Best Commercial Segue into D

[Bastiaan Veelo]

On Saturday, 11 February 2023 at 22:37:32 UTC, Paul wrote:
> what would be a good career path to put me in a position where 
> I could apply for a D coding job?  C/C++, Java, Python, 
> embedded programming?

Are you saying you are (going to be) a student and wonder what 
courses to take? Or are those the languages that you already know 
and are looking for an employer?

These are the ways in which people came to code in D 
commercially, that I know of:

1. They never used D before and were told to go code in D by 
their employers.
2. They became experts in D in their free time here in this 
community, and were headhunted by [the 
industry](https://dlang.org/orgs-using-d.html) (or they applied).
3. They found a way to introduce D at their current job.
4. They started their own business.

If 2. is your thing, it is as with any other language: read, 
write, and get reviewed. The latter happens when you start 
contributing to existing projects. Depending on how much time you 
have, your background and perhaps your age, Google Summer of Code 
or Symmetry Autumn of Code can be a good way to increase your D 
skills.

Personally I am in category 3. For me, and this is irrespective 
of language, a course in algorithms and data structures was most 
impactful to my coding practice. My education is primarily on 
domain knowledge, computer science came second. But both were 
instrumental to my career.


Good luck,
-- Bastiaan.