This is a question that just keeps coming up. If you are just starting out as a developer, if you already work as a Front End Developer or even if you are from the .NET background - Definitely. You should learn Java. Especially for a student or beginner. Java is essential to becoming a good programmer. Because once you are aware of the basic things you can quickly switch to other programming languages as the concept would almost be the same. The syntax may change. Reason being java is basic which will help you form the core concept related to syntax, OOP principal, exception handling, Collection, and more. Java is a very mature language having almost all features and functionality of other languages available in the market. Now, Oracle is constantly improving java as a language so it's still having a strong position. And being in the market for decades by now java is almost there in every application. Even if those application needs to be modified to some other technology, you would need a developer who understand Java and other technology in which it needs to be redeveloped. If we know the basic concepts, thereafter we can go to any places. Java develops your programming skills a lot. To develop an enterprise application, at now you need java programming. There is no replacement for that at now. In Computer World, every 4 years, new technologies will arrive and existing will become outdated. But java is enhancing with the latest requirements and java can have more features just like functional programming and newer features with less coding and more API and more sophisticated features. Here are the reasons why it is worthy to learn Java in 2019 - Open source OpenJDK is a free and open source implementation of Java programming language. Being an open source programming language, it’s platform independent across OS environments. Also, you don’t need to pay a penny to write applications on Java. Applicability Java lets you create programs that work almost anywhere, including smartphones, servers, ATMs, point of sale (POS) terminals, Blu-ray players, televisions, set-top boxes, Internet of Things gateways, medical devices, Kindle E-readers, automobiles and more. Real-world applications There are many places where Java is used in real world, starting from commercial e-commerce website to android apps, from scientific application to financial applications like electronic trading systems, from games like Minecraft to desktop applications like Eclipse, Netbeans, and IntelliJ, from an open source library to J2ME apps etc. Server apps at financial services Java is very big in Financial Services. Lots of global Investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays, Standard Chartered and other banks use Java for writing front and back office electronic trading system, writing settlement and confirmation systems, data processing projects and several others. Web applications Java is also big on E-commerce and web application space. You have a lot of RESTful services being created using Spring MVC, Struts 2.0 and similar frameworks. Tools Many useful software and development tools are written and developed in Java e.g. Eclipse, IntelliJ Idea, and Netbeans IDE. Use for big data Hadoop and other big data technologies are also using Java in one way or other e.g. Apache's Java-based HBase and Accumulo (open source), and ElasticSearch as well. Embedded space Java is also big in the embedded space. It shows how capable the platform is, you only need 130 KB to be able to use Java technology (on a smart card or sensor). Originally Java was designed for embedded devices. Huge community support With about 10 million Java developers spread across the world, Java community continues to grow. Just like other open source technologies, Java promotes the philosophy of giving back to society. On multiple online forums like StackOverflow, expert Java programmers are always ready to help the newcomers. Job opportunities Programmers with a sound knowledge of Java are in great demand. With a large installed base, this widely used programming language continues to create jobs in the tech industry. Additionally, the popularity of Android apps has brought along countless opportunities for an Android developer who write native apps in Java. Such as platform independent, user-friendly and the most important among all is that it is one of programming language which is object-oriented i.e. it is based on concepts of OOPS. All work on web development, android application development, and other software development are based on Java. Java is currently leading the pack in the Android mobile application development market and enterprise back-end market. When you consider the integration of modern language features the future for Java shines brightly. Although there is a small decrease in jobs in 2018 compared to 2017. But there are still billions of devices which are running on java. Millions of developers are still using Java. So, it is very worthy and useful to learn Java programming language in upcoming years also. It will provide you with a foundation to taste other OOPs based new programming languages. What do you think about Java? Is it same as we explained above, or have any different aspect? Let us know through your comments in the comment section. Thank you! Photograph by flowgraph