Courses aimed at getting me into specialized job roles. E.g. a course aimed at getting a job as a Financial Trading .NET developer. It would probably be an amalgamation of courses on .NET that are used in finances plus courses that teach financial markets etc.
Similarly: professional certifications that mean something. I.e. a certification for .NET that shows I really know my stuff but just something I memorized like the MCP style exams (that's how I remember them being 10 years ago).
Do you want to learn the language for fun, or to improve your career prospects in the near term.
What languages are used in the jobs you would like to get?
For example for me I want to get into high frequency trading or prop trading. I know C#, and I am very busy with a family. Therefore as much as I love Haskell, I am going to stick to C# and learn more deeply about multithreading and sockets, how to build muilithreaded systems like servers, exchanges etc. in C#. Then I will be in a good position to apply for those jobs.
For you the answer may be different.
If you don't know the answer, maybe 'spike' a few languages. By spike I mean try out for 6 months in your spare time.
Haskell is a good one, but with FP you can't give up the fight easily. It is possible to get your head around but it takes time, patience and passion.
Once you learn FP, then your brain is upgraded. It is like running a marathon, if you can run a marathon then a 10 mile run becomes something you do to unwind and relax. 10 miles is hard for most people but easy for the marathon runner.
Similarly learning Haskell, type theory etc. will make other formerly hard stuff in Ruby, Java, etc. will now seem easy because you are smarter. This is my experience anyway.
Watching Dragons Den, the investors ears prick up when someone walks in and says that have done (x)million pound exit(s) in the past. It gets their attention and I think for Marketing that is the purpose right? So I think posting your results of money earned for investors would be a good way to entice investors to call you.
ChuckMcM's post says making lots of money on exit isn't what matters, the acts count.
That is true, but I would say getting the attention of your prospects is what matters here, and buying and selling a company for a huge profit repeatedly will get their attention and make them call you to find out more. Then you can tell them about the acts.
I guess this is really about how to resolve your conflict: your privacy and money values vs. wanting to be bold in marketing yourself. Only you can answer that. Personally I don't want to have friends who are uncomfortable with what I earn, be that $0 or millions. Family is a different matter though, and also safety concerns (extortion, ransoms etc.) but then there are plenty of rich people bragging on TV shows so it's not like you will be the only one.
Just my 2c. I have no experience in this, so take with a pinch of salt.
