This is an exaggeration but as a PHP developer the biggest problem I have with wrapping my head around Ruby is the Perl-ish "more than one way to do it" design.

This is an exaggeration but as a PHP developer the biggest problem I have with wrapping my head around Ruby is the Perl-ish "more than one way to do it" design. PHP seems to be more straightforward with relatively fewer paths to my destination. I haven't messed with Python, but I hear Python is more like PHP in that regard. If true, then it would make sense for a PHP developer to select Python over Ruby. The only major reason you might pick PHP over the other options is if you are interested in working with the major content management systems on the market. A huge percentage of business portals (brick and mortar as opposed to web based) are running on PHP based content management systems and of course there is also a lot of work in those areas. If you are more interested in custom application development, then Ruby and Python might be a more interesting choice (though PHP is plenty sufficient.) That's not to say that market size should be your only consideration. If you are strong player in a small pond, then you can do as well or better than you could do in a much larger market.