ASP.NET vs PHP: What is the better job market?

[sofakng]

I'm looking to learn either ASP.NET (C#) or PHP. My primary reason reason for learning is as a hobby (web-based game perhaps), but since I can't decide which one to learn I thought I would do some research on the job market and see which language is currently more valueable.

From what I can see, ASP.NET is about twice as popular as PHP (in the job market). (* My conclusion is based off dice.com, monster.com, and hotjobs.com).

Is this true? Also, by learning ASP.NET in C#, you also gain other skills such as .NET and C# (both which can be used for ASP.NET development or desktop application development).

Another choice is to learn Java, which seems to be twice as popular as ASP.NET but I really dislike Java for some reason... (maybe college made me this way??)

Any advice on what I should is very much appriciated

 

[BigPete]

I would say Java, ASP and PHP in that order.

Your research is accurate. Java is used in almost every enterprise environment whether they also use PHP, ASP or a combination of both. Learning ASP will also let you move between all the .NET languages fairly easily.

 

[SunnyD]

ASP, Java then PHP.

 

[Pacemaker]

Most businesses don't want websites coded in PHP for whatever reason. ASP.NET is very easy to learn if you know ASP or if you know C++, C# or VB. IMO the most important first step is learning how website code differs from normal code and you can do that with any language. However, many businesses are looking for .Net understanding so I would either start with ASP and Java and transistion to ASP.NET or download VS for free and try it out. They even give you a version of SQL Server so you can create the Database behind it.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: Pacemaker
Most businesses don't want websites coded in PHP for whatever reason.

Eh??
I've never encountered any business that specifically said no to php.

 

[mugs]

ASP.NET and Java are more valuable skills in the job market.

Many companies shy away from PHP because it's not "enterprisey" enough, although Wikipedia is a very large, very heavily trafficked website that uses PHP.

 

[Pacemaker]

Originally posted by: troytime

Originally posted by: Pacemaker
Most businesses don't want websites coded in PHP for whatever reason.

Eh??
I've never encountered any business that specifically said no to php.

I've never seen one say "no" exactly, but I've also never seen a large one specifically use it. However, I have seen businesses specifically use (and request people with knowledge of) .Net.

Note: This is from personal experience and I don't have statistical information of what most businesses use. This is purely based on the fact that nearly every interview I have received since .Net was released wanted to know how familiar I was with .Net and none of them ever mentioned PHP. Granted this is one person's experience and yours may be different, but in the current marketplace you can't go wrong with learning the MS way.

 

[snapper316]

Big stuff: C#/.net About 40 jobs in my area alone on these

Small Companies: PHP (free..) 0 jobs

I'll also add getting database experience as well, MSAccess/SQL Server express at home

 

[Schnieds]

...I am a .NET guy, so this opinion might be biased...

I would go with .NET. If you check out Monster.com, Dice.com, CareerBuilder you will see .NET everywhere now. The really nice thing about it is if you learn ASP.NET thoroughly, you will also be learning ADO.NET and a server side language (C# or VB.NET). Both ADO.NET and C#/VB.NET translate directly to many other areas of Microsoft based development such as Windows Forms, Sharepoint, etc. It will really open up your possibilities in my opinion, although a similar argument can be made for Java.

 

[troytime]

after looking at some job markets, it does appear that .NET might be a better choice

but it probably depends

the area i'm looking to move to has more .NET jobs posted
the area i live in now has more php jobs posted (probably because my company hired all the local php talent already)