39,941 - that's the current number of available Java jobs on Indeed.com.

That's more than PHP, Go, Rust, and C# put together.

$92, 797 - according to Indeed, that's the average salary for a Java developer.

I am a reasonable man, and reason tells me - this Java thing is worth taking a look at.

Today, between playing Legos with my kids and completing household chores, I put my first Java program together and here are 3 of my initial impressions.

Objects, Objects, And More Objects

This is to be expected - Java is a strict object oriented programming language.

I have experience in this style of programming before via C#, but if you spend most of your time in the typical web stack (JavaScript or PHP) it is somewhat foreign. When you do dive into OOP in PHP, it is not nearly as strict or verbose as Java.

public class HelloWorld { public static void main(String[] args),{ System.out.println("Hello World!"); }} is a little much when compared to PHP's echo "Hello World!"; or JavaScript's console.log("Hello World!").

Strict Types

Having used OOP in PHP, I had already been exposed to strict types.

I know there are some very strong opinions on both sides of this particular aisle, but to be honest, I don't feel strongly either way about it. I suppose it has something to do with the fact most of the time I only have to deal with my own code.

If I was dealing with a massive codebase every day, I probably would be team types but for my initial run through today, it just felt like more unnecessary words added to the ever growing Java code.

Use The Right Tool For The Job

Ok, so now I've got a completely useless desktop application that can take in data and regurgitate it back to me - what's my takeaway?

I actually like the Java experience, but there is a catch - I like Java when it's the best tool for the job. For simple web sites and applications, I can't imagine having to need the available firepower Java has to offer. That being said, I like the simple set up of the Java ecosystem (especially when compared to C#) and I think I will continue learning this great tool.

Who knows - I may even jump into Spring Boot and give it a shot against Laravel for my favorite way to put a website together.