Should a PHP developer learn MEAN Stack?

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Should a PHP developer learn MEAN Stack?

If you are a PHP developer you might be wondering if you really need to learn MEAN Stack.

 

You are already working on PHP/MySql AJAX etc. and you have been developing featured pack websites for quite some time now. Then why you should bother to learn a new technology called ‘MEAN’ Stack.

 

To understand this better, let’s get back to the memory lane of web programing world.

Legendary ASP as a website programing language

Around 2000-2003 if you would ask anyone what he/she is doing in web programing world. If the answer was he is a website developer. Then you consider him to be an ASP developer (previous version of ASP.NET).

 

ASP was so popular that it was almost synonyms of website development language.

 

That time one could not imagine that a new technology called LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) will come and become one of the most popular website programing language of the world.

 

ASP.NET is still in the market but as compared to PHP/MySQL the market share of ASP.NET is very less and it’s a known fact, which every web programmer knows.

 

When PHP started to get foothold, few of the asp developers still did not care about the new technology and kept working on ASP only. But slowly the mood and trend of the clients started to change and more and more clients started to demand the website in PHP.

 

Not only that, I still remember several of websites which was developed using  ASP,  the client started to demand to change into LAPM technology.

 

And ultimately most of the asp developers forcibly had to learn LAMP technology because most of the website development work was being done using LAMP technology. But much time was wasted and they could not get the early benefits.

 

So, lessen learnt here is that its better learn any popular language early because at early stage you get more work. Also there is less completion and also higher payment.

The Golden era of PHP

The main reason of becoming LAMP technology a popular one because of easy to learn and Open Source. That time (and still this time)  C was taught in every colleges and universities. The syntax of C matches very closely with PHP so it was very easy to grasp the language. That was one of the major reasons of popularity of PHP. Another important reason is being LAMP and open source technology.

 

When PHP came into the science, almost everything was paid. For ASP, the language was VB (visual Basic), the editor was paid, for database either MS-Access or MS-SQL was used with ASP, was also paid.

 

And last but not the least, the window hosting which runs on window operating system, was also paid.

 

So the hosting cost of window was more than Linux server (still is).

 

But in the case of LAMP all the four technologies were free. PHP, MySQL, Linux and Apache was/is free.

 

You can understand the popularity of PHP from the fact that today around 80% of the websites in the world run on PHP/MySql.

The new era of website programing is MEAN Stack

MEAN (Mongo DB, ExpressJs, Angular and NodeJs ) is the technology which came recently but become very popular.

 

The new era of website programing language has stated. There are 3 major reasons of being MEAN stack popular technologies.

 

  1. Its asynchronous and fast:
  2. All the technologies are free and open source
  3. Based on only one language, JavaScript

 

 So the question remains, PHP/MySql which one has learnt with so much effort and is very comfortable with working with that language will be obsolete? Will be replaced by some new language technology?

 

The answer is very simple, no.

 

Learning MEAN stack does not mean that your previous knowledge of PHP/MySQL will be replaced or you will forget PHP/MySQL.

 

PHP is very popular language and it’s not going to die-down in near future. But, along with PHP, you will also have to learn Front-end JavaScript frameworks like Angular and React to make the website interactive and user-friendly.

 

You will have to use Mongo DB for  NoSql database.  For mobile Apps and cloud based applications.

 

Also think this way, as mentioned above there are around 80% of the websites in the world in PHP/MySql so it’s sure that all the websites will not be replaced soon. MEAN stack technology will run concurrently along with PHP/MySql.

 

The era of JavaScript has begun (All MEAN technologies are in JavaScript)

 

So, if you are a PHP/MySQL developer, it will be a wise move if you start learning MEAN stack technology and migrate yourself to MEAN stack.

 

Because it’s almost sure that sooner or later, every developer will have to learn this technology. Simply you cannot run away from this.

 

So why not start learning MEAN Stack  today only.

Big software / internet giants are behind MEAN stack

Some question still remains how stable is this technology?  Because several languages came and went so why should I came so much about this MEAN stack technology?  Yes, the question is good but the answer is also good.

 

Behind this technology there are big software giants. Like Google(NodeJs v8 Engine is from Google), Angular is from Google and Typescript is from Microsoft.

 

Also, nodejs is supported by Paypal, LinkedIn,WallMart  etc.

Where to learn?

  1. Online videos
  2. Online tutorials
  3. From professional developer-cum trainer

 

Acesoftech Academy provides advanced and Industrial MEAN stack training in Kolkata, and Bengaluru / Bangalore. The course is available in class-room and online also. So, either you can take this MEAN stack course online or class-room.

 

While leaning you must focus on real-life project.