I’m looking for a job & getting slammed because it seems I’m too spread thin.
My resume gets me in the door but doesn’t stick because I’ve only scratched the surface of most languages.
Do you have this same issue with interviews? Do you find most companies believe that a good general developer really will have most of the acronyms mastered?
I realize that once you learn one language, it can be applied to many others and maybe that’s my problem.
Learn one language right, then you may apply the learned to other languages.
As you stated that you “only scratched the surface” that tells me that you know all but nothing.
Specialize first, broaden your skills later.
Eh, I know somethin’ after 10 years. But I do hear ya.
Not sure if this will help you or not, but today, I was contacted by some IT recruiter who supposedly had a client who was looking for 2 full-time Wordpress: one was a senior position (whatever that’s supposed to indicate) while the other, I’m assuming, was a junior opening…
Anyway, when the guy called me, he began to go down his little list of “things to check for.”
Him: “So how many years of experience do you have in ‘x’, ‘y’, and ‘z’?”
Me: “I have about ‘a’, ‘b’, and ‘c’ years with ‘x’, ‘y’, and ‘z’.”
Him: “Do you have any experience in using the Facebook API?”
Me" “I have experience in PHP. I have experience in MySQL. I have experience in CSS and Markup. I’ve done JavaScript, toyed with Flash / ActionScript, and I can throw an Ajax curve ball every now-and-again… But have I explicitly or specifically drove the Disgracebook Chevette API? No. I’ve never had to.”
Him: “I think that’s going to be a deal-breaker…”
Of course, I didn’t answer exactly like that but the conversation boiled down to being like that.
So what’s the point of me telling all this? Part of it is to vent. Also, I guess to say that you’re liable to come across any type of person who not only has a variable understanding of the things they’ve somehow acquired the responsibility to screen for but who also may believe that people exist “out there” who will work for around $12.00 per-hour who can program in about 20 different languages while being some sort of cash-crop for their social media endeavors. Of course, the rabbit hole only goes deeper, but those are some big points.
I think ‘G’ above is hitting the nail on the head–start on one thing. For me, it was PHP (after getting CSS and Strict down-pat). I’ve been using PHP for awhile now and everyday I feel like I’m still learning something new. This stuff changes so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to master all of it–let alone, be good in 1 single thing. Keep in mind, too, that a lot of idiot employers exist who have no business making arrangements for said job type interviews, which leads me to the following sub-tangent…
I once had an interview with someone who was about my age (twenty-something kid who called himself a “CEO” during the half-hour interview process) who determined that in order to see how good I was, I had to go home and redesign 3 websites in less than 72 hours. Amidst the proving grounds were the following:
…Oh, and no source code was available with the last one.
After telling the kid that I might be able to do this in about 1 or 2 weeks (if I killed myself [and even then, I knew I was kidding myself]), he told me that he could have it done cheaper and faster in-house. …Whatever.
So it just goes to show that some massive dumb-asses exist in this field, but like everything else, it’s a game of chance. You get a lot of fluff on CraigsList and you can get a few wooden dimes with CareerBuilder (and Monster, if you’re ever lucky enough to be seen above the Agent Smith pile-up). Over-the-phones suck and if you’re like me (college kid who works over 4 jobs at less than 10-hours-a-week just to get-by while volunteering for about 2 people just to network), then your portfolio will blow and the employers will keep making you feel like you need to just die–they won’t even ask you “why” or care to because to them, if you have a bunch of said “websites I’ve done” on some web page somewhere, that’s proof enough for them to assume that you know your stuff. Your best bet is to become a master of 1 single language, get a job that can hold you off through a few years, and add to your knowledge as you go while continuing to explore niche approaches of revenue.
But that’s just been my anomalous experience. 
I think the general issue is formed of a combination of pure blatant and undiluted ignorance (thereby screening potential employees becomes a “who knows more languages” shakedown) and “Eastern philosophy” (otherwise known as the - I want someone who knows everything about everything and can do it for $10 an hour syndrome). I’ve not been employed by anyone else (always worked as a freelancer) but that’s not to say I’ve not looked into other forms of employment and the most common things I find are non-web professionals doing the interviewing and thereby asking questions with no concept of what is really important (this is most visible in job advertisements on places like Monster where the entire site is infested with moron representations of businesses saying they need someone who knows every acronym on earth). I’ve seen job adverts that “claim” they need someone who knows 5 or 6 server-side languages - and upon enquiring about the job it was just to keep their Wordpress blog up-to-date. The other clear example of ignorance are the employers who start making buzzword claims like “I know a bit about design myself, and I know we need something entirely Web 2.0” <<< this is the one which makes me wanna put my hand through the screen and slap the person on the other end - whether employer or client. The paradox you are encountering is unfortunately the result of the bottom dollar market, yes you could know almost nothing about everything, or you could focus your skills to know loads about little, but no-one can know the kind of things many of these job adverts post for.
My advice: Don’t even bother with any job looking for someone who’s a master of none unless you want to spend your days spreading yourself so thinly you’ll be stuck in that kind of dead end job for the rest of your days. Do as others have said here and pick some core competencies and focus on those instead (perhaps looking towards dedicated job sites for web professionals as those have more realistic expectations and aren’t powered by generic goof-balls). There is a market out there for people with expert skills in a single competency (Just look at Jakob Nielsen), and there’s loads of work out there for people with a well rounded knowledge but with a focus towards certain key skills (so being pretty good at 3-5 things rather than raw at everything)… leave the “I want someone who knows everything” jobs for the people in India and China who’ll snatch any fools money with a great job bid but will do the job pretty poorly and claim it’s made of diamonds.
well,you do need Experience to prove you really are worthy of a particular position.
uh,develop your skills where you know you really excel.
even in php there are many branches now a days…
so employer may ask do u know how to customize magenta,drupal or have you worked with alertpay payment processing…
so these are really big question in the industry i guess…
i think safe stragedy may be to master one and have knowledge about another…i started with php and now i have created apps in dot net and flex…and starting ruby on rails…so it is never ending process and what one need is a desire to learn and good brain …i guess…at the end of the day…
Yes, stick w/ one if you can. For me, I only have Java experiences. Of course, I don’t mind learning other languages but I rather specialize in one field then spread thin… which becomes useless. From my experience, the creative solution comes from people who knows very specific technology. For the people who knows many languages make “boring” solutions as they do not know what new tools are out there to use.
yes,little offtropic
if somebody ask you ,
what do think about future of java?
where do you will be java used in future(may be with out any substitute or with it advantage)?
some of my frens suggest me i should do java as well,but i may be wrong but i could not see any concrete reason and future that i should use java
and i think this last line
For the people who knows many languages make “boring” solutions as they do not know what new tools are out there to use.
is a fallacy and contradictary to itself.
I think the perople who knows many language infact knows news tools and know more techniques to solve the problem.
For eg,C developers has brought lots of things in to PHP ,now even dot net sytle is used in php…
so i could not quite agree with it:)
I have to agree with the other responses, because it appears that most development today focuses on PHP.
To expand on the concept of niche development, what are the few programming languages should people learn if they want to develop for the following:
The mobile web (iphone & ipad), twitter api (they just made it available for everyone), mobile game apps, and other web 2.0 niche developments I’ve missed.
Is it PHP only? JQuery?
no personal comments ,just suggestions
well i think before we start ,i think you need to get basic right…means why particular language exist and what do i want to first…
for eg,every thing found in java cannot be substituted by PHP (but many things found in dot net can be substituted by php …meaning you can use either…)
so firstly know the language and dont try to do all things at once…
Mobile web-php…dot net can do it (there are other as well…) but for real iphone application people use J2MEE and i have once used flash SDK for it …i found flash one was easier but have limited phone support…
mobile games apps…J2MEE and flash for offline games…
web 2.0 …this term is much vauge …but php,dot net,jqeury,css etc combine to produce good 2.0 apps
twitter api-php can be a tool with their native platform even same applies for facebook apps
I agree to a point that they know more programming techniques (pattern) but not necessarily the tools. Still this is just generalizing, I’m sure there are some people who’s really good and knows many programming languages.
As far as Java goes. It’s proven that it’s going to stay for very very long time. In fact, Java is becoming more popular year by year. I think Java came early 90’s… I think. Anyways, the only way that Java will go away permanently is when Object Oriented Programming becomes stale. I truly doesn’t see this in … at least 10 years. Where it’s used? I think the question should be where is it “not” used. PHP is definitely a great language for web but if you’re looking for more general purpose language than Java is much better fit.
i will be lame to question over importance and use of java (as if it is now on present situation…)
but what i am concern about is about its future seeing what java can do is being introduced in other langauge in easier way and with in single framework…
so if one can live with out java,do every thing with java then there is very less developers who will think of using java with out any purpose…
at least in web arena dont feel so.
I know there are lots of java users but do it think it is as general as for eg php for web development…
if somebody says i am web programmer but dont know what php is…then others will may be stare at him…but if i say i am programmer and i dont know java…people will say its ok mate…use this instead…
So your saying,where java is not used? doesnt convince me much
again as i say ,it may be like ,it can be used…but fact is that it is not and it is not necesary it you wish so…
with respect to all java programmers,it may be considered better than php now (as it is more stricter …may be downside of it bcoz of that it is not popular general purpose language) …but i have feeling that time will tell which will be musuem prototype…
In India and China there are people who are competent enough to do their work in a much much better way rather than in buggy and in poorly written code.
But What can be done, if the client wants all these features in a dearth cheap price.
You say, how a programmer will provide features like flash, advance javascript, php and mysql driven site at around only $150 or $250 ?
And above all the client also needs 1 year warranty too. Means the maintenance of his site with all webhosting and domain purchasing.
So in all as the client will be willing to pay, he’l get the result. So it is unwise to blame the coder of India & china that they are not writing the code effectively.
it is natural for personal to be get offended when somebody blames them…so no hard feeling there
but having said that
i disagree with the saying that all indians developers(as they say…even 2 months php coder) are really serious about their job.Now,a 2 months coder claims themselves to be coder ,get some scripts or friends code change it and fish other service buyers.
I dont say it applies for all and seen many good indian developers but most of them esp of outsourcing site like elance,odesk for like that…
Yes,the place has certain benefits like cheap living standards and people are ready to work for 100$ but in many cases in have found myself that they do compromise in work,quality as well as it is low paid job
Plus i have found that really competent indian outsourcing firm doesnt like that way or they agree to work in $150…if they are really competent they will start asking $30 per hour (and they dont consider any thing like that they are indian developer or so on)
and new breed of developers now are just fishing people,i was scammed 300$
some years back…some developers just bask they can do everything and any thing in cheap price,people does get fooled by this…
Promise too much things to get the work…
but as you know this is not to happen or they cannot complete things and what they do …rip off people…
once again,i was remind that i am talking in general and i have worked with very good indian companies as well…and we cannot say all indian developers are like that…
I have no thing against indian developers.
just my comment on thought that there is no compromise with the low price they offer
plus i have found that once you get scammed it is very hard to get your money back…again another disadvantage…
That’s true, Java should not be used because I said “where java is not used?”. I don’t want to get involve w/ PHP vs Java war!!! FIGHT!!! LOL
I’m not even going to begin explaining why Java is 100x greater than PHP. Yeah, say whatever you want~ But as you said, time will tell!!!
yup,i also feel ideal thing to do is leave it to time in this kind of discussion
php or dotnet ,cakephp or zend and so on…
any way just to clarify,
i dont mean java should not be used.It should be but unless we have substitute(may be better substitute)
I am opposing that java is that widespread as you saying(may be 1 out of 50 programmers knows java…)…same is with the system
I agree java is powerful than php (as on now…) i dont know the times though 
but i am saying if every other products moves on implementing features of java there is/will be serious threat on its existence
and i guess power of java comes from its strictness and see the downside as well…because of strictness…many doesnt opt to be java programmer or use java…(so there is always two sides in coin…:))
other yes time will tell…
let wait and see
no offence though
HIbernate alone makes Java more powerful than php, as thus web frameworks likes like struts, etc. This only starts to make the difference once the site is complex enough though. php is stuck in the niche at scripting web interfaces, where as java is a also a fine language for complex servers and back end applications. At least in the UK, Java jobs same to be higher paid than php, but you have to know Spring and J2EE, and usually lots of random frameworks first.