

Ask HN: Confused with career. - myrnm

Hello,
I have got 2 job offers, First is Java Engineer and other is Web Front End Engineer. Salaries vary marginally. I want to know which job will help me to take my career to next level. While both the companies are having $100mn plus revenue. I am unable to decide which one i should opt.
Thank You.
======
iqster
Agreed ... more info is necessary.

Everything else being equal, I would recommend you go for the front-end job.
This will be more challenging (debugging with Eclipse != debugging across
browser variations), more fun (Javascript and JQuery), and will likely be more
relevant if you ever join or do a startup.

IMHO, Java is a stagnant language. The last time I had looked at Java
seriously was around 2001-2003. I started a job at a Java-heavy place last
year, and was shocked at how little the language has changed. If you want a
career as a corporate programmer, the Java job _might_ be the way to go. FYI
.. in my current job, I code rails when some of my colleagues code Servlets ..
and then the are shocked when I am over 10 times faster than them. Also, I
recommend PG's book Hackers and Painters, which has some better reasons why
Java is not a great language (I think he called it an evolutionary dead-end).

Also, I was at an Oracle-Java presentation a short while ago, where they
claimed that new Java releases will become a lot more frequent (I seem to
recall a major revision every 2 years, with minor releases every year). I
think this will actually hasten the demise of the language.

Edit: I just want to mention ... I would not pick a job based on the
technology. Rather, I would do so on the quality of people, and the domain of
the problem/work. SERIOUSLY!!!

~~~
myrnm
Currently i am a hobbyist web developer. JAVA is a new concept for me, but
Java based company will provide me additional training with JAVA. But i am
concerned that javascript opportunities are limited???

------
hansy
What about the job environments? Which one do you feel more comfortable
working in?

Even if there were a right or wrong answer regarding which position will
launch your "career to [the] next level", you could still flounder in one
place if you are generally unhappy with your coworkers, your bosses, the
company policies/structure, location, etc.

------
sebg
Think about what you would learn at both companies and whether that would help
you get to where you want to go. Also, which team do you like more. The best
work experiences I have had were due to the friendliness and quality of the
team.

------
atarian
It's not the technology that matters it's what the company offers to you to
help you grow (classes, training, good team, etc).

------
dotcoma
I would be unable, too, if I didn't know (you don't tell us) my strengths and
what I want to do...

