[Flipp]

Hi Guys,

First of all I would like to introduce myself as this is the first time I have posted.
I'm not really a forum lover, but... I believe its time to give it a good go as networking is so beneficial! I have referred to this forum a good few times before and believe this is the site to apply myself to. So, nice to meet you all

I'm gonna dive right in and get to the point. I'm looking for some career advice and hopefully some guidance towards gaining relevant skills. I have graduated from University with a bachelors degree and currently just been laid off from a graduate software engineer role. In this role we were mainly using SyBase PowerBuilder and SQL. As some people may be aware, PowerBuilder isn't an openly used development language in the UK. When taking on this job I was fully aware of this fact. But I still made the choice to take on the role to gain some experience. I have 5 months experience and don't really have any great understanding of openly used languages. I have noticed that ASP.NET is a highly sought after language in my neck off the woods, I have never developed in this language but i am very keen to learn. I just want some opinions on this language, anything would be a great help

Thanks for your time guys

[FungalMonkey]

Hi Flipp, and welcome!

ASP.NET is a highly sought after framework (VB and C# are examples of the 'languages'), and I've found that a wider skill-set that includes it is beneficial in the market.

As a freshman in the .NET world, I would probably suggest that you start with ASP.NET MVC in C#, it may be easier for you to go to from powerbuilder, and it is a commonly requested language in the Job market.
However, because of the similarities between the new .NET languages, and the fact that they use a Common Language Runtime, the gap between C and VB is not a great one any longer.

As a native VB developer, translating to VB.NET and ASP.NET VB Webforms after .NET 2005, I have found that I can create the same software/web apps with these languages in .NET as I could in C#.

I have a 25 strong team of developers that range from VB6 up to .NET 4 in both VB and C#. The .NET guys command more money, but work harder for their pennies and each of them is proficient in SQL, AJAX, jQuery, MVC and Razor. I believe (a least a subset of) these would be recommended as companion skills by most potential employers.

Hope this helps you in making your decision!

Regards,

FungalMonkey

[Flipp]

Hi FungalMonkey, thanks for your reply!

I have some experience of VB.NET already, I have briefly covered this language in university and I have to say.. I liked it alot! I guess the main point of appeal with this language is the fact that it is event driven.

To be honest I am very much am amateur, even though I have a degree!
You said that it would be best to start with ASP.NET MVC. How do I go about getting the software? I will have a look for the software after I have posted this reply, this may be irrelevant but I would just like to check that I am using the correct version.

Now that you know that I have prior experience and interest in VB.NET, would you still recommend diving into C#?

Also, do you have any resources which may help me pick up C#


Thanks

[DivideByZero]

If you know and like VB.NET, why not just use that for your ASP.NET adventures?
You can use any .NET language with ASP.NET, so you might as well use the one you're most comfortable with