10 replies to this topic

[motion]

1.

I am learning HTML 5 and trying to build the skills necessary to land a low, entry-level (non-freelance, professional) position in web development. Two, independent sources claimed it is best to learn a server side language in depth, such as C#, ASP.net, or PHP.

Before I pour countless hours into mastering one of the languages, I thought I should do some research and figure out which one will give me the best job opportunities. Do you think entry-level (or "assistant") positions in web development are more available for a person who learns ASP.net than PHP? PHP over ASP.net? C# over PHP? And so on?


2.

Also, even if one language is most popular now, is there a transition going on? Is the rate of increase of demand for ASP.net skills, higher than the rate of increase of demand for PHP skills? You might already see where I am doing with this, but if not: I might select a language that is relatively unpopular now if it is growing faster.

Thanks!

[Michael_Martinez]

PHP is Apache and C# is Microsoft. You should probably try to learn both languages. PHP may give you more opportunities than either of the Microsoft languages alone.

ASP.net is a platform that supports both C# and VB.net as programming languages.

[DonnaFontenot]

PHP

[iamlost]

There are two distinct tracks - although, of course, one can learn both - most enterprise, i.e. big business, sites use Microsoft Server and so primarily Microsoft programming languages such as C# and VB; most small to medium web businesses use Apache Server and open source programming languages such as PHP.

[motion]

Are there typically stricter requirements for an entry-level/assistant web position at a big company?

[A.N.Onym]

My understanding is that they'll look for a more experienced web developer, even if on a starting position, with a good command of at least 1-3 languages and tools at their disposal (Javascript, AJAX and a few JS platforms, such as jQuery, Mootools,etc). However, this being an assistant position (if there is any), they might still need to look at what you've done online and your desire to learn new things (supported by your knowledge of the recently released tools and/or languages).

Perhaps, starting a blog on the topic and doing some custom coding for it might help you land a better job, though I can't guarantee, anything, of course. At worse, you'll have something to practice on and use your time to build it into something useful that'll one day *will* help you get more contracts or even provide passive income.

Then again, I only base this on what I know about web development and countless web dev vacancies I've seen a while ago. Not that this isn't something you've asked for, haven't you

Edited by A.N.Onym, 14 March 2012 - 06:57 AM.

[EGOL]

Yep... I would definitely do as Yura suggests and develop a portfolio of diverse work.

[Dr.Marie]

I'll share my experiences in learning web design/development. I started off by doing an HTML tutorial. I soon learned that for me, going through a tutorial wasn't necessarily the best way to learn. Once I got the basics down pat then I started a project and learned as I went. I knew what I wanted to accomplish and then I set out learning how to do that.

I went on some programming forums and described what I wanted to do and said, "What do I need to learn?" I soon found out that for what I wanted to do, I needed to learn mysql and php. I think both are essential if you want to be a good web developer. (By the way, if you have any programming experience, php is super easy to learn.)

When I was trying to design my site I soon learned that I needed to know CSS as well. I mostly learned by trying to implement things and when I ran into walls I would post a question on a programming forum.

Recently I wanted to create some fun quizzes and discovered that some javascript knowledge would help so I did the same thing again. I can't say I am a javascript programmer but I learned enough to create what I was trying to create. Also, I recently downloaded a template for a new website and needed to modify the javascript a little bit and so my little bit of javascript knowledge let me do that.

So, here is my advice to you. Don't just "book learn" a language, but build something. As others mentioned, create a portfolio. As you develop things you will see where you need to learn more and find out what is the most important stuff to learn.

I'm not sure if that helps or not, but I thought I would share!

[rjohnson]

I've owned a few business and we've hired quite a few web developers.
To be honest, we've always hired them according to our needs at the time.
I wouldn't say that PHP is better than ASP.net or viceversa.

In some instances we've needed a complete system built from scratch. So in those cases we hired an ASP.net, or Java or Python programmer, as those are more robust and scalable programming languages, that emphasize the use of objects and classes.

In other instances we've needed to build custom CMS packages, or simple front end web pages, and in those cases we've hired PHP guys , or PHP guys which specialize in Drupal.

But lets put all that aside and say this. If you learn the fundamentals of programming, you will be able to learn any new programming language that someone throws your way.

I've always said that a good programmer can learn any language in a matter of weeks.

P.S. You're also going to want to learn SQL to handle the data storage and access. if you learn the fundamentals of SQL, you'll easily be able to switch between Mysql or SQL Server.

[DaveChild]

It depends very much what sort of work you want to do. If you want to do front-end code (HTML/CSS/JS) then PHP compliments that very well. It's easy to learn, powerful enough for almost any purpose, and there are huge communities.

If you want to be a back-end developer, and not touch the front-end stuff, then I'd be more tempted by Python or Ruby. Both have a steeper learning curve, but both are in demand and both are extremely powerful. Once you can write one of them well, you'll also find it more easy to pick up other languages (vs learning PHP first). Finally, both command higher salaries than PHP dev work does.

[DonnaFontenot]

There's a good infographic that just came out that does a good job of comparing PHP, Ruby, and Python, from various angles. Well worth looking at. http://web1.udemy.co...-language-wars/