

Ask HN: ASP.NET practical in terms of job prospects? - iapetos

Getting into programming would ASP.NET MVC be practical in terms of job prospects ?<p>I have tried to get hands on with Android development but since I did not have a Java background i hit a wall.
I am discovering a liking for .NET and the face that it has MVC now as a part of it frameworks make me think that a jump to another MVC framework like RoR would be possible.
Any tips or links for ASP.NET MVC 2 or 3 ?
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sontek
.NET is _huge_ for job prospects. Outside of the valley I see more .NET than
any other language. There are a lot of government/military contracts as well
as large corporations who have their whole infrastructure on Microsoft and so
all development is done on it.

That being said, if you are reading HN you are probably interested in the
startup community and you will not find as many startups using it.

If you like .NET you can also do iPhone and Android development using
<http://xamarin.com/>.

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iapetos
Thanks sontek xamarin sounds pretty interesting

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jbigelow76
.NET is very pragmatic as far as job opportunities go (I'll leave it for the
zealots to dither about "startup" jobs vs "enterprise" jobs).

I'm hit up multiple times a week with emails or calls from recruiters
wondering if I'm available or know anybody that is.

You may as well start off in MVC3, but the fundamentals between 2 and 3 are
the same so learning using content targeted at 2 will carry over to 3.

As far as training, Pluralsight was mentioned in another comment below, it's
an excellent resource and well worth the subscription fee for it's breadth of
content. In addition tekpub.com offers training vids in MVC. Both Pluralsight
and tekpub offer videos that go beyond .NET into things like javascript,
jquery, Android dev, iOS, CSS etc...

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iapetos
Thank for chiming in @jbigelow I am on Pluralsight and that is a great
resource indeed. However, since I do not have any VB programming experience
should I start learning VB first and then get into ASP.NET ?

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steverb
No. Learn C#. There is much wider adoption of C#, and in the early days of
.NET C# skills actually commanded a higher salary (it has the letter C, it
must be good).

C# gets a lot more love from MS than VB does.

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steverb
Yes, ASP.NET MVC is very practical.

It's not completely main stream in the .NET community right now, and you will
find that a lot of enterprises are still on Web Forms. None of that matters in
the slightest though.

You do not want to work anywhere that isn't looking to make a move to MVC, or
that is under the impression that knowing MVC you can't figure Web Forms out
on the job.

I just left one employer (50,000 + employees) doing MVC (along with Web Forms,
RoR, iPhone and other stuff), to move to another much smaller (but better
paying) employer doing MVC. I live in flyover country (Knoxville TN) and am
getting close to west coast rates doing MVC.

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hkarthik
There are lots of jobs for anyone capable and willing to do ASP.NET. But
building a career on .NET can lock you into the Microsoft ecosystem in the
eyes of many employers. Depending on how you look at it, that can be a good or
bad thing.

 _I have tried to get hands on with Android development but since I did not
have a Java background i hit a wall. I am discovering a liking for .NET_

I'm curious about this statement, mainly because C# in .NET is very close to
Java. The Visual Studio IDE definitely makes things more approachable for
newbies than Eclipse, but I'm interested to know more about the 'wall' you are
hitting with Java.

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iapetos
@hkarthik I understand getting trapped in the ecosystem. That is a choice I
would have to make if I am going into .NET.

By the wall probably it is the Visual studio IDE that is making the learning
process easier for me. Probably that is what it is.

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srdev
You don't have to be trapped in the ecosystem. I made a transition from a .Net
ecosystem into Linux + Java a while back. It's hard, but not impossible,
especially if you keep up to date with your non-.Net skills.

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tmather99
<http://www.pluralsight-training.net>

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recoiledsnake
ASP.NET is big in enterprise, especially related to government contracting in
the US. However most demand currently is in ASP.NET Web Forms although ASP.NET
MVC is slowly taking hold.

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jbigelow76
Good point, Webforms is more prevalent since they have been around for years
and are entrenched as legacy in a lot of places. But MVC is making inroads,
I've been using it at my job since version 1. Some of it may also come down to
recruiters not including MVC yet in their "grocery list" of requirement
buzzwords when staffing a position.

The OP might have more luck getting in with a consulting firm if possible
since the variety of projects could lead to greater chances of working with
MVC and more current .NET tech.

