She a First-Time Scala

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Have you ever thought to yourself, “I think it’s about that time I picked up a new programming language”? Followed by the thought, “I’m going to need a programming language that’s going to separate me from the herd and see me at the head of the line to better employment”.  

Well, if you ever followed the previous question up with a quick Google search (I chose Google because it doesn’t seem like anyone uses Ask Jeeves or Ask.com anymore) you’ll find that are a massive number of programming languages to learn, oh and there are categories they’re in which you can choose from also, which are machine, assembly, and high-level in case you didn’t know.

But while you have a mass number of languages to choose from, whether to begin learning fresh or to make an addition to your array of programming languages already learned, this one may have not been on your radar. It sure wasn’t on mine.

Today we’re going to be going over Scala, answering what, who, why, and if you could get into the programming field without a degree. And uh, spoilers ahead, since it is programming more likely you can get into this field as a developer without a degree.

So yeah, you don’t have to worry about burning a massive hole in your wallet trying to obtain one. By the way, if the person you’re dating or looking to date has no clue as to who Ask Jeeves is, they may be too young for you.

Its Scaling Time

So, here’s a bit of information, some of which I did not know since I don’t know every programming language out there but I’m learning something new with every script so there’s that. Apparently, Scala, unlike most people nowadays stands for something.

Scala is short for “scalable language” and like high-level programming languages, Scala is a general-purpose programming language. Scala received this acronym due to it being able to “grow with you”, which in short if you need it for something simple as running a line of code, it can do that and if you need it for something mission-critical, Scala can be your go-to as well.

This language focuses on object-oriented programming or OOP, and functional programming, and was also designed to handle some of the criticisms of Java.

And in case you didn’t know or weren’t aware of what functional programming meant, I got you on that. Functional means that there is a set of approaches taken to create clean and maintainable software.

Popular functional languages would include the likes of Python, Clojure, and Erlang. I’m familiar with Python, the other two languages I’ll be scripting about in the days to come.

An advantage of Scala resides in the ability to be able to run in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which makes it possible for both Scala and Java stacks to be run and incorporated.

You can more or less put Scala down to being the Swiss army knife of programming languages.

Scala Among the Many

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “outside of the usual suspects, who are the people that use this language?” Well, I can tell you it’s the usual cast of suspects.

Software engineers, data scientists, and data engineers are prone to use Scala since Scala powers the data engineering infrastructure of several companies, in areas of content management systems, distributed applications, and finance-related applications.

Scala also powers data processing, cloud computing, and web development. Another thing that’s not going to be much of a surprise since data scientists were brought up is the fact that Scala is used for machine learning also.

Seeing all of this, you can pretty much tell there is a mass of developers that use this language.

To complement this, big-name companies the likes of Twitter, Nubank Walmart, Meetup.com, Amazon, Google, and the one company that has my undying hatred, IBM.

I’m not sure if this is current, it may have changed when this is uploaded but as of now, 952+ companies have reported using Scala within their tech stacks.

So, yeah if you’re going to be a developer or a big-name company or even a small start-up, you’re going to be using Scala at some point. As you can see, there are many areas to scale in.

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Scala in the Wild

So, you may be wondering to yourself, “how does Scala have much of a play in our world?” Well, since it’s one of many programming languages out there you could learn, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, it’s everywhere.

Many developers are flocking to this language for a few of its features which sets it apart from other programming languages.

Features such as but not limited to; ecosystem, being an extensible language, creation of domain-specific language or DSL, object-oriented and functional programming, along with being able to run concurrently are just to name a few.

Plus, a little perk for developers, you are not required to use a semicolon after every statement like you have to with JavaScript or Java.

Not a big deal when you’re first learning to code but tends to be annoying because the computer will let you know by bombarding you with squiggly lines and error messages.

Scala is widely used due to its scalability on Java Virtual Machine or JVM for short, this can be seen with companies such as Netflix and Alibaba.

So, with seeing the number of people who like to Netflix and chill, you probably have been scaling from the couch and not even knowing it.

Scaling to What Degree

Thinking about trying to scale your paycheck from $0 to infinity and beyond? While I did say in the intro that you’re not going to need a degree (yes, I am aware that having one helps) you are going to be required to have a deep understanding of fundamental concepts.

Things like variables, strings, data types, and loops are some of the things you need to know in order to build projects which in turn will help you build a portfolio (having one is a key item when seeking out work because people are going to want proof of working knowledge), where paired with fixing up your resume and applying to job postings will see you begin to scale your way to ascension.

A thing to note is, learning just one programming language isn’t going to be enough to even get you to the interview but if you learn one well enough and “dip the toe” in others, you’ll be able to add and adapt which to many companies makes an ideal candidate.

However, brace yourself for the proverbial mountain pile of “thank you for your interest in our company, but we’ve decided to go with other candidates at this time” emails that are going to plague your inbox and some of which will end up in spam.

Pimpin ain’t easy…and neither is trying to find an entry-level developer job that doesn’t require 8 years of experience.

Make it make sense.

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Think you have what it takes to learn how to Scala?

Script a comment about your first-time learning Scala.

Also, if you liked this script but thinking Scala might not be a good match for you then check out my script on Java.