Java or VB ?
Hey everyone,
I hope the subject doesn't scare you. I'm not stirring up that debate. However, I do hope some of you guru's can take a few minutes and help me out with this one.
I was a System Administrator for 10 years. Over the past few years I've been exposed to more and more programming and programmers until I couldnt take it anymore. :) I thought it was cool and wanted to transition my career. I've been studying VB 05, Visual C#, ASP.NET and some other stuff, all using Visual Sudio 2005. I kind of got pushed into the Microsoft arena. But, I've been scoping the local market lately and have noticed that there are 4 or 5 times more Java jobs then VB or C#.
There is a local Java Users Group here, some other events and the Java community as a whole seems pretty kewl and helpful.
All that to say, if I got at it hard, build some apps, a site for myself and get some Sun Developer certs, all combined with my experience, do I have a good shot at getting my foot in the door as a Java Developer / Programmer ? Or do I have a better shot with entry level stuff doing VB ?
I've learned a lot over the past few months but before I really start getting heavy into a language and focusing on certs, I'd really love to know the language I should pursue considering my circumstances.
Hope some of you can help.
Thanks in advance.
Snydley
[1408 byte] By [
Snydleya] at [2007-11-27 11:58:28]
If your goal is to get a job programming, and Java jobs outnumber .NET jobs 4or 5 to 1 (It's the opposite where I am), and this isn't a religious issue for you, isn't the answer obvious?
Ha, obviously not. Although the market is heavy Java here, my main concern is from an entry level perspective.
Regardless of the the fact is Java 4 o5 to 1 here, I want to ensure that Java jobs are not "typically" for the super gurus and that I have just a good of chance getting an entry level job in Java then I do in VB or C#.
Thoughts ?
I was kind of in the same situation whether take a Job in Java or ASP.NET
I use both in my work now, but if you are searching for a good income Job, I think you should go with Java than .NET technology.
But since you are a newbie with Java, its going to take way long to get a Java programming Job, that too with no knowlege of advance technologies.
Both the technologies are pretty exiting programming wise, It just depends on the time to can spend.
> Regardless of the the fact is Java 4 o5 to 1 here, I
> want to ensure that Java jobs are not "typically" for
> the super gurus and that I have just a good of chance
> getting an entry level job in Java then I do in VB or
> C#.
>
> Thoughts ?
Then you need to look at what minimum requirements are listed for those Java and VB and C# jobs.
> Ha, obviously not. Although the market is heavy Java
> here, my main concern is from an entry level
> perspective.
>
> Regardless of the the fact is Java 4 o5 to 1 here, I
> want to ensure that Java jobs are not "typically" for
> the super gurus and that I have just a good of chance
> getting an entry level job in Java then I do in VB or
> C#.
>
> Thoughts ?
It depends on your market. Where I'm at there're not a lot of entry level java developer jobs, but just across the river there are.
tsitha at 2007-7-29 19:19:47 >
If you felt comfortable with C# and it did not look to you like a
guru language, than I would definitely go to Java.
I didnt think there were any VB jobs, lol.
Now if the question were C#/Java that'd be different.
Id almost argue C# if you were purely financially driven.
But then again, thats not really for beginners.
You'd probably have a better chance eeking by with Java.
> Ha, obviously not. Although the market is heavy Java
> here, my main concern is from an entry level
> perspective.
>
> Regardless of the the fact is Java 4 o5 to 1 here, I
> want to ensure that Java jobs are not "typically" for
> the super gurus and that I have just a good of chance
> getting an entry level job in Java then I do in VB or
> C#.
>
> Thoughts ?
Indeed, I was assuming that if it was 4/5 to 1, the ratio couldn't be wildly different for entry level jobs. But as mentioned, the obvious thing to do is to investigate the entry level job market. If the job descriptions are on-line, this shouldn't take very long at all.
> I didnt think there were any VB jobs, lol.
lol. VB has been used almost everywhere I've worked, lol. Mainly for developing quick in-house utilities lol. You can throw together a sales reporting/data-entry tool using VB/VBA and Excel or Access in minutes, lol.
tsitha at 2007-7-29 19:19:47 >
Java is portable to whatever has the JVM on it..Net is Windows only. So if you found a job and they use Unix/Linux machines and you only know the .Net framework...you are in a pickle.
Fortunately not financially driven at this point in time. Just want to get a programming job, preferrably Java. Like I said, thus far my exposure to the community, including this forum have been really positive and it'd be cool to not have to go down the MS path.
So, most of you are saying I'd probably be good to go with Java, especially due to my local market being heavy Java.
A lot of the big business here in town are Java. You don't suppose they're all gonna switch to MS and .NET anytime soon do ya ?
Another thing, again, I don't wanta start a debate on this, but I've got the latest SDK but wondering what IDE I should go with that will also prove beneficial when job hunting.
Thanks in advance.
> Fortunately not financially driven at this point in
> time. Just want to get a programming job, preferrably
> Java.
Then I would definitely look into getting a job that deals with java.
[snip]
> A lot of the big business here in town are Java. You
> don't suppose they're all gonna switch to MS and .NET
> anytime soon do ya ?
>
No idea, but I wouldn't completely forget whatever .NET experience you might have. Besides, except in some extreme cases the general programming techniques you know are more important than whatever language you happen to be using to express those techniques.
> Another thing, again, I don't wanta start a debate on
> this, but I've got the latest SDK but wondering what
> IDE I should go with that will also prove beneficial
> when job hunting.
>
Eclipse seems to be a good choice - whatever you want though should be fine. If I were you I'd become quite comfortable working from the command line.
tsitha at 2007-7-29 19:19:47 >
> Another thing, again, I don't wanta start a debate on this, but I've got the latest
> SDK but wondering what IDE I should go with that will also prove beneficial
> when job hunting.
Doesn't matter in the least. I'm sure several posters will also tell you to learn the basics before leaning on the IDE.
If I were interviewing someone for a Java programming job, and they said, "I've only used IDE X, I hope that's what you use". I would look for the red button on my desk that opens the trap door. What IDE you use doesn't matter.
Well there ya have it. Thanks a ton to all of you that replied.
Okay, I guess I should throw in this last question. If I need to throw out more stars let me know ! :)
If you gurus were in my position, tutorials, website and that jazz aside, what we be the first book of choice that I should go buy tonight ?
btw: BigDaddy: I hate those trap doors so I'll be grabbing any ol IDE. :)
Don't buy anything to start.
Do Sun's Java Tutorial, then you can buy specialized stuff.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
