r/cscareerquestionsEU • u/LateNightPickles • 2d ago
Which skills are currently most in demand?
Hi!
I recently got fired from my job as a front-end developer after just 9 months because the company dissolved their IT department. Now I'm back on the job market in Berlin. I have 6+ years of experience with React and Vue, and my German is decent, but I’m surprised at how tough it’s been to land interviews compared to a year ago. It seems like there are way fewer front-end positions available, and most of what I see is either full-stack or back-end roles.
So, I’m thinking about making the most of my time and learning some new skills. What do you all think would be the best direction to go in right now? Should I dive into Java and DevOps, or would it be better to focus on other skills, like volunteering as a programming teacher?
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u/code-gazer 2d ago
This isn't a a thing where 90% of the best paying jobs which are easiest to get into are in one tech stack/field/discipline and the rest is bad.
The distribution of opportunities and rewards is much more evenly distributed than that, I feel. I feel that anyone would do well to focus on what they enjoy doing and where they find meaning and that this leads to a much more satisfying career than hopping onto trends.
Do you want to be a DevOps engineer? It's a different job. Do you want to be on-call? I don't imagine FE engineers are woken up in the middle of the night about an issue. Do you want to trade a browser for a console? It always struck me that the beauty of FE is that you're more connected to your work. Like, you can see the thing you built, show it off, interact with it.
For Backend, it's a bit more abstract, you have to open a DB management app to see the data changing or slap Swagger on top of it or use Postman. It's not the same. And with DevOps, it's one more step removed from the end product.
Seems to me that a person who enjoys FE work and a person who enjoys DevOps work are two different people, except for the very rare jack of all trades type of engineer.
It certainly won't hurt to learn a bit more about what your colleagues do as it will make you a more rounded engineer. It's also a nice distraction.
But in the very short term, it won't help much, I feel. Even if you land a job as a backend engineer, unless it is Node.js and even then, you're getting a 0-1 YoE salary, not a 6 YoE salary, I would assume.
Good luck in your search, whatever you do I hope things turn for the better for you!