Comments on: A Letter to an Aspiring PHP Programmer http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/ It's a Doozy! Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:20:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Roddi http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-272764 Roddi Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:55:59 +0000 http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-272764 Java or ASP.NET pay better because they're used in the biggest companies, which pay more than smaller companies. This is because J + A.N are "enterprise class" and PHP isn't. But enterprise class ISN'T about whether a cool Web 2.0 website can be implemented in PHP or not (this is how Joe Cool McCoder thinks). It's about that a big company wants: 1) risk management. Is there 24/7 support available in your city, from a company the size of MS, Sun, HP, IBM? Companies demand this for mission-critical, revenue generating systems. This is why companies use Websphere rather than Tomcat, or Oracle/SQL Server rather than MySQL/PostgreSQL/Firebird. Sure, PostgreSQL has commercial support - but not in Melbourne, Australia where I am. 2) platform/skill consolidation. Sure PHP is good at web pages - but what about message queuing, remote method calls, clustering, ORM, distributed transactions? Big businesses want this all in one technology stack (like .NET or J2EE), and ideally from one vendor (this is Java's weakness - too much fragmentation). 3) access to the education and training sausage machine. Companies don't want rockstars who passions keeps them on the cutting edge. They just want drones to crank out business apps day after day. And they want these drones to easily replaceable because they leave after 2-4 years. Very few people manage to combine fun and money - if you want to do that then enter American Idol. Better to make money at work doing Java or ASP.NET, and have fun at home (PHP, open source, time with partner/family, whatever). And be ready to change as well - I went from Java to ASP.NET because that what the trend is. So, my advice is get into the industry. See how the MANAGERS think, then adapt to that. Roddi Java or ASP.NET pay better because they’re used in the biggest companies, which pay more than smaller companies.
This is because J + A.N are “enterprise class” and PHP isn’t.
But enterprise class ISN’T about whether a cool Web 2.0 website can be implemented in PHP or not (this is how Joe Cool McCoder thinks).
It’s about that a big company wants:
1) risk management.
Is there 24/7 support available in your city, from a company the size of MS, Sun, HP, IBM?
Companies demand this for mission-critical, revenue generating systems.
This is why companies use Websphere rather than Tomcat, or Oracle/SQL Server rather than MySQL/PostgreSQL/Firebird.
Sure, PostgreSQL has commercial support - but not in Melbourne, Australia where I am.
2) platform/skill consolidation.
Sure PHP is good at web pages - but what about message queuing, remote method calls, clustering, ORM, distributed transactions?
Big businesses want this all in one technology stack (like .NET or J2EE), and ideally from one vendor (this is Java’s weakness - too much fragmentation).
3) access to the education and training sausage machine.
Companies don’t want rockstars who passions keeps them on the cutting edge.
They just want drones to crank out business apps day after day.
And they want these drones to easily replaceable because they leave after 2-4 years.

Very few people manage to combine fun and money - if you want to do that then enter American Idol.
Better to make money at work doing Java or ASP.NET, and have fun at home (PHP, open source, time with partner/family, whatever).
And be ready to change as well - I went from Java to ASP.NET because that what the trend is.
So, my advice is get into the industry.
See how the MANAGERS think, then adapt to that.

Roddi

]]> By: Dan http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-272757 Dan Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:19:46 +0000 http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-272757 Because facebook, flickr and digg are enterprise apps... Because facebook, flickr and digg are enterprise apps…

]]> By: Ryan http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-218864 Ryan Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:47:06 +0000 http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-218864 I posted a trackback to you yesterday on the WiiSaber (still brings a smile) and had some offhand curiosity about nofollow - so when I looked at your source, I noticed the bottom had about a hundred spam links. I'm assuming that's not intentional. I posted a trackback to you yesterday on the WiiSaber (still brings a smile) and had some offhand curiosity about nofollow - so when I looked at your source, I noticed the bottom had about a hundred spam links. I’m assuming that’s not intentional.

]]> By: dean http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-186710 dean Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:35:51 +0000 http://isnoop.net/blog/2007/08/06/a-letter-to-an-aspiring-php-programmer/#comment-186710 Hi Ian, I emailed you several times but you never replied. Can you let me know if you about the work. Hi Ian,
I emailed you several times but you never replied.
Can you let me know if you about the work.

]]>