It's an old, creaky language with a lot of misfeatures and barnacles, but it is widespread and there are a lot of jobs. Like any chore, the best thing to do is

It's an old, creaky language with a lot of misfeatures and barnacles, but it is widespread and there are a lot of jobs. Like any chore, the best thing to do is hold your nose and just start working. Focus on short term wins. Knock out each feature and move on to the next. As you knock out features, take some time to learn the libraries and tech in more detail. After a while, you may not like it, but at least it will become tolerable and you'll have a skill people will pay you for.