.NET Programmers In Demand, Despite MS Moves To Metro

mikejuk writes "Are you a newbie programmer looking for a job? It seems your best bet is to opt for .NET. According to technical jobs website Dice.com, companies in the U.S. have posted more than 10,000 positions requesting .NET experience — a 25 percent increase compared to last year's .NET job count. So Microsoft may want us to move on to Metro but the rest of the world seems to want to stay with .NET."

Comments

Confused

[sourcerror]

Isn't Metro just a different GUI library on top of .Net?

Re:Confused

[lightknight]

Metro is not the 'problem.' It's their announced shift to C++ (which pulls resources away from C#, as per the original timeline).

MS saying they want more focus on C++ is a tactful way of saying "we're deprecating C#, fuck you guys." And most of the people who have worked with and promoted MS technologies know how to read between the lines. Since the C# development community is huge for Windows development (extremely large, like it might eclipse C++ in terms of the number of people who actually develop deployed applications with it (not school projects, etc.)), they're essentially destroying a fair portion of their own developer base. Like have the artillery fire on your own supply airports; it's not just dumb, it doesn't make any rational sense.

C++ is fine, but many C/C++ programmers transitioned to C# a long time ago. That's in addition to the people from other languages that got pulled into C#. They choose C# over C/C++ and friends to get away from the inconveniences of those languages. Building an application in an afternoon is a fricking strength; being able to easily debug it is a strength; having Intellisense work and give useful information about a method you need to use just once in your career is a strength. Unless you are building device drivers or building something that isn't on a MS platform, there really isn't a point in using C or C++. Namespaces, bitches, learn to love them. Learn to enjoy strings being a first class primitive with full support, and not having to spend time chasing the '\0' that you forgot. And so on. Unless you're a masochist.

Unfortunately, there's this weird myth that C# programmers suck, but only among people who do not use the language. You'd think that despite the fact that it's a MS technology, C/C++ programmers transitioning to it would have been a strong sign that it's a better f*cking language. And C# isn't just a variant of Java; they are not that similar. I believe C#'s language specc alone has been eating Java for the last two generations.

C# is a core technology that keeps MS afloat. If I were a shareholder, I'd be frightened that they're doing this. Like sell my shares now frightened.

Re:Confused

[SpryGuy]

That is factually untrue.

"Microsoft demoed creating new WinRT components on both C++ and .NET."

http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Sep-15.html

What a stupid headline

[ilsaloving]

Of *course* .NET programmers are demand 'despite the move to metro'. Windows 8 isn't going to be release for at least a year, and Windows shops need software built *now*.

I mean, c'mon... that's not even wrong!

Slashdot needs competent editors, not user surveys

[pdxChris]

Slashdot just did a survey, that asked whether readers would recommend Slashdot to others. Here is a perfect example of why I answered No to that question, and would have picked Hell No if that option had been in the survey. An increase in job postings for .Net is newsworthy on a "news for nerds" site. Totally ignorant, misinformed, clueless, stupid, arrogant and worthless editorializing, in the article and the headline, is not at all news for nerds, nor is it stuff that matters. Not only is the commentary about Metro completely wrong, so is the "home for newbies" slant. The linked article clearly indicates that more than 70% of resume searches in .Net are for developers with at least four years of experience. Obviously it's impossible to have four years experience with Metro, but it is entirely possible to have been using .Net for a decade now. The article has no mention at all of Metro. The article also mentioned an utterly ignorant, untrue, trite fear of .Net developers: that their skills do not carry over to other platforms. I guess this means a lot of fearful .Net developer who have never heard of Java? Where does Slashdot get the editors to approve this kind of junk?

Re:Microsoft Does Not Eat Its own Dog Food

[PPH]

The demand for .NET programmers is to fill the vacancies created by the previous group having seen the light and fled.

Dice.com posts ads for positions that companies are having trouble filling.

Metro or .NET, why use any?

[loufoque]

Why in your right mind would be using any of these?

Re:People stay with what they know

[micheas]

Either that or there is a mass defection of programmers from dot net to other platforms that are viewed as having more of a future.

There are a lot of possible reasons for the influx of ads for a skilled position. Some of them indicating a healthy platform, some of them not.

Re:People stay with what they know

[ghjm]

Look, isn't it obvious that .NET is simply transitioning from early mainstream to late mainstream? You can only conceivably call it a "dying" platform if your perspective is 100% early adopter, which is 100% not the perspective of business customers.