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Comment by arisAlexis | Hacker News Reader

But why Python? There are many more jobs for JS

Python is typically taught in 101 classes because it enforces some good practices, is fairly quick to pick up, and if you have a math/finance background, can more easily lead to some quick and fun projects that can be bootstrapped in a simple GUI in a couple days.

Disclaimer: I prefer Ruby and JS over Python, but the amount of projects and roles I’ve seen lately that recommend or require Python experience seems to be growing. Not sure if that’s just related to the field I’ve pivoted into which has a stronger focus on data analysis/algorithms

JavaScript more or less limits you to front-end web programming (I know there are exceptions but realistically this is what most JS positions are after). Not great if this person’s internet is eg embedded, machine learning or, in keeping with their experience, large enterprise systems.

That’s not true at all. Plenty of jobs for Node dev at any scale.

Python teaches you how to code. Modern JS teaches you how to "npm install"

But really though Python syntax is simple and readable and I find people that learn it first adapt to other languages very easily.

Citation needed. Python is the language of AI and ML. Those fields are popping off right now.

Granted I'm no JS expert, but I believe that Python would be a better fit for OP due to the larger number of scientific computing libraries and OP's background as a mechanical engineer in addition to what you just mentioned. Someone else advised that OP leverage their ME background to help them learn programming, which IMO Python is very well suited for

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