> it's not my decision, and there aren't many local jobs in my area, so I'm taking what I can, and that's work with PHP at the moment. > I asked if I could ins

> it's not my decision, and there aren't many local jobs in my area, so I'm taking what I can, and that's work with PHP at the moment. > I asked if I could install Arch Linux on bare metal but they said no. They said I have to use a VM. They also mentioned I can't bring my own hardware. Beggars can't be choosers :( Whether your Linux VM setup is acceptable will depend entirely on what the rest of the shop is used to. For example, if they develop on Windows desktops and deploy to Windows servers, you may need to use Windows scripts and test for Windows-specific corner cases, which would be difficult to do on a Linux VM. You may need to adjust all of your tools to use Windows line endings (CRLF). You may find that some of your tools don't work correctly on a vboxsf or samba filesystem. Be prepared to make compromises where necessary. On the other hand, if they deploy to Linux servers, your knowledge of Linux and your VM might end up being a valuable asset for the shop. In any case, don't say that you "can't use anything else". Of course you can. Learning to use a new OS or editor is not terribly different from learning a new language. If you can learn a new language, you can certainly learn to use Sublime Text or whatever. Unwillingness to try a new tool just because it's outside of your comfort zone could reflect poorly on you, no matter how well justified you think your choices are. Your employer has shown flexibility by letting you run a VM. Try to show some flexibility in return.