You’ve probably heard that web programming skills like PHP and ASP.net are in high demand and pay well as professions.
You might be also appealed by the idea, someday in the future, of starting your own online business and being your own boss. Well, learning such skills can give you the edge to achieve your professional dreams.
PHP vs ASP.net (Contetns):
- Introduction
- Time to learn the skill
- Type of work you want to handle
- Demand for PHP vs ASP.net
- Earning potential
- Working environment and resources needed
- Future plans (Starting a business?)
- The final verdict.
Introduction
Since PHP and ASP.net are exclusive of each other (in some way), you should first decide which one to start learning. They’re both popular, mature tools but they offer developers different technical features, benefits, and challenges.
So, how do you choose? One piece of advice; don’t ask four different developers. You’ll probably get five different opinions.
There’s an equally important decision – how will PHP or ASP.net affect your career, freelancing, and business opportunities?
This is a big decision, so consider all the important factors:
- Your existing skills
- How much time it will take to learn the new skill
- How soon do you want to start freelancing
- Type of work you want to handle
- Demand for each skill
- Earning potential
- Ability to work solo or the need to collaborate with a wider team
- Set up costs and access to support.
- Plans to start an online business (in the near or far future).
How long to learn PHP and ASP.net?
The sooner you learn the new skill, the quicker you can start earning! Have you already got some related skills – C, JavaScipt, or HTML maybe? Or are you starting from scratch?
If you’re considering ASP.net, training generally requires knowledge of C #. PHP does not require prior knowledge of other skills. ASP.net is the more complex of the two, so that means PHP is probably quicker to learn.
How much time can you spend on learning? You’ll find plenty of online courses on the web (even for free), and that gives you the opportunity to learn in your own time, at your own pace.
What type of work?
This is one of your most important decisions – what type of work do you want to target? Will you focus on web development, app development, real-time apps, and services? And, what type of customers do you want to work with – small and medium businesses (SMB) or large enterprises?
- PHP is generally regarded as more suitable for the SMB market, although there are many high-profile, large-scale PHP deployments like Facebook, WordPress, and Wikipedia.
- net is typically used for larger-scale projects for enterprise customers running Microsoft systems.
As a new freelancer with freshly developed skills, you’ll probably find it easier to focus on the SMB market where you can use your PHP skills on smaller-scale projects.
But, if you’re an experienced freelancer with existing skills, you could target enterprise customers where projects have more complex requirements.
Fees for ASP.net projects will be higher overall because of the complexity and scale of the projects. Average salaries in the industry reflect the differences for employed developers.
What’s the demand for PHP and ASP.net?
Reports from industry groups and IT recruitment specialists highlight a continuing shortage of IT skills. That’s driven by increasing digital transformation and emerging technologies. However, the global pandemic is likely to reshape the employment landscape and push back some of the larger-scale projects.
The demand for scarce digital skills is unlikely to go away, but home-based freelancing may become part of the new normal. So, it’s a good time to gear up your skills.
If we compare jobs/projects on Freelancer.com we can notice that there is much more demand for PHP skills (5120 jobs) than ASP.net related jobs (124). These discrepancies are expectable since small businesses are more present at freelancing platforms than larger companies. Anyway, the competition from PHP developers is also higher since it is easier to acquire as a skill.
How much you can earn?
It is generally considered that ASP.net jobs are more paid. If we compare the hourly salary for ASP.net vs PHP on payscale.com we will get $28.57 vs $24.09 in favor of the ASP jobs. Anyway, since you plan to start a career as a freelancer this small difference might not be relevant since there are much more job opportunities for PHP skills.
Working resources for PHP and ASP.net
What’s it like to work with the tools? The first thing to consider is set-up costs. PHP is free and ASP.net incurs charges from Microsoft.
PHP is open source. That gives you greater flexibility and wider project opportunities. ASP.net is used primarily in a Microsoft environment and that could be more limiting.
Using PHP means you can complete development projects on your own. The same goes for ASP.net, but enterprise projects may require greater collaboration with other specialists.
You may need help or support from time to time. Both have extensive communities where you can ask questions or find help, but ASP.net users also have access to Microsoft’s developer resources.
Do you plan to work on your own online business?
Your primary goal for earning online might (and should) be to start a freelancing career, but it’s not a bad idea to think for a future business of your own. Besides starting an online company that could provide web programming services based on your main competence as PHP or ASP.net you could consider any other web business. In such cases, knowing PHP or ASP.net might also be very handy since you will need a fully functional website to serve your online customers.
Having in mind that the most affordable web platforms, like WordPress, are based on PHP technology it is obvious that when you consider running your online business, learning PHP over ASP.net is a better option.
The final verdict.
There are great opportunities out there for web developers and web programming skills. Anyhow, don’t base your decisions on technical comparisons alone. There are too many strong opinions on both sides. Make sure you carefully consider the learning requirements and career and business opportunities that are right for you.
In conclusion, if you want to start a freelancing career we would warmly recommend you choose PHP over ASP.net for many practical reasons — short learning curve, faster time to market, easier to use, open source, no start-up costs, more jobs on the freelancing platforms and the freedom to work solo on a wider range of projects. Also, if you plan to start a business, in the near or far future, the knowledge of PHP will be more suitable to manage your own web platform and site’s features.
On the other hand, if your goal is to start a long-term career as a regular employee of another company the decision would be much more complicated.
If you are tempted by the idea to start a business online, besides freelancing, check what other skills you might need for such a journey.
Related: Freelancing, is it Your Dream Job?
Sources (6)
1. PHP Vs ASP.NET: How to Choose the Right One? (PixelCrayons.com)
2. ASP.NET vs PHP: Which is Better for Web Development? (Existek.com)
3. PHP vs ASP.NET : 20+ Top Reasons to Choose PHP over ASP.NET (CapsicumMediaworks.com)
4. Freelance Jobs and Projects (Freelancer.com)
5. Average ASP.NET Developer Salary (Payscale.com)
6. Average PHP Developer Salary (Payscale.com)
