Simon Willison’s Weblog

What is the scope, as a career, for a Python developer?

3rd October 2012

My answer to What is the scope, as a career, for a Python developer? on Quora

Don’t be an “X developer”. You’re selling yourself short if you define yourself by the technology you most frequently use.

If you want a great career as a developer, you need to be well versed in a bunch of different technologies. The best developers I know are effective at multiple layers of the stack... they write code in high-level languages such as Python, drop down to C for performance-intensive stuff, are familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, know when to pick up a new technology like Varnish or Solr, know how to set up a Linux server, know how DNS works, tinker with Objective-C on the side...

There’s nothing wrong with specialising in one particular programming language, but don’t let it define you. The more strings you have in your bow the easier you’ll find it to land your ideal job (and the more you’ll be able to charge for your services).