Re:Ask HN: Should I learn PHP in 2017?
by viraptor on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @06:25AM
(#13113801)
Depends on you and your situation really. Do you need / want more work? Are there not enough customers for the Python jobs?
If you feel OK with Python and a few other languages, you will find PHP trivial to learn. There's nothing wrong with learning another language. Is it ugly? Yes. Are you going to deal with terrible code? Most likely. Is it worth it? Only you know that.
I would be happy to take lower pay if it meant not having to deal with PHP - up to some threshold. Below that, a programming job is a programming job - I wouldn't say no if the offer is great.
You're not going to suddenly lose everything you learned though. All those other languages and skills will help you write great quality code and you'll spot more familiar patterns everywhere. If you have time, it could be a good idea to learn PHP just to know why it your prejudice holds and why exactly is it ugly.
It's also a good long term investment. Due to existing code, trivial hosting, active frameworks, and lots of users, PHP jobs are not going away any time soon. Especially the small "modify WordPress/drupal/whatever to do X" kind of jobs.
If you feel OK with Python and a few other languages, you will find PHP trivial to learn. There's nothing wrong with learning another language. Is it ugly? Yes. Are you going to deal with terrible code? Most likely. Is it worth it? Only you know that.
I would be happy to take lower pay if it meant not having to deal with PHP - up to some threshold. Below that, a programming job is a programming job - I wouldn't say no if the offer is great.
You're not going to suddenly lose everything you learned though. All those other languages and skills will help you write great quality code and you'll spot more familiar patterns everywhere. If you have time, it could be a good idea to learn PHP just to know why it your prejudice holds and why exactly is it ugly.
It's also a good long term investment. Due to existing code, trivial hosting, active frameworks, and lots of users, PHP jobs are not going away any time soon. Especially the small "modify WordPress/drupal/whatever to do X" kind of jobs.