What path should I take for a career in software development?

I am thinking about possibly choosing software development as a career path. I have been in IT for a while and have dabbled in it, but never anything too serious.





That said, I have a couple questions....





What is the best thing to start studying when starting out? C++? Java?





What can I do to get a sort of feel for it - to know if it's really what I want to do?





Thanks Everyone!

What path should I take for a career in software development?
Java is good for starting out. It is very easy to learn and its syntax is modeled after C++ making it easy to later pick up C++.





That said, you should study C++ after you have some experience with Java. C++ has many more diverse uses than Java, and would be a good thing to have on your resume. C++ is a bit more complex of a language though, so I wouldn't suggest trying to learn it until you have some of the programming basics down.





One thing I suggest to everyone is to not get your mind locked on one language. Once you've picked up a couple and have some experience with programming, learning additional languages is easy. So keep your mind open to taking opportunities to learn new languages and technologies whenever you can. The longer the list of your abilities, the better chance you have of getting a better paying job.





To get started off, I would suggest taking a computer science course at your local community college. It will give you a good general overview in proper programming technique. While I am a big proponent of self teaching, I have met too many programmers that have attempted to teach themselves the basics of programming and have picked up many bad habits. So at least for starting off, spend a couple hundred bucks and take a college course to teach you the basics.

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