Every time you turn around there is a new programming language, a hot new technology, or some form of hype or buzz surrounding some particular methodology or another. Considering this flood of information to digest you can’t help but ask yourself, what is a busy programmer to do? If you are constantly working to learn the latest and “greatest” will you ever have time to get proficient, or will you endlessly be a hack in a new language?

Each time a new project rolls around it seems I am questioning my choice of technology, do I want to do this using J2EE, which I know, or maybe I should take this opportunity to learn Ruby and give Rails a try or how about ASP.NET? This train of thought, while helping to diversify my skill set, has left me wondering if maybe it is time for me to focus, to pick a language or technology stack and really immerse myself in it until I am satisfied that I know enough to tackle something new.

The other side of this coin is that as more and more languages and frameworks arrive on the scene, the scope of the problems that each is meant to tackle is becoming increasingly focused. This means that programmers are most effective when proficient with a number of “tools” rather than a single. You wouldn’t drive a screw with a hammer, so why force a project in a language that might not be best suited to solving the challenges the project entails? Then again if you are constantly language hopping will you ever truly recognize the “right” tool when you need it?

Much to learn; little time to learn it all.

I would be interested to hear how other programmers handle this delema.