5 ms·

I've been writing PHP professionally in some form for over 15 years. I don't think I've been out of work for more than a week and I currently make a very good

I've been writing PHP professionally in some form for over 15 years. I don't think I've been out of work for more than a week and I currently make a very good living (well into the 6-figures in the Midwest). While PHP has it's issues as a language, it works very well for many companies...and if you are good, you can get paid very well. True story.

smt88 7y ago
I also spent some time in the lucrative "I'll fix your PHP project" space. It was a good paycheck, but it could be downright miserable. I'm sure static analysis is better than it used to be though. I think if you like fixing bugs (kind of like solving puzzles) and easing the pain of stressed out small businesses, it's a great niche. I actually had a teacher who still gets paid enormous sums to fix COBOL code for industry, so perhaps PHP5 will be similar one day.
- planetzero 7y ago
  "I think if you like fixing bugs (kind of like solving puzzles) and easing the pain of stressed out small businesses, it's a great niche" Fixing bugs is only a small part of what I do (like most developers). This is less about the language and more about the previous developers that the small business hired. PHP runs almost everything for a client of mine (hundred-million dollar+ company) (I'm a consultant). I'm regularly involved in new features and new code. New features and changes in PHP7 has made PHP into a much better language. I feel like Rails is the COBOL of our time. I remember when all of the cool kids were using it around 2007 and the blind zealotry that ensued when anyone tried to discuss its shortcomings. Those same people now have since jumped ship and now are mostly involved in various Javascript Frameworks.