Any suggestions : Shifting from .NET to Java

[megha joshi]

Hi,

I am a full time .Net programmer since two years and have some knowhow of Java from my Bachelors and Masters Lab coursework.I will be giving the SCJP this month.

I however came across the post on one of the forums here that SCJP is not good for landing in a job,doesnt have marketing value, but SCJD based on it has.I think SCJD is too difficult for me to pass at my skill level.

However I want to make a career in JAVA. I like it more than .NET.
Please sugguest what strategy should I follow to land up in a begginer level job of Java.I have no projects of Java on my resume. I was planning to do a self study of topics like Servlets,JSP( I know little of them from my college) Struts,JSF and try building some projects of my own and putting them on resume.But I am not sure if thats going to be any good.

I am afraid if I delay more I might never be able to leave .NET as my year of experience in .NET will increase and then I will be not accepted as Java programmer.Currently Its just 2 years since I passed my Masters in Comp Sci.I guess I can still make a career change to Java at this time.Please advise me on what path should I follow to land in my dream job of Java developer

[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: meg jos ]
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: meg jos ]

[Remko Strating]

Just start programming and working with Java.

For myself I've made the change a year ago and I don't have any certification. I just make good programs which make my customers happy.

Now I'm learning for SCJP and following this forum for my learning process, but hands on knowledge is always better then paperwork. You can always find good solutions on the internet.

[megha joshi]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
Thats what I thought too.But then you say your customers are always happy.
For me I am on H1-B full time and have a permanent job as .NET dev.
I want to search a permannent job as Java dev. Have to impress a employer, so need something Java based on my resume isnt it...

Thats my question.What do I do...

[Srikanth Raghavan]

I have a question. Why do you want to shift from .NET to Java? If it comes your way or you have to work on Java then shifting is inevitable but when you are already into .NET for the last 2 years and I think you should go on to become an expert and create a value for yourself in the .NET domain.

Java is huge, it takes a lot of time to build a good expertise in JSE and JEE. But it's up to you, do whatever you feel like doing but make sure it makes sense.

-- Srikanth

[Ram Deshpande]

For long run, Always go with Java.
You will get really challenging assignment and exposure.
More over .NET is only driven by Microsoft than that of Group of Big Align.
Also ratio of assignment for Java : .NET is 10 : 1 ... or may be more even.
Again .Net and Java are OOPs Language. So learning J2EE / Java will not take much time for any Programmer.
Still becoming expertise in it, surely It Will Take A Time...

Ram

[Rohit Nath]

meg jos,
Personally I am very interested in understanding how .net and J2EE compare. Any specific reason for the change?

[Rohit Nath]

Also ratio of assignment for Java : .NET is 10 : 1 ... or may be more even.

Is that authentic data? I am not very convinced by that.

Again .Net and Java are OOPs Language. So learning J2EE / Java will not take much time for any Programmer.

It will take fair amount of time to get technically good especially in J2EE as it is very "vast".

Also IMHO 2 years in any technology is lot of time, you will have to spend similar time to get going in Java,J2EE again. So be prepared to do that!

These are just my personal opinions dont let it affect your final decision and what YOU want.

[Ram Deshpande]

I Strongly feel, Programmer / Developer can work on any environment / technology / domain for initial 3/4 years.
This is how most of software projects runs moreover..
Once Again repeating, For long run go for Java / J2EE

Regards
Sachin

[megha joshi]

Thanks for the response everyone.

As to the questions of why I need to shift or how do .NET and J2EE compare.
With as little Java as I know, I feel C# and Java are just little different.

I need to shift becuase , I always liked Java. But then in the final year of my Masters, I felt J2EE is too difficult,I can't ever do it. And at that time I had friends working in .Net , so learnt .Net and got into a .Net job through a friend , got my H1-B.

But now I feel frustrated.The companies that I want to work for , all big opportunities work in Java. Now I feel, I can do Java as opposed to what I felt in college.

But now again I have been in .NET for two years. I dont have Java on my resume. I think making projects for communities like CodeProject , or making my personal projects and putting them on resume would help me landing in a Java job,but not sure how much I can do there. I will be giving SCJP and after 1 year or so may be SCJD. But I want to land up in a Java job in next 3-4 months.

Need help as to what should be my strategy plan.

Thanks for your replies and looking forward to get some help ....

[Jay Dilla]

Yo Meg, I see you said you are H1?
Are you in America or something?
I'm confused, if you have a MASTERS in CS and have2 yrs work experience in OO programming I don't see how you would have trouble finding entry level Java work. Is there some rule for transferring jobs under H1?
I have no idea, i'm american citizen.

[megha joshi]

Hi,

Yes I am in US.
Feels good to see that someone thinks I can do it.
Reallistically , I feel with as little I know employers ...if my resume says masters from USC in comp sci, 2 years of .NET exp, SCJP certified...they would go further down the resume to look for professional exp in Java,which I dont have. And theres where they would choose others instead of me. I need something else in Java...just dont know what ...
[ February 21, 2007: Message edited by: meg jos ]

[Sylvia Wang]

I have friends working in J2EE and .Net, they're both at almost expert level and doing pretty well in their company. So I think it would be just fine if you go with .net deep though personally I myself like Java.

I transferred myself from Microsoft to Java when Microsoft is still at Visual Studio 6, at that time I felt things Miscrosoft provided is always very easy to be hands on and very easy to build up something small and running, but when the appliaction is complicated and needs to be robust, it just fall apart and raise all kind of issues which made me frustrated. ... maybe now .Net technology has improved...

Java is relatively not so developer-friendly for a bigginer, but so far it works for me, it's pretty stable and fast if we make our design properly. and not much strange crash without reason ( something you're familiar when your windows crash with no reason and needs to be reboot. )

that's just my personal feeling base on my experience ...

[megha joshi]

Hii..

Thanks for your reply. But as you personally like java, I personally like Java and I feel frustrated not becoz .Net is bad or anything..but bcoz I instead prefer working in Java even though I know its difficult, I know I dont know it so well. I want to try.

Any suggestions on what should be good strategy to get a Java job after being in .NET dev for 2 years.

[Vasu MuraliKrishnan]

Note: At first i posted this as a seperate topic...but none replied to it
So reposting here...correct me if iam wrong
Dear All,
This is my first post on JavaRanch. The intention is to get some professional advice from the Ranchers around here. I have a total of 4.5 years of exp in IT industry. I work in TPF (an O/S of IBM that is used exclusively for Transaction processing computing) and assembler. The technology is not so fascinating for me. My area of interest during my college days were on OOPS programming and Database. But in 2002, when i passed out of my college, i didn't get much of an opportunity to work on those areas. I was offered to work on TPF and assembler with a 3 year work bond. I was left out with no choice and took up the offer. Now 4+ years later i thought that i had enough of the work that i do currently and decided to move into Java.
Please advice me whether my choice is good at this juncture of my life.
If i pursue my career with Java as my technical skill set, will I be able to align with the rest of the Java community
What are the career opportunities do I have with Java.
Please respond to my queries and help chose a better career life

[megha joshi]

Hey,

I think people here are more interested in funny stuff then helping people like us make decisions...

[Ulf Dittmer]

I think people here are more interested in funny stuff then helping people like us make decisions...

That's a bit of a surprise conclusion, as all the previous posts have been pretty much on topic.

Self study is OK for getting a beginners job, but it would help if you could point to a project of yours, e.g. one that you developed and that you make available on your web page. That way, people can see what you have done and form an opinion.

Personally, I think that anyone who has a Masters degree in CS should be able to pickup any language rather quickly. Not all the APIs, mind you, but the language itself.

As to particular APIs, servlets/JSP are good, JDBC is good, Struts is a plus, leave out JSF until your general grasp of Java web apps has become firmer.

[megha joshi]

Thanks so much.
Really thanks a lot .

Thats the kind of advice I was looking for.

thanks a lot.

Helps me. Will follow the path ...Thanks again.

[Ramna Reddy]

Hi Meg,
You seem so desperate,your decision to shift from .Net to Java is not bad,you can do it,no doubt in it....
The basic requirement for any programmer in any technology is LOGICAL SKILLS & PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH...since you have 2 years of programming knowledge,you can easily adapt to java.

[william gates]

Maybe your expecting too much... If you want to switch to Java from .net, if you know it, you know it.. if you don't, you don't..

But maybe you expect, cause of your masters degree, cause of your experience in .net that you are asking for more than maybe others think you are worth.

The fact is, if you have no real world experience in java, you shouldn't expect to jump into a mid level or sr level java position. On the other hand, with your experience and skills, you shouldn't have a problem getting a entry level java position.. It really depends on what you expect.

[megha joshi]

May be we can refrain from passing judgements like .."may be you are too desperate" or "may be you are expecting too much".

But yes you are right...I can land in a entry position and thats all I expect for now. I do have the skills a programmer needs and that is all that is important. Thanks for the help.

[Ramna Reddy]

Take it in a positive direction,Buddy!

[william gates]

I wasn't passing judgement, just stating what may or may not be happening..
I've met many first year kids or people switching careers or technologies who expected the 80K to start, the plush jobs, and so on even though they had no real world experience in IT.

People hear what others say, read the articles, see the news, and believe that is what they should get, even without the experience. And you seem to have some real world experience, even though it's not in java. So, i'm not passing judgement, just from my experience maybe you go into interviews or send out a resume expecting more than what might be out there for you at this point.

While IT is nowhere near like the dot com era when everybody and their brother wanted to get into IT, it's become a forum where some people, from around the world, see the success of others, the success of the youtubes, myspaces, boing boing, and bloggers and podcasters and so on and then think, hey I can do that.

You have some experience, which is good, but if you go into interviews or submit to jobs that you really aren't qualified for, either you'll get a job and be in over your head and make your co-workers do more or you'll not get any call backs.

[megha joshi]

Thanks for all the help.
I take it positively.I take it positively even though I say that I dont expect too much, just expect to find a job...you say people like me are an overhead in the company.

Thanks for your wonderful help.

[Tony Phillips]

It sounds like to me that you just feel more comfortable with Java plain and simple. I think that is more a reflection of your personal taste than the nature of the technology you use. I personally am more comfortable with C# than Java, but I don't automatically feel like a fish out of water because of their similarities. As for now, .Net is easier to use IMO. That may change in the future.