Since the global pandemic, covid 19 had made a lot of changes in our ways of life, we are facing a lot of problems also. Nowadays, as most people and students work and study from home, their procrastination also increased. The habit of procrastination was present in most people, but this change to work from home increased this habit to a certain level. Procrastination is the habit of delaying an important task, usually focusing on less urgent, more enjoyable, and easier activities instead. The biggest challenge these procrastinators feel is the inability to start. The word procrastination originated from Latin “procrastinatus“, which itself evolved from the prefix “pro” meaning and “crastinus” which means “of tomorrow”. This can lead to make us feel guilty or ashamed and it leads to reduced productivity and makes a chance to not achieve our goals.
So it is important to stop the habit or reduce the habit of procrastination for achieving our goals. The first step to reduce procrastination is to realize that one is procrastinating. This understanding is important to tackle to this. If one is doing low priority tasks instead of high priority ones, and waiting for “right time”are the signs of procrastination. So realizing that you are procrastinating is necessary. The next step to tackle this habit is to understand why you are procrastinating. Lack of organization can sometimes lead to procrastination. The use of to – do lists to schedule tasks, can reduce this problem to a certain extend. Even a to do list user can still procrastinate. The fear of failure and poor decision making can lead to procrastination. So, after understanding that one is a procrastinator, and why you are procrastinating the final step is to adopt procrastination strategies. Various anti procrastination strategies are making to do list, organized tasks, prioritizing tasks, write down the tasks etc. Promising a reward after completing a task is also another method to avoid procrastination. Minimizing distractions like turning off social media notifications and television are another method to avoid procrastination. There are various mobile applications for users to avoid procrastination, and to stay focused for doing tasks. So by following these steps one can avoid the habit of procrastination and achieve their goals.
Learning your first programming language is a huge step in your journey to becoming a developer, but if the learning stops there it can dramatically impact your career prospects and income potential.
Technology is emerging at an unprecedented pace, with new coding languages created every year to keep up with this rapid innovation. Believe it or not, there are currently more than 500 programming languages, and that number continues to rise!
Companies like Shutterstock that used to be dedicated to only one language (Perl) are now multi-lingual with a developer team that programs in Node.js, Ruby, Java, Python, PHP, and Objective-C. A company using multiple programming languages isnโt the exception, itโs the norm.
So, hereโs the million dollar question: Can someone really become a successful developer only knowing a single programming language? While there are specialized roles in single languages, including JavaScript, the majority of companies and jobs do, in fact, require knowledge of multiple programming languages.
Whether you already have one programming language under your belt, or are deciding where to start, here are a 4 reasons to learn multiple programming languages.
1. More Tools To Get The Job Done
As a developer, the end goal isnโt learning as many languages as you can, or even learning how to code. Instead, itโs about being able to look at a problem and figure out what tools (read: programming languages), you can bring in to get the job done. Naturally, the more tools you have under your belt the more ways youโll be able to tackle different problems.
Just as there are hammers, screwdrivers, sanders, and an array of other tools for different tasks, there are countless programming languages, with each serving a unique purpose.
2. Pick and Choose the Jobs You Love
Knowing a variety of programming languages, especially in this day and age, helps open up the job market tremendously.
Letโs say you recently graduated from a coding bootcamp and are ready to dive headfirst into the field of programming. There are dozens of companies looking for junior developers, although you find only a fraction of them are hiring for the language you learned while attending a coding bootcamp. By default, only knowing one programming language automatically limits you to fewer roles.
Take a look at the market demand for each of these 9 programming languages:
Having a solid grasp of multiple programming languages, on the other hand, means you have an edge in the job market and qualify for a wider range of job opportunities. You can pick the role and company you love, rather than settle with the limited options youโre dealt with after graduation.
3. Increase Your Salary Potential
More languages equals more money. Donโt believe me? Hereโs a recent blog post that highlights the increasing number of companies looking for developers who can work across a number of different functions (and what theyโre willing to dish out in return):
And while companies are often [cross-functional developers] to keep costs down, theyโre also prepared to pay more to get someone who can switch between projects and has three or four programming languages at their fingertips. In fact, theyโre prepared to pay up to a year more for developers who can work in multiple languages.
Facebook is another example of a company that uses a mashup of languages. Facebook.comโs front-end is built on JavaScript, back-end built on Hack, PHP, C++, Java, Python, Erlang, D, Xhp and Haskell, and its database on MySQL, HBase and Cassandra.
Additionally, there are several contributing factors when it comes to determining a developerโs salary. One being whether or not someone is a front-end, back-end or full-stack developer. Full-stack developers know all aspects of the development process, and can use both front-end and back-end technologies, making them more valuable to a company. Because of this, companies are willing to pay an average salary that tops out at roughly $20,000 higher than that of a front-end or back-end developer.
4. Donโt Get Left Behind: Become A More Versatile Developer
Learning a programming language isnโt all that different from learning a foreign language. Once you learn your first foreign language, it becomes progressively easier to learn your second, third or even forth. The reason for this is because while learning your first foreign language you were essentially โlearning how to learn.โ You can also start recognizing similarities across languages, which accelerates the learning process. The same principle goes for learning additional programming languages.
One of Coding Dojoโs lead instructors has been in the industry for 25 years. During that time, heโs learned more than 20 different programming languages! Throughout his career he applied for jobs not knowing any of the languages they used, but was still hired because he showed that he was able to quickly learn, and run with, new languages and technologies.
Being a versatile developer and knowing multiple programming languages means your skills will never become outdated, and you can quickly adapt to industry trends. You can use your vast knowledge of software and web development to keep your job opportunities varied and fresh. Even if you get hired on to work as a programmer for a specific programming language, itโs not unusual for companies to switch course and decide to move to or bring in new technologies. In this day and age, you really canโt afford not to know more than one programming language!
Many people have usedย software engineersย andย software developersย as interchangeable terms. At a certain level, they are similar but there are many differences between both job roles as per the priorities and goals of professionals.
Software developer terms have been in the market since 1980 and till the time it reached the 1990s, it was at the peak of its popularity. But after that, software engineer became a much more popular term than a software developer. With this said, here are the basic differences between software developers and software engineers.
The major difference between software engineers and developers is the salary aspect. The salary of the software engineer is much higher than software developers since the engineers are responsible for compiling the developerโs code. However, both the job roles need a computer science degree along with the skill sets.
Software developers and engineers both must be familiar with application architectures, programming languages, DevOps concepts, etc.
As professional or aspiring data scientists today, we face so many challenges: Learning new skills, improving existing skills, building a strong professional network, job hunting, and landing a role. Data science is one of the glamorous tech fields at the moment, from being an analyst to deep learning professional. The resources to learn are many, the interested candidates are there, but the job availability is not always a match.
To move on in your career, especially in data science, you need to build more projects, hone your skillset, and prove your value as a data scientist. But, how are you going to do that if you canโt find a job or if you werenโt given a chance to put your knowledge to use and prove you can use it correctly?
One of the great options to improve your skills, gain experience, strengthen your portfolio, and have an income is freelancing. Personally, I am a big fan of freelancing; although I am fully aware that succeeding as a freelancer is not easy, itโs very doable. As a freelance data scientist, you can choose the projects that you find interesting and really want to work on. You can also set your hourly pay, and most importantly, you get to be your own boss.
Perhaps my favorite thing about being a freelancer is the freedom of time. You get to choose when to work and when to take some time off, which is not always an option in regular 9-to-5 jobs. So now, you probably have a few questions, like, how do I get started with freelancing? Where do I find a freelance role (a gig)? What kinds of gigs exist out there?
I answered the latter question in another article, and I will write one answering the first question later this month. But today, letโs focus on the middle question, โwhere can I find and browse available data science freelance gigs?โ So I will focus today on the top 6 websites you can use to find freelance data science roles.
โ1: LinkedIn Job Finder
I will start with a great website that is often ignored, especially when looking for LinkedIn freelance gigs. Of course, we all know the professional networking website, and some of us have found our full-time job on LinkedIn. But, LinkedIn wonโt probably come to mind if youโre looking for a freelance project.
LinkedIn can be used to look for freelance jobs; the trick is to filter the role type to โcontractโ or โtemporaryโ only to see the freelance roles. Another good thing about using LinkedIn to find freelance roles is that you can set your experience level only to see jobs that match your skillset.
โ2: AngelList
Next up on the list is a website very popular with startups, AngelList. AngelList is one of the top websites to find freelance tech roles in general and data science ones in particular. So, all you need to do is build a potent profile and start browsing available roles.
My next website is not your typical freelance website; itโs a community of developers and startups, Lemon.io. We all understand the importance of community, of belonging especially in the freelance world. However, being a freelancer may feel lonely; Lemon tries to overcome that by building an exclusive community.
In Lemon, you can find different freelance roles for all tech specialties, from pure Python to web dev to data science, with hourly pay anywhere from $35~ to $55. To ensure quality, you will need to pass a simple English test and technical interview with one of Lemonโs developers to join Lemon.
โ4: Toptal
When you ask an experienced freelance data scientist to recommend you a website to find roles, one of the websites that you will hear often is Toptal. Toptal is a remote talent company that aims to match skilled people with projects that match their skillset.
Toptal is more than a hiring website; it offers many resources and events to improve your skills and learn more about the future of work. Once you pass the initial screening and based on your experience and skill level, you can have an hourly rate ranging from $20 to $100+.6 Lesser-Known Data Science Blogs That Are Worth Followingtowardsdatascience.com
โ5: Upwork
Next on todayโs list is a website famous for being the freelance holy grail, not just tech freelance, but any freelance out there, Upwork. Create a profile, pass the screening, start browsing available roles, or just wait for clients to contact you.
In Upwork, you can mainly find two types of jobs based on payment: fixed payment and flexible roles. The fixed price has a fixed price to a specific amount of hours, while the flexible ones have average hourly pay starting from $20 and up.
โ6: Kolabtree
Last but not least is a freelance platform with over 20,000 scientists and experts on board, Kolabtree. Kolabtree connects freelancers of all levels of experiance to businesses of all sizes from all over the world, with hundreds of projects are posted every month, and you can filter it by the exact topic you want to work on, like data science or a more specific subject areas.
Kolabtree is free to signup for and starts applying for projects with an hourly rate starting from $30 on data analysis, machine learning, and statistical analysis projects.
Final thoughts
As a data scientist myself and a computer science instructor, I fully understand the frustration of applying to tens of jobs and sometimes not hearing back from any. I know what it is like to feel unworthy and not enough, skilled enough, smart enough, and good enough. Unfortunately, the current way job hunting work tends to strengthen this feeling of unworthiness and leave the applicant mentally tired.
But, one of the ways I was able to overcome that feeling of being unemployable is freelancing. So, I decided to get out of the job-hunting world and make my own path to prove myself, to myself first, and to employers out there. I made a profile and started doing freelance projects. I started small, and the size of my projects and my skills grew with time.5 Python Books to Transfer Your Code to The Next Leveltowardsdatascience.com
So, if you reached a good point in your learning journey or got tired of your company and looking for something new, something challenging and rewarding, I suggest you give freelancing a try. Check the websites I proposed in this article out, and maybe you will find a gig that matches your skills and that you will feel excited about.
Amidst the pandemic, it is essential to understand the major skills and a quick peep into the most in demand tech jobs that may help professionals to grow and explore various career prospects.
Especially with the evolving technology, which is offering innumerable job opportunities, for fresh graduates and even experienced programmers who are willing to learn the innovative trends that are emerging into the world of programming.
For a few the chances might be minimum in the growing tech market due to skills being mismatched. Therefore, to supersede this obstacle, we tailored 3 top programming skills which have high demand in the tech world today:
1. C++ The post-pandemic work that has forced people to work from home has seen an enormous rise in demand for cloud adoption. Various problems of data breaches have forced companies to come up with a greater budget for security purposes. The day-to-day cybersecurity threat is getting worse. So, if one wants to prosper in the said field, should be highly fascinated with IT not just that, sometimes it is even required more than that. Having command over various programming languages like C++ will make it easier. The demand for cybersecurity professionals with C++ skills has been rising especially with the rising cybersecurity cases globally.
2. Python AI and ML are rising unexpectedly, mostly during pandemic times as businesses have been stuck in the digital world having no other way out than opting for AI and ML. For an AI engineer, it requires both the knowledge of technical and non-technical skills. A fastest-growing industry like this needs an ample amount of people with proper skills and knowledge. Well, Python is considered by experts the most suitable programming language for Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing.
3. Rust If one is starting a career in the world of programming they should be highly equipped with the knowledge of Python and JavaScript which forms the very base of it the reason being as they have a wide number of applications and have been used for many years. However, 2021, which is full of different things has something new to offer for people who aspire to be a programmer. In a survey, it was found that Rust was the most loved programming language which has been gaining prominence for the past few years.
Acting as an alternative for C++. Useful mostly for people who are looking for problem-solving techniques when they are working on large-scale applications. Offering a new atmosphere to programmers is highly functional helping developers remove bugs caused by C++.
Various courses are available with projects for hands-on experience.
Weโve got decades of experience in programming and language adoption under our belt at this point, and there are a few things we can say definitively that developers in general (and DevOps engineers specifically) should be aware of.
First, it doesnโt matter as much as you think. It really doesnโt. Most developers donโt choose programming languages based on important things like optimization or general applicability. They choose a language based on ease of use, availability of third-party libraries and simplification of things like UI. Open source version availability helps, but only insofar as it spawns more third-party libraries. So, use the language that works best for the project, and donโt get too hung up on whether or not itโs the newest shiny one.
Second, the changes in use and adoption that matterโthe top five to 10 languages that make up the vast majority of all professional programming activityโdonโt happen overnight. Both JavaScript and Python are considered โrapid ascentโ in terms of uptake when they took off โฆ but both were around for years before that spike in adoption occurred. So, learning any of the top few languages is a far better long-term investment than learning the hottest new language.
Third, those top languages actually donโt change much. They were written to fulfill a need, and that doesnโt change much over time. Indeed, the only language I can think of that has fundamentally changed in its lifetime is C++, which seems to want to keep up with the times rather than keep serving its original niche. Python? Java? Still pretty much the same as when they became popular back in the day. And thatโs a good thing. But that means if you want to try something new and engaging, you need to look to up-and-coming languages. At the time of this writing, specialist languages like R and Kafka are having their day, and thatโs a good thing. After all, we know that different applications have different needs and different platforms have different needsโand have been trying to address that second one forever, currently with languages like Flutter. All of these will offer new ways of doing things, which is good exposure.
Fourth, (though we briefly toyed with eliminating this one) organizations do determine the pool of available languages. Frankly, allowing each team to build a separate architecture was never a good idea from a long-term maintenance point of view โฆ but a fairly large number of organizations played with the idea and learned the lessons about technical debt all over again. Now weโre back to โWe use these languages, pick one,โ which is better than โWeโre an X shop,โ and offers maintainability over time without burning a ton of man-hours.
And finally, you can do anything with those languages your organization makes available. Iโve seen object-oriented assembler, Iโve seen entire websites served in C; the list goes on. The language you choose makes certain things easier or harder, but if you need to get it done, youโll either get an exception to the language list, or youโll figure out how to get it done with whatโs available. But you can โฆ But as my father used to love to say, โJust because you can, doesnโt mean you should.โ He had nothing to do with programming and as little as possible to do with computers, but his logic still applies perfectly.
So, grab an approved language, and crank out solutions. Just keep driving it home; youโre rocking it. Donโt stop, and donโt worry too much about which language youโre using, just focus on the language and do what needs doingโlike youโve done all along. And spin us up even more cool apps.
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