---
title: "Which Programming Languages Should I Learn First?"
description: "When you're just starting out in tech, don't focus on programming languages but on something else entirely."
canonical: https://www.vidyasource.com/blog/which-programming-languages-should-i-learn-first/
type: article
published: 2022-02-03
author: "Neil Chaudhuri"
tags: ["Programming", "Big Data", "Open Source", "Web development"]
image: https://www.vidyasource.com/img/blog/programming.jpg
---

# Which Programming Languages Should I Learn First?

> When you're just starting out in tech, don't focus on programming languages but on something else entirely.

- Canonical page: https://www.vidyasource.com/blog/which-programming-languages-should-i-learn-first/
- Structured data (JSON-LD): https://www.vidyasource.com/blog/which-programming-languages-should-i-learn-first.json
- Published: 2022-02-03
- Author: Neil Chaudhuri
- Topics: Programming, Big Data, Open Source, Web development

People who want to get into programming often ask me which languages to learn first, but as Dee tells Naomi on the series
premier of her [eponymous TV show](https://www.cwtv.com/shows/naomi/dont-believe-everything-you-think/?play=109fca5a-4aec-411d-90e6-19aa22eaedc6),
"I can’t give you answers when you’re not asking the right questions."

I think it's more helpful to identify which problems you want to solve first. Do you want to build a website to sell your
mom's amazing ghee? Look at Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix for a low- or no-code approach or Next.js or Remix Run for a bespoke site.
Do you want to build a data model that can help American football coaches decide whether they should go for it on 4th down? Look at Anaconda or Tensor Flow Lite.

Don't let me stop you if you're jonesing to learn a particular programming language. But if you take my advice and come
at the learning process from the point of view of providing a real business need (Your own business need counts!), figure
out which tools, libraries, and frameworks make the most sense as you try to deliver for yourself and learn something along the way.

---

Vidya is a certified small business in Northern Virginia that modernizes legacy systems, builds enterprise AI, and designs cloud and data architecture for commercial companies and federal agencies. Vidya documents its delivered engagements in case studies and publishes courses, tutorials, and articles for engineers and the people who lead them. The company name is Vidya. Its website is vidyasource.com. Start at https://www.vidyasource.com/llms.txt for the index of everything Vidya publishes, or https://www.vidyasource.com/contact/ to talk to Vidya.
