I am in Mexico City this week and spent a lot of time with recent college graduates. They are going through training and getting imersed in the Mobiik culture. They primarily know C# and many asked what languages were important to learn. So, even though Azure has expanded its capabilities, I feel this list represents a balance of not being too many languages with what is truly necessary to be productive. This list is in order or importance to me:

1. C# – Duh, right? Do I even need to explain this entry? The core to most applications running in Azure will use C#.
2. JavaScript – Most apps are Web Apps and mobile apps. JavaScript plays in both worlds in addition to the backend for the those Node.js fans.
3. PowerShell – How do you get those apps in Azure in an automated way? How do automate your environment once the app is deployed? How do you analyze your use and consumption?
4. Ruby – If you have a large IaaS solution in Azure or any cloud for that matter, you are going to want to deploy a configuration management solution like Puppet or Chef, which are both written in Ruby and knowing Ruby really helps with their development.
5. Bash – The popularity of deploying Linux in Azure is growing. If you are going to adopt Linux, then Bash skills are definitely required.

It is a polyglot world these days; 1 & 2 are for the development of the app itself, 3 & 4 for managing the apps lifecycle, and 5 for well-roundedness. Once you’ve tackled these, start to look at Python, Java, and Groovy as part of the next set to learn. Embrace development as development and don’t get hung up on one language or environment.

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