While it is probably true that you can learn to code in any programming language, lately I’ve felt that language choice is nonetheless important. The languages we learn affect the kind of work we end up doing a bit further down the road. I’ve recently begun to notice how leaning to code in Python has subtly shaped the kind of projects I work on. Things could have easily turned out differently.

There are probably a couple of reasons why language choice matters. Here are two from my experience:

• In my programming journey, I’ve enjoyed the weekend afternoons I’ve spent in the company of the Learn Python NYC meetup group. That IRL community has been formative for me. People really matter.
• Tools also matter. Python has excellent data science libraries, so I’m not surprised I headed further down the scientific Python rabbit hole. It makes sense to follow the most interesting parts of a language. Those interesting parts both make the language unique and shape our development.

So perhaps language choice sorts us in some way. Python has been interesting for me, but I’m also curious about what’s next. Language will influence the journey ahead.