Yikes, too much time...

...Since my last post.  

Ruby started out as a really great thought, and then I had a job interview to do ASP.NET programming.  *screech* ruby came to a halt.  Probably better off anyway.

Sooo... I will be working at Peninsula College as a Web Developer/Database Administrator.  They have some really exciting initiatives going on and I can't wait to start.

I've spent the last month or so getting "back in the game" sot to speak.  Going over ASP.NET manuals, C# programming techniques, agile development processes, etc.

This recent job has really made me realize that the money in the programming world resides in MS languages.  Sure, I know a lot of people getting paid to program in PHP, Ruby, perl, C and others, but their salary isn't even near what I get paid to do .Net development.

I'm not trying to say I'm better, but I am saying that in the environment I'm in, .Net pays the bills and then some.  There may be other locations and maybe my view is limited by living in a rural community.  

Here's how it looks in Port Angeles, WA.  The shops that are using PHP are all running on a tight budget and need to squeeze the very most out of everything they have.  LAMP servers, PHP programmers, high school graduate designers, etc.  Their average salary is proably $14/hr.

Now, lets look at the larger organizations that have/had programmers: PUD, Hospital, College.  The college now being the only entity I know of that has a dedicated programmer where programming is not it's main course of business.  The major difference here is that all the above mentioned organizations are publicly held, hence more money.

So, yes I think Linux is awesome and I've used it ALOT in my lifetime, I also think that knowledge of many languages is valuable.  But when it comes down to it, knowing .Net has allowed me to accel above my peers.

So, who cares? As my journalism instructor always asked me.  Teachers in the community should care.  I became a Linux evangelist in H.S. and I would never take it back as it's given me a lot of insight.  Classes need to teach the dominant programming languages and platforms rather than keep holding out with wishful thinking that Linux is going to go "Mainstream".

Yikes, it's late, I'll post more on this later...