[Fugatu]

Hey everyone!
I dont want to start a holywar, but I cant find answers to my questions on my own. Probably this post will look silly, but whatever.
So I am a junior C# developer now. I really like Microsoft technologies stack, I do quite well (for junior).
I am planning my career as follows: working fulltime for few years to get good .NET knowledge and than either start doing my own projects while still working fulltime either make a little company to create own products.
In both ways what I try to achieve is having own products which will be giving me passive income without too much maintenance work needed for them once created. I guess you know what I mean. Like..selling some program, or some website, etc, so it passively gives me money and I need to spend maybe few hours per week to maintain it.

Sure I dont have any projects ideas atm (well, I have one, it's web-project I am developing atm, it started out as "for fun" project but still can turn into some moneygiving thing).
Also I would like to have an ability to do freelance (odesk for example).
Would .NET be good for it? Would it be in demand, would it be effective to do what I plan?
Or is, say, Java better? More in demand, easier to find cheap server etc...

Also I am a bit lost what language fits what.
As far as I know - C# is perfect for standalone windows programs. It's also good for web-development, but still hard to find Microsoft servers and they are expensive. Or am I wrong?
Php seems perfect for web, but its ONLY for web.
Java...it's good for both, right? Or not?

Explain it to me, please! Sorry for lame questions!

[tlhIn`toq]

Yeah, you're sparking a "Which language is best?" war.

This has been covered so many times here. The short answer is:

They are all good, and they are all bad. You need the right tool for the job. You don't build desktop application in HTML. You have to decide what area of programming you want to do. You talk about "contract work" like it is all the same. That's like saying "Plastics". There are 100,000 different kinds. If you want to code for Xbox games you use a different language and IDE than you do for iPad games. So you need to pick an area of coding you want to work in, then determine what tools are used for that.

As for the questions about "what will be useful in the future?"... We aren't fortune tellers. If we had a crystal ball that told us the future of computing software engineers wouldn't be in the unemployment lines along side welders. And if the senior developers looking for work had that crystal ball, frankly they wouldn't be telling kids fresh out of school what areas to go to so as to create even more competition for those rare jobs.

I think you need to recognize the that software engineering is a job in the real world just like any other. People compete. 1,000 applicants apply for 1 job. That's the real world.

If you want to compete on oDesk, great. Then actually LOOK at oDesk for the desired skills rather than ask us. What contracts are being offered? What technologies are being asked for? What is the pay rate for those gigs? Can you build a system fast enough to make a living at it? Because here's what I notice there most of the time: Someone wants you to build an entire Point of Sale system from inventory to sales counter software, with barcode reader integration and full on-line ecommerce store. The maximum pay is $500. If you can build all of that in 10 hours then you are making $50/hour or around $100k/year. Which is what you need to make considering you are freelance and have to pay your income taxes and social security out of that since you are now your employer. If you can build all of that in 10 hours: Wow! If it takes you 100 hours (2.5 work weeks is still pretty quick) then you are making $5/hour. Can you feed your family on that? Not if you live in a first world country. Maybe if you live in Mumbai.

[Fugatu]

Thanks alot for your reply!

Yeah, after thinking about it I understood that I ask too bad question and I need to choose certain area I would like to work in.

After thinking quite some time I understood that I am interested in:
1). web-development
AND
2). standalone programs (but not enterprise ones).
3). Development for mobile platforms is also nice, Android/iOs.

1st and 2nd categories are what I want the most. Android/iOs is good too.

I am NOT interested in big systems which are hard to integrate, I am not interested in enterprise systems.

What would you advice me for it? Thanks alot again for your reply!

[tlhIn`toq]

Web, desktop and mobile applications. So... everything other than enterprise scaled applications. yeah- that narrows it down.

What would I suggest? Narrow it down. "Desktop applications" covers everything from games to business software to graphic arts.

Pick one something. Get good at it. When you can learn no more, do no more, have reached the point where nothing challenges you... learn something else.

[Fugatu]

Thanks for reply!
If I narrow it down to something one it's gonna be web-development definetly.
Suggestions please?

[no2pencil]

Fugatu, on 06 November 2012 - 12:18 AM, said:

If I narrow it down to something one it's gonna be web-development definetly.
Suggestions please?

Generally you have two types of people that go into the freelance market :

A developer that is an expert in their chosen area, be it coding or graphics, or whatever.
A developer that has little to no experience in any field, & is looking to gain from it.

The 1st group will charge higher dollar amounts, & will likely get them because they can offer a premium service. The 2nd group will offer a lower price because their gain will be experience more so than financial.

I'm pretty sure you are in the 2nd group. So move slow, go with what you know, & make sure you are charging accordingly.

What does all of this have to do with language of choice? Go with what you know, mixed with where you want to go with your career. An expert in Unix C/C++ will be able to turn out projects they are familiar with, & make good money. Windows development, on the other hand, might be slower. So they will look bad taking everything under the sun & not targetting correctly. In short, it's really not possible for us to suggest to you what works best, because we really don't know anything about you. Try a few C# projects, see how you like it.

The word of freelance is not determined by the language