Looking on the old job papers (again) I am really really thinking about jacking java off. I'm not a big city smoke person...

Reason for my thoughts?

One java web dev post in search results versus twenty+ C# options.

Of course Londinium is different, but it's the big smoke :(

Is C# just an illusion maker, that is gives the illusion of demand through turnover? I know the limited (about 6 mths) I spent working with it I liked it, but that was desktop and not web /.net/asp.net aspects.

oh what to do, which way to go....corner shop for a rack of scratch cards I think.

Anybody else confused today?

If not a well reasoned reply would be great

Java - hmm never had the (dis?)pleasure of having to use it.

I've come from C++/COM/ATL background and rolled into C#. Our company is one of the (very, very) few that uses J# as well, which is apparently as close to Java as you're gonna get...

C# is pretty easy to work with, and it's a good skill to have. You can use it for web development, UI development, middle tier & dbase backend. It's by no means the perfect solution for everything, like no other language is but I sure don't mind using it.

If you are a half-seasoned developer you'll pick up C# in a very short time indeed, I'm sure you'll be just fine

I do think there is a need for C# progrmming bods out there.

A few years back, I was sent for by a company who wanted AS400 experience, despite my not having any As400 experience....

A lot of the banking industry are still running legacy systems and the cost and upheaval to replace is just unthinkable to bridges have to be built to new technologies etc.

The world and his wife can do java. our degree course churns out a number of grads every year that can write and implement java applications that wouldn't go amiss at industry level.

I think the lack of java posts indicates something of a saturation point, much in the way that "E-learning content and structure professionals" aren't exctly widely called for..... :(

Big Smoke - i know what you mean. Was in running for a post at city university. More money, thankfully, cheaper living option staying with family, but not much cheaper. Transport, insurance etc all increase. Not to mention stress levels.

As IT. types, never hurts to add another feather to our professional caps....something i've not done in years....

the corner shop for a few lottery tickets might not be a bad idea....

Well the problem I face in my eye's is that in the last 9 years I've worked on 12 different languages.

Started with AS400 / RPG to AS/SET then began sniffing around at the internet, so coldfusion (pre macromedia) ASP, then PHP was born so I followed that for a while, meanwhile doing AS/SET on the 400 so never really throwing myself with this job, mainly as the work was a bit here and a bit there. Then an little bit of VB, then .net with c# for 6 months and I did like it Now in the throws of Java and all things pro IBM.

So no one core skill, except maybe being highly adaptable to new stuff and approaches. Some weeks I was doing one thing a day, so a bit of php on monday, maybe some as400 support on tuesday etc etc...not so great at learning and becoming expert like.

So I'm not discounting what I've learnt, but at the same time there is a very narrow tunnel for this area, or so it feels for the path I am on in this area. Hence the e-brake and hang on, could pick c# up again if I'm going to be pushed anyway, at least there are a seemingly plentifull supply of door ways, even if not all are open to me on paper...

I'm sure I could pick the c# up if I apply. I'm then playing two languages off in my head untill the time comes to drop one.

Who knows, need to spend some time with my laptop in a dark room.

Looking on the old job papers (again) I am really really thinking about jacking java off. I'm not a big city smoke person...

Reason for my thoughts?

One java web dev post in search results versus twenty+ C# options.

I've been considering the very same thing today, although in my case it is the lack of Java jobs in and around Leicester that's doing it for me. I've coded Java for over 6 years now (4 post-grad), and I like the language and tools. However, I've toyed with C#, writing a b

Bluetooth mobile app for my SPV500 in 2 days (after getting Visual Studio) and one thing I can say about the M$ tools is that is is tightly coupled, unlike the 2 to 3 days it normally takes to configure Eclipse+plugins+3rd_party_container of choice.

Outside all that, I'm just chasing the $$$

Rich

The one thing that IMHO will keep developers liking the MS stuff is Visual Studio. There isn't a great deal else out there that comes close to it's ease of use, integration level or general 'junk you got ready when you need it'.

There are php development environments like phpStudio, which is actually not bad at all though

The money is better generally speaking too, and although there are still some stupid quirks in the environment it is very nice. Writing code generation wizards to stamp out 'working starting points' that have been tested is also a major benefit, which has saved our company (plus the previous one) many manmonths both in coding and debugging effort. That said, I am always keen to keep some tabs on non-MS stuff as well, so I don't get completely away from some command-line stuff

Agree, I use zend for php, good ide.

The MS side is easier, regardless of the ribbing of bugs etc....it's one platform. Despite my winding path, I look out over wsad, eclipse etc so the java plain and it's just a haze of options, some peoples views over others. Not saying it's wrong, it's possibly good in fact for pushing the envelope. However as a guy I used to know said...he'd never convert his it systems to linux, because there are to many flavours and variants of it. The same is true I guess for development. Which technology stream do you jump on, spring or xyz.

Mind you some of the chaps here poopoo php as it's not enterprise like java . Likewise MS for some unknown reasons...Winds me up a lot since it's far quicker to turn somthing around in either...

VS is great, wsad is also ok (eclipse) but if I gave vs and wsad to my old fella I know whic he'd have a working web app in first or desktop.

When all said and done both technologies/languages are actually heading in a similar direction, so it's horses for courses, but also good for a debate / thoughtfull moment.

I'm approaching that point where I'd rather do good and have a really good team than chase the $$$ as thats how I got in to this post in the first place...if I could wind back the clock 8 years eh

And to cap it all my msdn ran out last month :(