

Ask HN: What programming language/framework to use in a side project? - quaffapint

I&#x27;m a long time .NET and PHP dev (yes, I hear HN cringing) and have a couple side projects I want to put together. My corporate job is in .NET and my current couple of side projects are in PHP. I don&#x27;t have tons of free time between my job and family, and anything I want to learn has to be &quot;for profit&quot;. Meaning, I want to learn things that will keep me or get me employed (outside the startup&#x2F;San Fran world).<p>Do, I just beef up more on .NET to cover things I don&#x27;t do at work or try to expand into like Python? What about front-end, stick with MVC view templates&#x2F;jquery or try Angular?<p>Does it look better on the resume having experience with more or more experience with few?
======
guiambros
Go with something you've never tried before. Not only for the intellectual
challenge, but because it will pay off in the long run: make you more
versatile, better understanding of different programming paradigms, open new
doors to positions at companies that aren't .net/PHP shops.

Python with Django and Angular is a solid option, particularly with the
widespread adoption of the language. Ruby on Rails is a popular choice too,
but less use in the traditional corporate world (which I guess is your space,
given .net).

Some may say functional programming, but less commercial value. Go is a great
language too, but haven't played with any mvc framework yet.

------
duiker101
My suggestion is to go for something you never tried so yes, Python with
django could be a good thing if you never used them and for javascript try
dropping and going for angular/backbone/ember. For the resume I think it
depends on what you want. I like to have a bit of everything so if I want to
change field I can. But that means that I am not yet a super expert on
anything. I think that if you became truly good at one thing you could ask for
a higher salary but you will be stuck with it and might be harder to find a
job. But this is just my personal opinion.

------
taurenk
I'm in a similar boat - for work I mostly use MSSQL/.net. For side projects I
have been using Python/Flask which have not only been a blast to use but seem
to be very flexible.

------
quaffapint
Thanks to those that made suggestions - it's appreciated to hear other
people's opinions. I was hoping to get more, but without front page on HN that
doesn't happen.

------
gmturbo
Node.js

