Java vs. .NET: Job Market and Salary Survey
November 22, 2008 by Frank Salinas · 7 Comments
I was recently contacted about a technology job search engine named OdinJobs.com. I took a look a the site and found that they have some great tools for job market analysis and salary surveys. Here I compared salaries and job market trends between J2EE and .NET Architect/Lead and Developer roles in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Median Salary
As you can see from the data below the median salary between the two technologies is comparable with .NET having a slightly higher median salary for Architect/Lead roles and Java/J2EE having a higher median salary for Developer roles.
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Job Trends
The job trends charts shows that there is a higher demand for J2EE Architect/Lead roles than for .NET. There also appears to have been a spike in job listings for J2EE Architect/Lead roles in recent months while job trends for Developer roles are comparable between the two technologies. Both charts show an increase in job listings in 2008 over 2007.
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Salary Histogram
The salary histograms show that the salary range for Architect/Lead roles is between $80k and $120k, and $70k and $100k for Developer roles depending on experience. Both histograms show outlying salary data around the $150k range which I suspect represents Director level positions.
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Conclusion
The job market seems solid for both technologies and salaries are comparable. Java/J2EE seems to have a slight advantage in demand and salary but it is evident that you can make a great career specializing in Java or .NET with plenty of room for career advancement. The OdinJobs web site provides additional functionality to compare job market trends and salary in different locations as well as specific job roles and company types. It’s interesting to see which industries specific technologies are in demand.
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Frank is a senior level Java developer working for a privately owned company based in San Francisco, California. He has over 12 years of experience developing software on Microsoft and Linux/Java/JEE platforms and specializes in SaaS, eDiscovery and Document Review platforms.
Important to note that this is in San Fran, which is the backyard for Java. Makes me wonder if .Net would be on top in other cities.
This isnt the whole story. The reason for the lower demand in .Net is your able to find more resources that work with .Net. Finding a good Java guy who doesnt want a million dollars (one who can actually keep up with .Net development) is nearly impossible. .Net simply allows faster development and programmers are able to pick it up faster. Visual Studio is the standard and they all know it. Theres 10 flavors of “Java” and 10 development platforms. Splintering is bad.
Great article….
hi
i wud be interested to know whether i should go for certification on .net or java as java is growing much more than .net in IT industry.i m interested in .net so should i go forward with .net.
You should get your certification in the technology you are most interested in and plan to work with professionally.
i want to ask if someone dont know both java and.net then for which he must go as i heard that java developers are very less as compare to the .net.i also want to know that whether the entry for freshers is more in .net as compared to java.
I have ISTQB Foundation Level Certification in Testing but i am working as Java Developer.Is this certification is helpful for me in future? and which framework should i know?whether Spring,Strut,Hibernet, JSF etc