Whether you’re entering the development world for the first time or looking to expand your existing skills, learning to use up and coming programming languages will keep you ahead of the curve (cue job flexibility and salary increases)! So which language should you learn? With hundreds of languages on the market, we’ve compiled some of the fastest growing languages of 2018 to keep you a step ahead in the programming game.

Swift-

Are you an Apple lover? If you’re interested in Apple products and mobile app development, learning to use Swift is a good place to start. First announced in 2014, Swift is a relatively young language that’s received a lot of interest in the past few years, ranking 6th most loved language by Stack Overflow in 2018. Swift is used by developers to build high performing, powerful native iOS, macOS and Linux apps. As a language, Swift is simpler to use, easier to debug and up to 2.6 times faster than its predecessor Objective-C, making it a firm choice among developers. With the market for Apple growing continuously and the company becoming ever more profitable, Swift offers opportunities that can’t be overlooked- including a high paying salary!

Rust-

Named as the ‘most loved’ language in Stack Overlow’s Developer Survey three years in a row, Mozilla’s Rust is a language making its mark on the programming scene. The language has been described as easy to use, more security conscious and is intended to replace a lot of C and C++ development. If you’re interested in systems coding, be sure to check out Rust and see why so many developers are turning to the language.

Kotlin-

Kotlin is a programming and development language from JetBrains that provides a new way to write code that uses Java to run. Kotlin is recognised by developers all over the world as a top performer for its features, simplicity and ease of use. The language is used to build Android apps and was designed to be an industrial strength programming language interoperable with Java code so that users can easily switch from Java to Kotlin.

R-

R is a programming language designed by statisticians and scientists. R performs highly in statistics, graphic representation and data analysis, making it a very popular choice among data scientists. The language may have been around for years, but in recent times it has gained attention for its ability to handle big data. R began its journey to fame four years ago when it was picked out for being the highest paid tech skill in the Dice Tech Salary survey. Since R has become more widely recognised, it has proven successful for huge companies like Microsoft as a server platform to assist with predictive modelling and machine learning.

Whether you’re new to programming or adding a language to your portfolio, here are some tips to help with your learning:

Surround yourself with code- To learn code effectively, you need to read it. A lot of it. GitHub is a useful tool to find code in the language you’re learning. The platform is used by 30 million developers across the world and offers the opportunity to host and review code, manage products and build software alongside other professionals.

Use resources- When you’re learning a new language and starting to solve coding challenges, you’ll come across problems on the way. To overcome the issues, head over to the website Stack Overflow. Founded in 2008, it’s the largest and most trusted online community for developers, offering a platform to help solve each other’s coding problems, enhance skills and engage with businesses. Code Review is also a great resource to make use of; it allows you to get reviews of your code from experts in the language you are learning- helpful right?

Get building- Once you get into the swing of things and begin to feel confident with a new language, go ahead and build something. Putting your knowledge to use and building something with code will really help you to get to know the language. Happy coding!

This post originally appeared on the ISL Recruitment blog. You can read it here.