Hi guys... I was wondering the job market for Flash and PHP developer. Which one is more popular in the job market. Also, I was wondering the PHP IDE choice that you guys use. I am using notepad++ for coding but I am sure you guys use better tools....
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A:
IDE: Eclipse PDT is my suggestion. For flash I assume Adobe's IDE is the best.
I've no idea about the relative demand for PHP devs vs Flash devs. IMHO you should focus on PHP and keep flash as a 'also can' skill, with PHP you can develop an entire web application from scratch, you could use flash to pretty it up. Although, to be honest, a site without flash rates higher than a site with flash in my book.
Michael Robinson
2010-08-12 23:17:22
I also strongly support HTML sites vs Flash sites but **YOU CAN** have a full working site in Flash (and good ones too). Specially now with FLEX. On the crawling side Google has joint forces with Adobe to better crawl Flash sites.
Frankie
2010-08-13 01:53:06
Yeah one can flash sites that don't suck totally. IMHO they still suck to some extent.
Michael Robinson
2010-08-13 08:21:58
Adobe's IDE is terrible (well actually it is useful for laying out stuff) but for the ultimate coding experience those that can afford it use FDT - which is a pluggin for Eclipse
Allan
2010-08-13 10:16:20
@Micheal Robinson - Horses for courses
Allan
2010-08-13 10:17:52
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A:
flash surely pays more because less people can code it. Freelance wise, if you are an expert in flash you can get away will easily billing 100+ a hour because companies who expect highly flash intense sites usually expect from the start to pay bigger bucks. PHP on the other hand usually averages anywhere from 30-60 a hour depending on your experience and ability to sell yourself / company.
PHP is nice to know but Flash is really growing, especially with AIR exe's / etc. I personally suggest a .NET platform though. With .net you can code anything from smart phones, to web page, desktop applications, intense Flash like web apps with silverlight, and even iPhone apps with mono. Best of all, unlike PHP, you coding is compiled and thus your intellectual property is better protected.
Anthony Greco
2010-08-12 23:25:10
.Net idea is good...but I am not familiar with it at all...I really want to get into Flash developer field but they all require experience....
Jerry
2010-08-12 23:39:53
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A:
Netbeans has worked really well for me. Eclipse is powerful, but harder to set up in my opinion. Netbeans has everything I need on a day to day basis. As far as demand, I agree with Michael, make PHP your main skill and have Flash as a side skill. I haven't seen many job postings for Flash Developer, but I've seen a ton for PHP Developer (Flash experience would be a bonus).
SenorPuerco
2010-08-12 23:25:21
+1
A:
PHP is more popular in the job market.
I also use PDT Eclipse as PHP IDE, and recommend it.
You can install EGit to interact with Git repositories from inside Eclipse. Cool!
J. Bruni
2010-08-12 23:43:34
+3
A:
PHP and Flash are similiar yet very different beasts. I would say instead of choosing based on the current job market, focus on the capabilites of each and which one interests you more. It really breaks down to if you are more interested in frontend programming of backend programming.
PHP is more of a backend language used to drive the core business logic of a website. It's pretty much the guts that make everything work. This will usually involve a lot of database management, third party integration, and system architecture. A PHP developer will a lot of time support the frontend developer team and serve up data as needed. Also with PHP you don't have to worry about front end quirks like browser issues and page rendering issues (usually).
Common Tools:
Flash is a frontend technology. This is what the users of the site interact with daily. Its going to be a lot of motion animation and look and feel work. You can do fun things like visualization and other really creative concepts. Also, since you're going to be working on the public facing portion of a project, a lot of glory can come from the final project.
Common Tools:
- Adobe Flash
- Flash Develop
- FDT
Finally different companies require different technologies. If you are a PHP developer, don't expect to find a job with Microsoft shops. Alternatively, Flash doesn't care what the backend was written in as long as it gets the data it needs.
If you are good at what you do and enjoy doing it, you can make good money doing whatever that is. It just so happens that this also applies to programming.
Brian Wigginton
2010-08-13 00:29:30
+1
A:
I would recommend going for both. Flash combined with PHP is a powerful combination. You would have both the client & server side covered, also the development of Rich Internet Appls is increasing the demand for this kind of interaction. Furthermore, I think you'll be in a better position on the job market if you can master more languages.
Learning Actionscript 3 actually helped me understand PHP quicker. I'm able to use Object Oriented Programming with both languages and I find that learning a new skill in one language is beneficial for the other language too.
For Flash , I use FlashBuilder & Coda for PHP
PatrickS
2010-08-13 00:30:43