First let me say what an amazing tool this is. I'm still in shock days after researching DotNetNuke (I heard the name but never looked into it until now). At the same time i'm concerned.

I am a college student going for a computer degree. I know C, C++, VB.net, HTML, CSS so far. I am in the process of learning ASP.net 1.1. I am starting a web design / computer repair company and am worried that as awesome as DNN is it might be the easy way out. An example is:

I make my site and all my customers with DNN. I apply for a job as an ASP.net developer. They ask for some samples of my work in ASP.net. They see the sites I created and hire me for it. They ask me to make something for them and I can't because DNN made it for me, I don't know how to make ASP.net applcations without it.

Is that what happens? Or should I use DNN to make websites and at the same time go through ASP.net books teaching myself (Which is what io'm doing now) the basics, foundations, etc. and making my own examples to showcase ON my site not AS my site and those of my customers? Being able to make full fledged ASP.net applications with DNN sounds like a dream especially if I don't have to read all these books but I don't want to screw myself over in the longrun.

Also, has anyone experienced customers whoo want original work? Would someone care if their site was a basic template (Color, logo, etc. altered for their company) and that all the awesome features weren't hand made by me but bought from someone else?

Thanks in advance.

Techno:

DNN is a very sophisticated (and complex) framework that indeed makes your life easier when you need to implement heavy duty sites quickly.  However, I would recommend that you learn how to develop ASP.Net applications from scratch.  Since you are a college student, you should learn the basics very well.  This will help you with two things.  First, you will be able to understand the DNN architecture a lot better, and second, you will be able to appreciate a lot more what DNN can do for you.  Once you know the basics well you will be very effective in creating modules and you will see how quickly you can take advantage of the DNN architecture.

For instance, you can buy one of those books to learn ASP.Net in 30 days (version 2.0 of course)  that follow a project from beginning to end and you will see what is involved in creating a security architecture for user accounts and access control, a menu system, a standard approach to data access, and a modular approach to achieve consistency in the look and feel of the whole project.  These are the areas where DNN shines.  By the way, if a customer asks for 100% original work tell them that you can do it but it will cost them more (it is actually a lot of work)  and will not be as reliable or polished as a solution that is being used, tested, and debugged by a few thousand knowledgeable people.

As usual, don't try to cut corners, learn the basics well.  And also, in case you wonder, <prepare for the flames>, you can do the same exact things in C# and VB.Net.  All the arguments about language power, speed, object orientation, etc. etc. are not valid in the .Net world, they were very true in VB6, but not any longer.  Choose the language that you feel more comfortable with.  Bear in mind that DNN is very complex, robust, and flexible and it is all VB.Net.

Good luck.

Carlos