What backend language will be the king of the next decade? Java, Ruby, Node.js, Python, C#/C++/.Net?

I have an open source project I want to start in this upcoming year, and have been questioning which back end language I should choose. I currently work with Node.js but have been wondering what its future will hold. I want to stay relevant, if the job market shifts. I actually have years of experience with Java and have wondered if moving that route would be a good idea. Or would Ruby be the route, where I should go?

I'm a front-end developer, not a back-end one. As I see parallel programming is a big word in the next years due to the rising of multi-cores and GPUs. We need languages for that, designed for concurrency and parallelism. Node.js is a small change on a single core but being more concurrent. There are more to be done. I see some languages shining:

Go, which is designed for concurrent programming and support millions of lightweight threads. And Go Channels makes communication among threads much easier. Go is already rising.
Elixir, which inherits the power of Erlang and the beauty of Ruby. Some of my friends phrased it. I'm optimistic about it too.

Personally I would add Clojure too. But I guess the majority still have biases on Lisp family languages so it's less likely to be mainstream. Anyway this is just some advice from a front-end guy.

Thank you I will have to take a look at both. I am quiet fond of Ruby so Elixer sound promising. Are there any back end frameworks for either?

Marcus, yes there are backend frameworks for both languages. In the Go case i don't remember names, for Elixir Phoenix is very popular.

@mjwrazor yeah, phoenix https://github.com/phoenixframework/phoenix . For Go there are many of them, maybe you can read about beego https://beego.me/

Any of the JVM languages should be great for backend. Kotlin, Scala, Clojure, Java, Groovy or even Jruby and Jython (which are just Ruby and Python on the JVM) If you're a JS developer, Nashorn will allow you to run JavaScript on the JVM.

Scala would be a great option if you want something that's already mainstream but not Java or alternatively Kotlin is another great option, although not as in demand yet.

Well it's not that i'm asking what would be great for the back end it's what will be in demand on the job market in the future and why do you think so? I have been looking at scala and rethinking my hate of Java after I have learned so many other languages, I might go back.

The JVM is one of the best virtual machines out there and is pretty solid - most architects and CTOs will recommend Java (or other JVM languages) for any seriously large projects, otherwise .NET if the team has more experience with the microsoft side and with Microsoft open-sourcing .NET, demand might increase for .NET in the future, but so will demand for Java developers.

Ruby is another safe bet and if run on the JVM via Jruby, you get the benefits of the JVM, but get to develop in Ruby syntax (Java syntax is loaded with boilerplate compared to more modern languages like Kotlin and Scala)

If you do a search on job databases, let's take indeed as an example, you'll see Java is still very much in demand (obviously depending on region).

Java: 69,543
.NET: 51,176
C#: 29,164
Ruby: 19,915
PHP: 19,279
Scala: 4,895
Kotlin: 52

Either way, if you are strong in multiple languages, you should be able to pickup any language in the future and just go with it. Most companies hire for the ability to solve problems and are often happy to give you a bit of time to pickup the language they're using.

PS, it sounds like it's been a while since you've worked with the Java ecosystem, lots has changed, here's a good introduction:

blog.paralleluniverse.co/2014/05/01/modern-java blog.paralleluniverse.co/2014/05/08/modern-java-p… blog.paralleluniverse.co/2014/05/15/modern-java-p…

Also, if you're looking to use it in your side projects, Kotlin is a good choice as well, it's a simpler Scala, but a better Java and you'll be using a lot of Java in your code, just with Kotlin syntax. Not many job openings for Kotlin yet, but it is growing slowly.

This was a great response. Exactly all the stats and recommendations I am looking for. I do like Ruby but I feel like learning more about java would be more beneficial since I picked up ruby very quickly and can do it again if needed. Java seems to be the beast that has always hit me with confusion.

I will definitely look into those links. I will probably look into Kotlin after I have begun to master most of Java.

JavaScript will be the king for next decade

Why dude??

It is very easy to write code in js
Companies will eventually prefer js guys beacause a front end guy can also work on backend
You can become full stack developer(Both Frontend and Backend using javascript)

Some Top Companies

Facebook almost moved from php to NodeJS(popular library ReactJs)
Google (Angular and Web starter kit)
Yahoo (Mojito Framework)

Wild guessing, I can't see the future:

I feel that Kotlin is a better Java. It's not much of a tradeoff if you're starting from scratch: many things are similar and anything else is better in Kotlin. It also compiles to Javascript and (soon) WASM, and can build native phone apps. That's :my guess/hope for JVM.
For native, strongly-typed, low-level languages, I hope it's Rust. It has much fewer pitfalls than C++ so it's more accessible (web companies seem to hire many people with little experience). It's also great for parallelism, which is increasingly important. And, again, compiles to WASM. So for native, I would hope Rust, but I don't see native dominating backend.
For dynamic languages, which I imagine will stay a huge portion: I hope it's Python, but I fear it'll be Node (although others may stay around too). It seems to have a lot of momentum, and the 'one language for frontend vs backend' seems to be more important than a properly designed language. And to be fair, it's improving somewhat.

Who knows, maybe WASM will eventually overtake Javascript, and Node will die along with it...

Note that job opportunities aren't only determined by how popular the language is. It's also about how many people have the necessary skills. People still earn good money with Cobol because no one knows it (or wants to do it).

So it's even harder to predict than just language popularity, which is already hard for 10 years.

If you just want good job security, don't follow my predictions, just learn something mainstream like Node, Python, Java or C++. They'll be around for the foreseeable future, even if they lose a little market share.

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What backend language will be the king of the next decade? Java, Ruby, Node.js, Python, C#/C++/.Net?

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