Does Microsoft development generally pay more than LAMP development?

[chicane]

Having come to the end of a successful stint of performing PHP and mySQL contracts with a number of direct clients, I'm faced with a (hopefully brief) lull in work. I'm taking this opportunity to try dipping my toes into contracting through recruitment agencies.

Being up here in the North (Yorkshire to be more specific), contract web development work is pretty hard to come by, but my observations so far would indicate that Microsoft (i.e. ASP.NET, SQL Server) work is both more plentiful and better paid than OSS (PHP, mySQL) work. I'm pretty rusty on the Microsoft side of things to say the least.

I'd appreciate any similar or contrasting observations/experience on this subject to help make my mind up on which direction to take my career.

[TheMonkey]

I'm just doing a LAMP based contract that pays more than my last .Net one (but it's pretty hardcore PHP5/MySQL 5) so it's all random really.

If you have any Linux/UNIX admin experience though, that can be a good cash generator.

[chicane]

Interesting ... does your 'hardcore' PHP/mySQL constitute some kind of specialist area or industry, or just an extremely in-depth knowledge of both skills?

I'd be interested to hear how you find the ratio between LAMP/Microsoft work in terms of contract availability and the part(s) of the country have you've been working in.

[TheMonkey]

London/Nottingham. About 2:1 .Net:PHP. The PHP places are less likely to be cowboy outfits.

My specialist areas are architecture, very high traffic systems, communications platforms, e-commerce and content management.

[Ardesco]

I think the general impression a lot of companies have is that LAMP is not much good because it is open source and to have something for corporate you need to pay for it, or they are just scared of LINUX.

With this in mind most of the big companies (who obviously don't have much of a clue) want ASP .NET so there are more ASP .NET contracts about which means more chance of getting a higher rate.

On the flipside people who want LAMP work are more likely to know what they want and should be better to work for. Of course there are exceptions to the rule on both sides and as i'm not contracting as a web dev I pretty much have an outsiders view. I know that any LAMP work I have been offered pays less than the testing work I do so I haven't taken a LAMP contract yet. All my PHP is done for plan B

[chicane]

Thanks for your responses folks.

TheMonkey, your post (regarding additional admin skills to supplement programming skills) reminds me of something else I've been meaning to bring up.

I think I'm capable of keeping up to speed on both LAMP and Microsoft development, and although this seems like an excellent factor in terms of being a more 'sellable' contractor, I'm not so sure. The impression I get is that many agencies aren't seeking a 'jack of all trades' type, preferring somebody who specialises in one language, environment or sector.

Of course, I could produce two CV's - one implying that I'm a LAMP specialist and one implying that I'm a Microsoft specialist. However, how would I then list the contract history, bearing in mind that the Microsoft CV (for example) would be full of time gaps in which I'd been doing PHP work?

Any thoughts and comments welcome.

[TheMonkey]

I have a generic one that serves me well. I tend to use that and slightly modify it if the agency asks.