Ben Ramsey

Jim Plush’s recent blog post “The Soon to be PHP Boom” reminded me of my October 2005 post “What’s Good for Zend is Good for PHP.” In that post, I observed – from comments made by Marc Andreessen in the Wall Street Journal and Zend’s involvement in the Enterprise – that “the forecast for PHP looks bright and sunny.”

Indeed, if Jim’s post is any indication, that future is getting brighter and sunnier.

Jim lists some ways for up-and-coming PHP programmers to hone their skills and get noticed. I’d like to add one additional thing to it: blog, blog, blog! Start a blog and begin taking part in the PHP blogosphere by offering your opinions and experience to the PHP community. In addition (and, perhaps, more importantly), read the blogs of other PHP developers. A good place to start is to take a look at the blogroll on my home page.

It may take a while (and, generally, in the PHP community, it doesn’t take very long), but you will soon be noticed, and potential employers will be able to find you easily through search engines (as Jim suggested). From my experience, starting a blog about PHP is a quick and easy way to make connections and network with others. You simply need to start and make it a regular habit to blog – unlike the near silence I’ve had over the past six months.

I think the number of PHP jobs will only grow over the next few years, as middle-to-upper management folks begin to realize the value of PHP – or, if anything, they begin to realize that PHP is a buzzword they need to add to their repertoire of tools.