If you’re hoping to jump into the field of software development, this ebook is a good place to start. It offers information on current salaries, key skills, and which programming languages will help you get your foot in the door.

From the ebook:

There is much debate over which programming languages are best to learn at a given point in time, but here are a few safe bets:

Java is used by millions of developers and billions of devices worldwide. It’s the official language of Android development, and 90% of Fortune 500 companies use it as a server-side language for back-end development, according to an analysis from Coding Dojo.

Python is commonly used in scientific computing, data mining, and machine learning. It’s the fastest-growing programming language, and Stack Overflow predicts that in 2019, Python will significantly outstrip other languages in terms of active developers. Coding Dojo found that Python grew in popularity by about 5,000 job postings between 2017 and 2018.

JavaScript is used by more than 80% of developers and by 95% of all websites for any dynamic logic on their pages, according to Coding Dojo. Several front-end frameworks for JavaScript, like React and AngularJS, will be increasingly used as Internet of Things (IoT) devices become more popular, so it’s unlikely that the language will fall out of favor any time soon.

Stack Overflow’s 2018 Developer Survey found that Rust, Kotlin, and Python were the most loved programming languages among developers, while Visual Basic 6, COBOL, and CoffeeScript were the most loathed.

In terms of what programming languages can net you the highest salary, globally, the top paying options were F# ($74,000), OCaml ($73,000), and Clojure ($72,000), according to Stack Overflow. In the US, Erlang ($115,000), Scala ($115,000), and OCaml ($114,000) topped the list.