5 replies to this topic

[dmehling]

I am somewhat of a novice programmer with a little experience in HTML and CSS as well as rudimentary knowledge of languages such as BASIC and C++. I'm contemplating diving into programming a little bit more with the goal of maybe doing some part-time freelance work in the future. First I want to decide whether I want to go down the web programming route or the more traditional route with languages such as C++. I really do not like CSS, primarily because I do not like the visual design aspect of web development, but I might be open to server-side programming. I am leaning towards non-web programming mainly because I have more interest in application development. At the same time, I am afraid that type of programming might be a little more complicated. I would appreciate some feedback on which route to take, what is the best investment of my time for learning a language(s), and what are the best languages to learn as a freelancer?

[Alexander]

In my experience anything that is not simple/.net the user will prefer a more personal or harder contract job, C#/.NET especially with connection to ASP will collect a of work for you as it's a growing field, and bridges web programming. If you're more a casual person, PHP is usually a good route to go as there are many clients who do not wish to do anything theirselves because the scares of security problems, I've watched around and quite a few good opertunities shown themselves, no need for design/CSS cripe, also +1 because it's similar to C syntax.

[dmehling]

Thanks for your answer. I think what I was really trying to ask is, as a freelance programmer, what would be the best route to take? Would it be better to become proficient in server-side or application programming (I'm not sure if this is the right term but I am referring to any kind of non Web programming languages)?

[PsychoCoder]

I would say both. As a freelancer I get requests for both web work and Windows applications. If you become proficient in both arenas it will make you more valuable and desired by clients. Knowing both will give you way more opportunities for work

[jay28]

Im in the same boat as dmehling, Looking for something that will get me jobs in freelancing but can do both Web and App development. but language will be here to stay. Any suggestions

[mrlemke]

Learn several languages like C, C++, Java, C#, Visual Basic, and Python.