A couple of things: C/C++ -- learning C/C++ took me from being a backyard hacker who could figure out stuff to being somebody that could code close to the meta

A couple of things: C/C++ -- learning C/C++ took me from being a backyard hacker who could figure out stuff to being somebody that could code close to the metal. It helped me understand how all other languages worked. Javascript -- I really hate Javascript, even though I've been coding with it since it came out. But learning it gave me a front-row seat to watch the world evolve F# -- I wanted to learn FP and started with OCAML, moving to F#. Combined with lean startup principles, F# and pure FP showed me just how much time I had been spending fighting the tools instead of just delivering a solution. Changed the entire way I look at programming.