Where is the Web Developing Industry headed?

[ss1289]

I'm young and new to the industry as a PHP/MySQL programmer. I was wondering what some of you experienced developers think about the future of web software. What languages look positive for the future? I've been told .NET was the way to go. From what little I know, PHP is slowly growing but there are a lot of php programmers out there looking for jobs, but also more PHP jobs are being created.
I've heard db developing was also growing and pays more than software developing.

Also it seems companies are starting to look for people who have CS related degrees over people who don't.
And one more thing, if you start out in one language and aren't happy with it, is it hard to find a job developing in another language? In other words, do employers look for people who have more of the developing skills or the language skills.

I don't really know many people that know a lot about the web developing industry but I thought I could get some info in here to help me out on my path.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

[JKnoch]

I'm in a similar situation, I tend to think of my self as more of a web designer then a programmer. I work with a an programmer who is just finishing up his masters in computer science and we have had many discussions about the future of programing and web design. I'm can do some basic programming in .net, php, and jsp. I've been trying to figure out witch language to focus on.

I'm under the feeling that the hardest part of programming is understanding the concepts of programming, and once you get that, the language you choose is secondary, as many languages can accomplish the same goals, it just a matter of know how to write the code. The concept is the hard part. If you can successfully program with php, then .net would be simple as well as jsp as they all three has similar concepts from c.

Its been my experience that there are alot of .net programmers, on the borderline of almost too many. Many work independently and finding a steady job is hard, but there are a lot of contract jobs available. I also find that most .net programming websites are not as nice looking, design wise. I tend to think they look very bland, just my opinion. This is mostly because visual studio has so many prebuilt mini applications in it, that most people use don't bother to costimise the look.

I have scene a lot of php jobs pop up recently, I'm in NY. I have found that many smaller companies use php because it's free, where you have to pay for .net to run on your server.

I know a lot of doors can open knowing java. You can also program in .net using javascript. I know a few people who went on to application development using java and .net, but php hasn't gotten that far.

Just my 2 cents.