In college, my programming classes were mostly in C++, Java, and C#. Those languages are generally important/important for working at companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.

A vast number of jobs these days are looking for developers with experience working with web applications. Full-stack and front-end developers will almost always need to know JavaScript (mainly for client-side application development).

If you are hoping to just get your foot in the door and feel out if you enjoy programming or not, I would recommend starting with Python. It is widely used language that is easy to jump into and learn.

If you are hoping to learn programming via working on a small side project there are some great NodeJS courses/tutorials online. Personally, I've found some good courses of Udemy.com and some great tutorials at Thinkster.io.

Hope this helps!

JavaScript, especially ES6. I also suggest a solid scripting language like Perl.

If you plan to go after "Enterprise" application development (which will actually be more like maintenance of legacy code), core Java is a good place to start. IMO it's easy to learn because it's so verbose but hard to be productive with for the same reason. Knowledge of Java can also get you into the world of Android app development.

If you want new and trendy, I would look into Ruby and Clojure.

And since everything is going to the cloud these days, definitely start looking into AWS.

Python is a good chance for the non-professional programmer because it is easy to get started with, easy to hack things out with, but also solid enough that you can take something hackish and get it into production.