Languages a programmer should know

[btiffin]

Old guy, shields up.

Ok, on getting new technologies into work. Try this. Do. Talk to co-workers and endorse your choice. Cheer lead and try and convince. If you are good at software development, key phrase that, I'd wager that not all your ideas and preferences will be ignored. It's one of the ways technically good systems get into corporations.

It is a responsibility? of good developers to speak their mind and if possible counter the marketing hype that managers are surrounded by and pounded on with. Drive the field into better software, not always the systems that get the most advertising dollars and most face time with company decisions makers.

Caveats and rambling
I'm a HUGE fan of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. She has an attributed quote "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.", which started out as "If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission."

Yeah, although I'm a fan ... that is not how to progress as your average developer. Don't EVER sneak things into work, ask and get clearance to show people, then try and lead on.

At home, forking some open source, go right ahead, do, it's part of the ecosystem. At work, where you have traded your time for someone else's money and probably using their stuff, ask first, plead forgiveness those rare times you screw up.

Cheers

[mirhagk]

Yeah by all means ask, but if you're the only one who knows a language or framework, you gotta make sure someone else understands it before you can use it, and you gotta make sure there is lots of support available online.