[elorant]

First of all there are not good and bad languages, there are programmers who know a platform well and others who don’t. So as a first piece of advice I’d say choose a language, any language, and stick with it. Sure, sexy things are published all the time but you don’t need to know a dozen frameworks to get your job done.

Your fear of becoming outdated is well founded. We’ll all become outdated. That’s why every five years or so we learn a new language. That’s the fate of the IT industry, things change and sometimes they change too fast. We learn to adapt. But once you learn a language pretty well you’ll realize that there are commonalities between them all. Learning a new one is a matter of weeks. So stop worrying too much.

My last advice would be to choose a project and focus on it for the next two to three months. Stop reading and start implementing. That’s probably the hardest part. But it will help you get in grips with the language of your choice and feel more comfortable and self-confident. And it will also help you realize the path you wish to follow.

[eru]

Nah, if you don't want to change, you don't have to. Just pick the right tools.

If you don't mind selling your soul, COBOL programmers get paid more and more because supply is dwindling. And I bet you dollars to donuts that COBOL will be around for longer than anyone's career.

If you care about your sole, it's a bit harder, but C will probably be around, too.

Some languages are worse than others. PHP is definitely in the worse camp.

Fully agree with the last paragraph.