10 Reasons Why You Should Learn JavaScript

Short Bytes: One should learn Javascript because it’s the most popular programming language in the world. Javascript works on an astonishingly varied number of platforms and devices including IoT. Javascript Jobs are in abundance and it’s easy to learn. You can design crazy visual effects, games, UI interactions, make your own custom blog and make money by finding bugs!

10 Reasons you should consider learning Javascript:

1. Javascript Is In The Browser: Javascript is the de facto language of the web, meaning your browser has it, and you can do all sorts of stuff to/in your browser without the pain of setting up environments and code editors, downloading compilers and learning how to use them and what not. This makes it the biggest reason why one should learn Javascript.

2. Most Popular Programming Language In The World: It’s the most used and popular programming language of the world and that makes it a programmer’s great choice. It happened because Javascript was able to sneak into browsers when it was unpopular.

3. It’s Everywhere: Javascript is everywhere. Perhaps it was inspired by the co-founder of StackOverflow Jeff Atwood’s famous Atwood’s Law:

Everything that can be written in javascript will be written in javascript

It works on the server with nodejs, it has been working in browsers since 1995, it works on Internet Of Things Devices, it’s used to build performant native apps, it’s used to make cross-platform desktop apps, it’s used to power smart TVs, you can create music with it, you can create the next generative art of the century using it. It guess these are enough reasons why one should learn JavaScript. In short, it’s literally everywhere!

4. 4. It’s Easy To Learn: There’s an opinion about Javascript that sometimes even after developing for ages, developers wouldn’t necessarily know even the basics of Javascript. That could’ve happened 5 – 10 years ago when most of them started with learning jQuery, not anymore. Javascript is comparatively easy to learn than other programming languages, provided you learn properly. If you go through the curriculum of freecodecamp, the world’s most popular online coding bootcamp, you can start learning right away, and there’s a BIG community that is up for helping you out, by StackOverflow, IRC rooms and what not. Watch this code newbie learning Reactjs on Youtube. See how happy she is! It makes me learn JavaScript ever more. Once you learn the basics of anything, pretty much everything builds easily after that.

5. An abundance of Javascript Jobs: It’s the most sought after technology right now and there’s a lack of good Javascript Developers in the market. It’s a great opportunity to get a good job out of learning Javascript. Take a look at this graph of top paying tech per occupation:

(React is a Javascript Library By Facebook; nodejs is how people use Javascript on server).

6. You can Design Visual Effects: You can become a design genius by learning to animate things in the browser like this amazing animated website. This website was made using the standard Javascript animation library for efficient and performant animations called Greensock.

7. User Interactions: Learning Javascript, equips you with skills to build crazy user interaction experiences like this awesome online interactive resume by Robby Leonardi. And this simple yet stark portfolio website of Facebook’s Lee Byron.

8. Game Development: Browser is a place where crazy things happen. You can be a professional game developer if you know Javascript well and love the learning process. You can make HTML5 and Javascript games like this shooting asteroids in the background game to more advanced games like 2048.

9. Make Your Own Blog: With Javascript, HTML5 and CSS3 skills you’d no longer have to rely on blogging platforms to sustain your blog. Who knows when those services would shut down and before you know it, you’d either have lost all your posts or would have had to export them on your computer. By With your own blog, you host your blogs yourself and control their lifetime. Four examples of good custom blogs:
   1. Ashwin Hariharan’s Blog
   2. Jake Archibald’s Blog (Works Offline)
   3. Matt Gaunt’s Blog (Works Offline)
   4. gdad-s-river’s Blog (Works Offline)

Also Read: How to Make Your Blog Work Offline And Make It Open Like An App On Phones

10. Find Bugs, Make Money: This is ambitious. With the ins and outs of learning Javascript programming language, you can dive deep into how it works as a language and find bugs for big companies and make money through their bug bounty programs.

I love Javascript and I’m confident that you’ll like it too. Did you find this article on the benefits of learning Javascript interesting? Don’t forget to share your views and feedback. Also, if you’re willing to learn it, do check out some awesome Javascript courses on Fossbytes Academy.