why the hell I still doing php code

Why not?

@ScribeOfGoD I want to learn Go or something else, I'm in a loop

*spanks your arse*

Then... Learn... It...

Well, PHP still is a sortof working language for the web. The single-request-serving lifetime model works well for simpler projects and when you already wrapped the entire standard library, the language itself isn't actually bad.

If you already have ten+ years of experience in any memory-safe language, you probably know all its quirks and know how to do things right. With PHPStan and the new 8.x features, it can still be an okayish language.

And at least it isn't PERL...

@Oktokolo

Yeah I'm quite good with Rust, (non-android) Kotlin, Haskell, Python & Golang...

But if I talk to a recruiter or check job sites for backend positions around here, it's "Which of these 9000 Laravel projects would you like to work on?"

If you want to do backend (not devops/ML/etc), it's going to be either PHP/Symfony/Laravel, Java/Spring or Javascript/Typescript/Node.

If you pick PHP/JS, you will move towards startups, if you pick Java, you will move towards corporate.

Go/Ruby/Python is fun, and if you look hard enough it's doable for a backend job, but it will push your career into a bit more of a niche.

That said -- There's no reason not to learn an *extra* language or two.

@bittersweet I'd rephrase...

It's a good idea to learn more languages :)

Heck, I still support some old ASP.net web forms apps, and was working on classic asp sites until about 4 years ago (I was the only dev on the team that had experience to support it or at least was dumb enough to admit I knew how to support it).

@bittersweet: There might be no reason to learn another language - from a business point of view. But business shouldn't be 100% of your life anyways...

Also you could still try to get into a niche where you can code in the language you want to code in instead of limiting yourself to the mainstreams. Does it really have to be web backend?

@Oktokolo Absolutely agree, I think as the years pass by, every developer should get "one evening" level of familiarity with about two dozen languages, then pick 5 or so to use on at least one hobby project.

But if the question is "why am I still writing PHP"...

Yeah it's kind of like a car mechanic asking "Why am I repairing beaten up beige Toyota sedans from 2008, instead of Tesla's and Porsches?"

PHP is a cheap, rusty but dependable enough workhorse, good enough for the vast majority. It breaks often, but repairs/rewrites easily.

And yeah of course you can switch from backend webdev to app/game/etc, but that switch can come with a bit of a salary setback if you're lacking experience.

ok this is not my place

/q