Don't learn many, become an expert at one!

Today I was reading this article. It was talking about the main differences between PHP and .NET what one should learn, and let me tell you something I wish I had read it back when I was younger. 

I took Programming I and II in High School and then again in College, but unfortunately I don't think I ever learned much. Yeah I learned syntax and learned some of the logic behind programming, but nobody ever told me what was said in this article:

"There are benefits to learning either PHP or .NET. Should you learn both? If you’re new to programming, the answer, I think, is No: At an early stage in your career, you need to focus your energy on getting very good at one thing, which will translate into higher-paying jobs down the road. If you try to go to broad, you will stretch yourself thin and not master anything. (I made that mistake early in my career, and it started hurting my job prospects—employers tend to distrust resumes that list hundreds of technologies in which the applicant is supposedly an expert.) Pick one thing and be great at it!" - Jeff Coswell

In this quote he specifies something very important that I wish to pass to anyone starting with programming: Don't learn multiple languages, learn one and become an expert at it, then switch to other ones if you want to. I wish very much wish someone had told me this, but because nobody did, I ran around through most of my amateur days learning Ruby, Java, C++, C#, Python, Perl, even looked at Haskell and learned a lot of the syntax but in reality I learned nothing because I was never an expert with any of them.

I felt strongly that this needed to be shared because I don't think its quite common knowledge. For example, in college Programming I was Introduction to Java, Programming II was introduction to C++, and Programming III was cancelled due to not having enough students sign up, but I believe it was introduction to C#. 

So hear my advice: If you enjoy programming and would like to pursue a career in this field, you need to pick a language, and preferably once that is common enough that you can make a living with, and become an expert. If you then decide you would like to try something else then your transition will be much easier. 

If not you'll probably end up like me learning a lot of syntax and not knowing much.

Good luck if you are starting, and if you are an experience developer please let me know what you think, or if you also went through something like this in your earlier days.