Learning a programming Language

[stevebrowne]

I can't say I'll enjoy coding in anything tbh

Don't do it then.

If you want to program as a career, you need to enjoy programming, otherwise you will absolutely hate it.

 

[monaghan]

The problem with advise in the IT market is that it is only valid when given, get a few months down the line and something else comes along

If you can learn C# give it a go as there are lots of corporate systems written in .Net languages, however, I can't see PERL and C going out of favour in the more hardcore end of things, PHP will be about for quite some time as well.

Coding is fun if you can choose what you write, if you are going for a job as a programmer, then you tend to have to crank out code to meet someone else's design, perhaps see if you can pick up an analyst/programmer job, then you can work on systems end to end, this is far more fun than simply cranking a design into code

 

[stender]

Don't do it then.

If you want to program as a career, you need to enjoy programming, otherwise you will absolutely hate it.

It's not a matter of wanting to, it's a matter of paying the bills. I hate what i'm doing now but Unfortunately watching tv and drinking beer doesn't pay that well, whereas what I currently do does.

 

[accelerator]

Thanks all, I'd like to say your posts have made my decision easier but....

There are a lot of jobs advertised, doing what I do but for circa £10k more if I knew perl.

I have another job offer where I am now but would learn asp.net and maybe some c# but will be doing a lot with stored procedures. My salary won't necessarily change with that one initially, hence where I'm wondering is it better prospects? My hours will change with this job too which is a negative.

I can't say I'll enjoy coding in anything tbh (would love to get out of IT altogether if my sites covered my salary! wouldnt we all).

I've had another quick scan through this thread and here's my take.

If you can earn another £10k by learning Perl then I'd do that. Perl will be easier to learn, you'll get quicker results, and it will fit better with general IT.

If you are saying you won't enjoy learning something like ASP.net, then there's no point attempting it. If you are quite clever and gifted at coding then maybe you'd be OK, but if you are just a standard IT guy then unless you have A LOT of enthusiasm, ASP.net is not worth attempting in my opinion. It takes a lot of time and effort if you aren't some super coder, and even when you've done the training, it can still be pretty demanding, and in particular with ASP.net because you're very reliant on Microsoft, it can sometimes get tricky and frustrating because you are very reliant on their technology.

Just my take ...

Rgds

 

[stender]

I can't be enthusiastic about asp.net as I don't think it's that popular and will open many doors later on, or am I wrong?

 

[dotNetFreak]

You're wrong.

 

[namealot]

I’d try them all out for a few weeks each see which comes more natural you could be doing it every working day ??? Way that up against the demands i.e. public sector, private sector, tighter deadlines , longer hours, more responsibility, market growth, transferability etc against how I else to make extra revenue i.e. development of own projects etc. 10k is not really a great leap in salary…

 

[monaghan]

I can't be enthusiastic about asp.net as I don't think it's that popular and will open many doors later on, or am I wrong?

It really depends what you want to do, most corporate environments if not fully Microsoft will have a Microsoft element, so a .Net language will open many doors, a lot of HR depts will simply check keywords on a CV, so no .Net and no interview.

If you want to work outside the corporate environment, then go for PHP or PERL.

Working to any framework (whether .Net, Zend or other) will always be frustrating when the functionality you want is 90% of the way there in the framework function, but that's when the OOP system comes into it's own and you can simply replace the functionality you want with your own code.

Before redundancy, I enjoyed my C# corporate code as much as my PHP code for pleasure / private customers.

 

[davedevelopment]

I get the impression that companies that use Microsoft products, you'd do well just knowing Microsoft products. At my workplace, we try to use whatever language we deem best fit for purpose:

90% of the work we do is on a LAMP stack web app, so PHP/MySQL/XHTML/CSS/Javascript.

To help our web app interface with our accounts package and our project planning package (both third party), we have C#.NET applications. Further processing occurs on the data pulled from the accounts by perl scripts that generate spreadsheets.

We use redmine for bug tracking and have written custom plugins for it in ruby.

Our webmail app requires some use of setuid, so we have a small program written in C for that.

We use openfire to run a developers chat room, we've written plugins for that in Java.

We have loads of bash scripts doing all kinds of things.

We're planning on writing a couple of Adobe Air applications, hopefully making use of existing XHTML/CSS/Javascript.

 

[dotNetFreak]

It's not a matter of wanting to, it's a matter of paying the bills. I hate what i'm doing now but Unfortunately watching tv and drinking beer doesn't pay that well, whereas what I currently do does.

Fair enough, but tbh you're going to struggle in any language on any platform if you aren't enthusiastic about it. To develop complex applications takes patience, research and a sound understanding of principles. As the landscape changes constantly with new versions and new technologies you'll find yourself needing to brush up on your skills so that they evolve.

ASP.NET has a learning curve like most platforms, and you will find it a challenge initially due to the manner in which Web based apps are built, especially if you have experience of PHP or other Web languages. You aren't going to learn it in 5 minutes, but then again that goes for any language.

Development can be extremely rewarding, but like many things, you get out of it what you put into it.

Going back to your original point, from a commercial point of view, expanding your knowledge of SQL and learning .NET IMHO will open more doors than learning Perl.

 

[charlie]

I would have done a poll and ask who uses what. I'm sure 80% would be wordpress and php.

dont get fooled into thinking you need to be a programmer - get the basics with a CMS system if your not interested in learning the ins and outs of collections, functions, stored procedures etc

PHP programmers, hosting, open source projects and PHP resources are much more wide spread and about half the price of anything dot net based. if your project ever takes off on a similar scale to facebook then you may need to rewrite but at that point you should have enough in the bank to do so.

test: find a decent open source or cheap forum for ASP.NET

 

[ukdomains]

Thanks all, I'd like to say your posts have made my decision easier but....

There are a lot of jobs advertised, doing what I do but for circa £10k more if I knew perl.

I have another job offer where I am now but would learn asp.net and maybe some c# but will be doing a lot with stored procedures. My salary won't necessarily change with that one initially, hence where I'm wondering is it better prospects? My hours will change with this job too which is a negative.

I can't say I'll enjoy coding in anything tbh (would love to get out of IT altogether if my sites covered my salary! wouldnt we all).

Lol we all want to escape our day jobs , i wish i could one day

 

[disruptive]

Programming

Here are some things to think about:

1. What is the most defendable skill? I.e. what has the greatest barrier for other people, but lowest barrier for you? Think about the potential problems of out sourcing.
2. Can you add value to the development process at all? I could be more on design (I mean architecturally).
3. You might want to consider other platforms such as SAP etc etc that *did*, but *might* command good prospects now.
4. Project management? This usually help up the payscale!

On the coding side, not sure if people have mentioned Python.

I think its pretty cool and as a long term programmer/developer/what da ya call it, I can recommend its fun aspects. Also there is ruby - now both are scripts, but you can do a lot, like develop web projects and all kinds of things. I have some pretty groovy things done in Python - it basically makes "me tea".

 

[aZooZa]

Python's also cool. You can also carry it around and work with it on your smartphone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_for_S60

 

[julian]

in my life as a web type i've just used whatever is necessary to get a result to make money online. Don't get making dosh online confused with needing to know c++ to have a career as a coder.

I started with ASP and Access then did the .NET/SQL thing, bored with that and found it OTT for basic websites now binned it all and use wordpress/mysql.

I think there will be growing market for shithot front end coders. If I had my time again i'd learn php+mysql becaus eof its robust and agile and cheap! Also, learn CSS and javascript hardcore.

All these thigns are just a means to an end to me now, although I always like to do a bit of coding now and again - kind of a nerdy thing you never lose I guess..

 

[retired_member27]

I can code in most languages but for me it's Perl every time, I've used it non-stop for the last 15 years and it can pretty much do anything you throw at it. Virtually 100% of the work I get now is Perl and MySQL.

However, if I was starting from scratch and all I needed was a few basic websites then I would choose PHP.