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
Monster.com has over 500,000 ASP.NET jobs and under 250,000 PHP jobs. For all I know Monster has WAY over 500,000 ASP.NET jobs … the tally topped out at half a million.
To focus a little, here Monster limited to Atlanta:
PHP: 50 jobs asp.net: 125
Different site, different city, New York, Careerbuilder:
PHP: 90 asp.net: 150
All results are pretty much me typing the search phrases “php” or “asp.net”. For all I know ads are popping up that say “no asp.net developers”, or, “asp.net or php, whatever”.
Anyway, those PHP numbers having been gaining on asp.net for awhile but I think it’s pretty clear asp.net is still in the lead, jobs wise.
Five years in the future? I doubt either will be popular.
Depends on the market. When being hired by a company with a lot of other programmers and existing technology, especially larger organisations it’s way more likely that ASP.NET will be in demand. (My anecdotal evidence is the national papers which VERY RARELY mention PHP).
If you’re are looking to build solutions for smaller clients, or businesses which don’t specify the technology then PHP is probably dominant. Really depends on the culture or the organizations you’re targeting.
I noticed on job sites such as monster and careerbuilder that there are more ASP.Net jobs than PHP jobs available, but that may change. I also think the ASP.Net jobs are from larger companies (which may mean more money for you) whereas smaller businesses may look to hire PHP developers.
