what about java?

mahmoudelkady

Hello there,
I am now in the course of studying for the 70-536 exam (Microsoft),
I love programming a lot,
But all my experience in so far was in c++ and the MS.NET using c#.
I have read about java and found the idea of write once run every where to be very attractive,
I mean come on, from cell phones and small hardware devices to any operating system? That is really something, regardless of the fact that some java applications have to be written again when using a different platform, that still rocks,
Now I have two questions, and they both have to do with jobs quantity (that is: the number of jobs available) and quality (salary and compensations) between the .net on one hand, and java on the other hand:
1- Form an individual point of view can one developer -in practice not in theory- (in java) develops for many operating systems in the same time? This is very important because java has obviously more jobs than the .NET, but they require dealing with diverse of operating systems and technologies, so if the answer is no this means that in reality as a .NET developer one might have a better opportunity to find a job than a java developer (assuming that the two communities are equal) which is absolutely not the case if the answer in yes,
I mean if I became a MCPD and search DICE for .NET jobs, I can pick up nearly any job and apply for it if I have the required experience, is it the same if I became a sun certified java Architect ? I can right JAVA and apply for any thing? Or there r paths (in the arena of study) that by choosing them eliminate other paths, so though in theory "JAVA" can develop for any thing,"I" on the other hand will be forced in practice to choose and write for Particular platforms/technologies and leaving others for instance OS or Unix or Windows.
2 – Am I right in seeing that the .NET salaries are higher than java's and that java's require much more experience and deep knowledge of other different technologies as opposed to the .net that seems like a package that u study and find a job close to what u have been studying?
I also need an illumination on the trends for software developing industry, it is changing so fast, is it on Microsoft side or java's or another side?
I Really need your help on that one, cuz I feel that am in one of those situations where I really need to make a major decision that is gonna affect my entire life for a long time, my heart is on programming and I will be a developer, but I really need your advice, Microsoft forum has already turned me down by not answering, so not doing the same can be one more reason for why java is better that .NET .
Thank you very much for helping me.

milliamp

"I have read about java and found the idea of write once run every where to be very attractive, "

I can't comment on most of your post but I don't believe this statement to be true. Java may generally be OS independent (depending on libraries used), but in my experience most of the complex Java applications I have used have very specific JRE version requirements.

As much as I hate MS, I think I actually hate Java based applications more. I am not sure what the specific numbers look like as I am shooting from the hip, but I think Java was hot about 5 years ago, but not as much today.

If I were in your shoes I would probably go with C#, and being that it isn't totally unlike Java, it would not be that hard to go for Java later on if the job market requires.

vegetaholic

If you want to Move from C# to Java then you have to leave many things you learned,
programming in C#.