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I think it depends on whether you want to specialise, or be more of a "jack of all trades". I've done C, C++, Java, C# and .NET and found all to still be in demand however I think it is fair to say that given the investment in .NET that Microsoft have made that it is going to be a major player in the coming years. With that in mind, I would be tending toward C# however I don't think you would find it hard to jump to Java (or vice versa).
Don't know much about game programming (others can probably add more) however I think that C/C++ is probably still the language of choice, along with a comprehensive set of tools for graphics design, animation and so on. However, I have heard arguments for C# but not too sure about that.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Benjamin
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This is a rather late reply, but I just read your post.
I am around for a very long time and had to change professional directions many times in my life. If anything, the direction in computer science will change with ever increasing frequency.
Do not "overthink" this issue.
Just learn how to think, then you can change direction at short notice.
Daniela
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Hi ,
I am a Windows programmer with 2 years of experience in Visual C++. I have mainly worked with GUI where I report embedded data using SLIP and RS-232. For displaying this data I have been making using of Active X controls such as plots and grids.
I am also working using XML and built a custom parser . This parser was used to parse a document that embodied information about a home appliance in a heirarchical fashion .
I have a masters in Computer Science with a specialization in Information Systems . My emphasis has been in Database systems , Object oriented design , Client Server development and Networking .
I have a Bachelors degree in electrical Engineering .
I am looking for a software developer's position . I have just 6 months remaining in this country to look out for a full -time position as I am pursuing my OPT(optional practical training) after my masters.
I would be very grateful if someone can help me in this search . my email is
ramapra@iit.edu
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Hi
I am based in London and was wondering (regardless of where you are based) what the health of the Web Development market is like in your area/country?
Just out of interest.
Cheers
John
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Hi John,
I too am in London, and the market as a whole seems to me to be picking up, but very slowly. Check out www.jobstats.co.uk[^] for IT job market stats in the UK.
Dylan
[Bush] said he's praying for guidance about Iraq. I'm thinking there is no way God would direct him to start a war with anyone. Only Satan wants wars. Conclusion: Bush must be a Satan Worshiper. Cathy, Soapbox, 07/03/03
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johncogan wrote:
I am based in London and was wondering (regardless of where you are based) what the health of the Web Development market is like in your area/country?
Our market is London web-dev and if you are willing to do things cheaply then there is plenty of business. If you charge the rates of the .com era then you can forget it.
Here in SA it is not all that good.
Still an employers market.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa
Macbeth muttered:
I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er
DavidW wrote:
You are totally mad. Nice.
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Hi Paul
Yea I am based in London myself but am from SA originally. Have been considering going back to SA recently (Been here 5 years too long) and looking for work there but the market aint that good there for localised work unless your an exceptional guru of every technology under the sun, at least thats what I am told...
How do you guys manage to secure overseas contracts when based overseas, must be a little difficult to liase with the prospective client?
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johncogan wrote:
How do you guys manage to secure overseas contracts when based overseas, must be a little difficult to liase with the prospective client?
We have our sales office in London itself. It has some technicians for onsite work. Projects are analysed, specced etc. there and then the spec sent down here where we develop it and then send back to London.
Communication is no problem. Time zones, culture, language etc. are very similar.
We can undercut the competition which is really what clients are looking for (along with reliability these days.)
As for SA jobs we are just hiring a new guy now. Analysist slash developer. Not an entry level job, about mid level experience, not a guru.
Other than that though most places are staying with what they have or are shedding developers from what I have seen. Not sure what the story is for gurus vs. normal developers.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa
Macbeth muttered:
I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er
DavidW wrote:
You are totally mad. Nice.
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Hmm yea, but then SA in general has always been on the conservative side of things in terms of internet commercialisation (Which suggests that experienced web application developers are thin on the ground in SA ?!?). Government there hasnt implemented many plans to increase the usage of internet by your average Joe Soap at home like they do here or in the USA.
Companies shedding developers, well that seems to be happening all over. Our company only a few weeks ago (Only has me and one other developer) had a round of redundancies. They were looking to get rid of one developer but after we argued our case they saw the light  but there are plenty companies getting rid of excess personell, developers or otherwise. Its like a mini-recession...
I heard that they were going to be rolling out ADSL in SA soon as a standard option for broadband, is this true or not 'casue it would mean an increse (I hope) of internal business.
With your companies method of doing business, nice job. It sounds like you guys are geared for this remote contracting as it seems to be taking off (if only slowly) more and more. BT for instance has moved most of its call centres to India because they can offer the same level of service at a much cheaper rate.
Cant see why it cant work for new media in SA 
Ah well, one or two more years and then back to SA for me regardless of the state of IT, I need sun, boerewors and beach on my weekends
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johncogan wrote:
I heard that they were going to be rolling out ADSL in SA soon as a standard option for broadband, is this true or not 'casue it would mean an increse (I hope) of internal business.
ADSL is being rolled out country wide. But Telkom in their infinite wisdom are intentionally crippling it to eek out the last few years of their monopoly. Basically we researched ADSL quite a bit and found it is worthless for business here. IT has a 3gig monthly cap (uploads and downloads together.) The speed is good, but nothing like you can get in the UK.
It is a good option for home users who want good speeds and were looking at ISDN/leased line. But not for business.
johncogan wrote:
Ah well, one or two more years and then back to SA for me regardless of the state of IT, I need sun, boerewors and beach on my weekends
Well when you do give me a call and I will see if we having any positions available.
Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa
Macbeth muttered:
I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er
DavidW wrote:
You are totally mad. Nice.
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"Telkom" - They are not much different from BT here, thier UK counterpart. They had a two year monopoly on the ADSL technology within the UK, and they buggered up every aspect of the service until recently when third parties were allowed to supply ADSL without having to keep to BT's Terms and Conditions. Ah well, these companies never learn.
They could all take a few lessons from Sweden where almost every suburbian household has broadband or fibre-optic running past thier front door. Know a guy there who has a 10 meg fibre connection into his flat, thats just nuts
Ah well lets hope things improve for everyone concerned after bush and blair have finished throwing thier weight around...
Cheers Paul, I'll contact you should I find myself at a loose end and wanting to move to SA sooner than later. I never know with this company I am at, each quarter brings the fear of redundancy along with the performance figures from the accounts department...;)
BTW, Mark ShuttleWorth an OD of BlueGrass ? If so, small world it seems...
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Someone interested in a job in Luxembourg? Mostly GUI development.
Good knowledge of MSVC++, MFC, STL, WTL a must.
Nice to have: SQL, Active Directory, LDAP, MMC, RPC, TCP/IP.
Let me know.
Off to Brazil...
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I(act_x) have posted a message . Please let me know if this is a match .
Thanks
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Did you notice that we are talking about a job in Luxembourg?
Off to in ~87 days
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Hi i've been working with(Mostly GUI development.
Good knowledge of MSVC++, MFC, STL, WTL .) since 2 yrs....
and i too know about SQL, Active Directory, LDAP, MMC, RPC, TCP/IP.
but is as of now i'm in India... so wht wud it need me to do for appearing for ur job
regards
Adi
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I have been looking for a new job for some time now, and am discouraged by the number of positions for which I don't meet all of the skills requirements. But it's recently occurred to me how dumb some of the requirements listed in the job ads are. For instance, I recently saw one where knowledge of Microsoft's Visual Source Safe was a 'must'. Now, I do know VSS.... and I know that whatever it is that the employer wants the new employee to know about VSS can be learned in about a half hour. So why list it as a skills requirement? These employers sit with positions that don't get filled for months on end. If they'd give some more thought to the skills that are *really* required in order to get hired for the job, they'd fill the position much more quickly.
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You are angry that an employer asked for a person with knowledge of VSS
ok
What if you read the ad. that Says(we need a developer with 4 years of experience in .NET);P
it was several months ago !!
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What? You mean you weren't working with .NET when it was known as .GNAT ?
(If you miss the joke, a gnat is a small annoying insect that likes to fly into your eyes and nose.)
Those willing to trade liberty for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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.NET is more than 4 years old. The CLR and C# are known formerly as the MS implementation of the java virtual machine and the java language. Release 3.0 was in 1997.
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CLR and C# are known formerly as the MS implementation of the java virtual machine and the java language
Hmmm, the way I remember it is that the java virtual machine was part of Internet Explorer and the java language implementation was Visual J++.
Those willing to trade liberty for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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Take the MS Java virtual machine : it's embedded in Internet Explorer, and can also be installed on a stand-alone basis (application execution).
Visual J++ ? It's an IDE living on top of the java compiler (part of MS Java SDK), and at run-time it uses the java virtual machine.
In 1997, MS released the MS Java SDK (along with Visual J++ x.xx something, and also probably an upgrade of the virtual machine as well).
At that time, the MS Java SDK already had a lot of MS proprietary language keywords, and namespaces. For instance, it had the COM bridge. This COM bridge is now ".NET COM interop".
The CLS, CLI and reflection are 90% matching what Java had at that time (both Sun and MS SDKs).
etc, etc.
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www.f***thatjob.com
Check that site for silly postings
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Anonymous wrote:
Now, I do know VSS.... and I know that whatever it is that the employer wants the new employee to know about VSS can be learned in about a half hour.
This is exactly the reason why people like to list it as a skill: to keep off people which think that they learn how to use VSS in half hour from reading the online help.
Did you ever manage versions? Do branches/merges over multiple versions? There is more to VSS than check in/out.
Off to Brazil...
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Hey, the employer saying "VSS" isn't in any way going to make me not apply for the job, even if all I know is check-in/check-out stuff. You can't be serious, get off your high horse. If they say "familiar with VSS" but mean "Advanced VSS with version management and branches/merges over multiple versions" then it's then they sure can't fault people like me for believing we meet the skill requirement.
But anyway, VSS was only one example. Half of these help wanted ads list ten different skills, and they expect you to have five years experience in each of them (yes, including .NET). 
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 right so.
If they need more than basic knowledge they will tell you. Employers always expect a masters degree in whatnot and pay for a student.
I was just pointing out that, as simple as VSS is, there is much more than you can learn in half hour.
Off to Brazil...
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