I started doing PHP dev during the 5.2, 5.3 times and since 7, it feels much better to program in. It even has RoR-like frameworks like Laravel. So, use Symfony

I started doing PHP dev during the 5.2, 5.3 times and since 7, it feels much better to program in. It even has RoR-like frameworks like Laravel. So, use Symfony or Laravel if you need to use PHP. It has some historical baggage that some people can't get over. Nothing, no programming language will be perfect. If I had to start all over, I'd probably use something else but it works great for what I'm doing. (web dev with Laravel)