Career with PHP or ASP.NET?

Question

I started programing in 'Jan 2006', with .NET framework as a desktop application developer. In the same company I worked for exactly two years with VB.NET (desktop and web applications (asp.net)).

Actually I changed my job due to some problematic situation in the company. When I was facing these problematic situations my frined offered me a job in PHP (not with very high scale salary, but it was better than previous). I joined my friend's company, I am working on PHP, magento and on various open-source programs, but not on ASP.NET, which I always liked the most.

But still I am a good programmer in ASP.NET (C#), with working in my current company, I have developed a project side-by-side in ASP.NET (C#), which is my own.

The best thing of my current company is I learned what the Web development actually is. I worked with some big social networking projects, (which are equivalent to digg, mixx) and have a good ranking in Search engines. I am enjoying the work here, but I am worried about future?

Future is ASP.NET or PHP ? where should I go, or there is no problem If i work with both. So, I want to know that, I am on the right track, will companies accept me If I'll show both language experience in my CV?

Answer 1

Both PHP and ASP.NET will continue to evolve and be around for a long time to come.

Focus your employment goals on what you most enjoy working with and working on, not the relative popularity of different languages.

Answer 2

I personally would never look negatively at a CV that had both .NET and PHP experience. It is the overall experience that I really focus on - and the fact that you are able to say that you are competent at more than one language is great. Indeed, say you were a .Net developer - there is always a distinct possibility of you needing to know / interact with PHP (such as when working with clients).

Both .Net and PHP are very well established languages. Both worthy of inclusion in your CV.

Answer 3

Ask yourself, do my skills transcend the language I'm working in? Do I understand what is going on under the covers? Am I using good designs and patterns? If the answers are yes, you are fine. If, on the other hand, you are still hacking together PHP or ASP.Net code, your knowledge is mostly of the language syntax and libraries, and you don't really understand fundamental principles, then you are probably stuck.

The language you work in does not determine how good a programmer you are. It is your ability to transcend that language that does.

Answer 4

Include both. The only reasons I can think of for not including a part of your experience on your CV are if you don't want to work with that language or platform, or if you are very aware that your knowledge and experience are more out of date than your CV would indicate (for example, if you worked with C#.NET for a year, but since then have become heavily involved in PHP instead, and have forgotten much of the C# knowledge).

Answer 5

Even if I am hiring for a job in language X, I like to see experience in other languages and frameworks. It suggests a breadth of knowledge that a single-language resume does not.

Answer 6

you may want to check asp.net web forms versus others

Answer 7

My philosophy for CVs is that you want to make it easy for your 'champion' to get you hired.

What I mean by this is that often in the employment process (and arguments in general) is that you will one person/group that will want to hire you and one group that are not so keen. What you want to do is make it as easy as possible for the group/person on your side to argue your case. For all the reasons listed above it would make his/her case easier to argue with both Php and dotnet included.

Answer 8

PHP is a lot more popular then ASP. The problem is there are millions of ppl that call themselves "PHP programmers" having only vague idea of programming at all. And they occupy millions of low salary jobs related to so called "web programming". So you should have something that will mark difference between you and these ppl. Demonstrable experience with UNIX/Linux, with databases, with popular frameworks, in depth knowledge of Apache etc.

Answer 9

Obviously, it helps to know more than one language, but its much better to focus on an area/language and be an expert on it, rather then being mediocre at multiple things.

PHP and .NET will both be around for a very long time because they both have so many current projects.