If you had asked me 3 years ago to write PHP code to do anything, I would have asked you what PHP was. 6 months after the fact - and 6 months into using CakePHP

If you had asked me 3 years ago to write PHP code to do anything, I would have asked you what PHP was. 6 months after the fact - and 6 months into using CakePHP - and I was definitely a useful PHP developer. I can say the same for those I used CakePHP as a model for. As far as only knowing the framework, you are preaching to the choir. I regularly give support to people in IRC who forget you can actually write regular PHP code - Reflection class, closures, etc. - in CakePHP. Sometimes even OOP. A framework gives you structure. Good developers go back and fill in the blanks on the language. Bad developers don't need a framework to be bad, they would give you horrible code samples regardless.