maximillian:
I would say make the investment in learning C++. You should have some knowledge of object oriented programming and C++ seems to be the standard for quant work. I learned from a book by Deitel and Deitel and it is very good for beginners to programming and also covers advanced topics.
Please tell me someone here knows what Deitel is and, if so, can use it in a coherent sentence like "die Wagons sind doch an der rechten Deitel-Spur!"