later that day, Steve Jobs bumped into this guy after the interview and the guy says hey can I just show you one of my ideas real quick and so he shows this little feature where where he basically built a feature to fit more icons in the dock in the bottom of your screen and he also added a zoom in effect where if you hover over an icon this the icon enlarges becomes bigger and it zooms in it's like a zoom in effect now obviously this is really not very advanced nowadays, but back then when computers were still early, this was a pretty novel feature. And Steve Jobs was so impressed by this feature that he just hired the guy on the spot. Even though that guy was rejected in the interview Steve hired him on the spot right there because that guy proved that he could solve important problems for Apple for the company He proved that he could solve important valuable problems He literally showed the proof right there. Now, that candidate didn't exactly show that he's some big hotshot designer with 10 years of design experience working for some big billion dollar multi-international corporation. No, he basically just showed that he can solve important problems for your company. And he showed that proof. And that's why he got hired over someone with probably more experience and more credentials. The point of that little short story is to just express that it's not about the tools that you use. It's about how you use those tools to solve important problems. So I know I've been ranting a lot over here, so let's make this really practical now. What can we do to become less like tools and more like problem solvers that can solve important problems for other people? First, if you're obsessing over some language or framework, just don't. Just don't. If you want to learn it, and if you really feel like learning it, then yeah, go ahead. Set it up and download and install it. Build something cool with it. Have fun. All right. But if you're just obsessing over it, if you're just stuck in analysis paralysis for that language or framework, just don't. Save yourself the trouble because you don't get paid to learn tools. You get paid to solve problems. So focus on that. And especially don't let yourself be defined by that one tool or one language that you learn. Always try to learn different tools and solve interesting problems for other people. never let yourself be defined as some react developer or ui designer or python developer because that places an unconscious limit on you so never define yourself that way and remember there are always going to be more tools more better and more efficient tools coming out all the time right now it's ai right now it's llms like chat jpd and all the others next year it's going to be something else. After that, it's going to be something else. These tools won't replace you. If you become a problem solver who can solve interesting and complex and valuable problems for other people, these tools will replace you if you define yourself as a tool. Do not be a tool, be a problem solver. That's how you can make yourself valuable in the age of AI. That's the skill that's going to be valuable forever. And that's how you make yourself irreplaceable. Always think about how you can use all these tools to solve important and valuable problems for other people. Because that's the thing that you get paid for. And that's the only reason you use all these tools. Okay? Technology is only going to get better and better. New tools are going to come out all the time. Currently, it's ChatGPT and LLMs. Tomorrow, next year, it's going to be something else. And then after that, it's going to be something else. The people who are going to be replaced are just tools and who define themselves as tools. And the people who are going to be irreplaceable now and in the future are the problem solvers who can solve important and complex problems for other people, who can learn to use and combine different tools to solve valuable problems. No matter how efficient or how much better the tools get, the problem solvers will always be valuable. anyway i hope that you find something valuable in this video i hope you find some insights that help you out i'm no expert i'm just sharing what i've learned and hopefully that helps some of you