zapperdapper

Depends.

What are your objectives? Why are you learning it? Is PHP your first language? Are you trying to get a job, get general stuff done, or have a specific project in mind? Are you primarily looking at web, text processing, database?

My own thoughts on PHP today is it is a very capable language, and probably as worthy of learning as Python, Ruby, or any of the other mainstream scripting languages - again depends what your objectives are.

In other words - how long is a piece of string? ;)

I see where you are coming from, but I have a built a few big XML processing tools in PHP that run quite happily on the command line. Having said that, it was a few years back, and I tend to reach for Python for text/XML processing these days...

Actually COVID stopped a planned relocation for me.

To be more exact, I tend to split time between two main locations and was planning to increase the time in the other location, but the bug put that on hold sadly...

It sounds like quitting to take a less stressful (but probably less well paid) job would be a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

I would think seriously about taking some sick leave. Work a bit on your evening projects during the day. Get plenty of sleep and exercise in fresh air. Switch off the news and listen to classical music instead. Maybe this sounds lame but I did this when I was going through a rough patch and my mental health rebounded.

Good luck!

Had the same problem. I just write a blog for myself primarily, with notes on the things I'm working on, code, tools etc. I'm surprised by how often I go back and read my own articles, so I take that as a sign the idea was a success! :)

For me still Python. It just makes it easier for me to build solutions to the everyday problems I need to solve. When I have a little itch that needs scratching Python is what I reach for first.

Although I'd been a dabbler with Python for many years, about 6 years ago I had a problem to solve. Basically it was to spider and download a static site, clean up the content, add metadata, and pop that content into a database. At the time I was mostly working with PHP for such things, but decided on a whim to give Python ago. A couple of hours later it was done. Python made that project so painless. I've never looked back.

Since those days I've built many projects with Python, including web apps (using Flask), utilities, database apps and so on, and never regret choosing Python...

I wrote my own static site generator in Python. Source format is GitHub-flavoured Markdown. Both VSCode and Emacs have nice plugins for Markdown. Nothing fancy but it does the job. There are plenty of static site generators out there (a nice one I've used is Hugo), but the learning experience from writing my own has been superb.

I think this is good advice. Tune in to problems. Listening is harder than it seems because we tend to apply our own filters.

For example, I did some work for a friend in a non-IT business, and at first I didn't pay attention because I thought his problem was trivial - but then realized to him it wasn't. You'd be surprised what companies need help with.

Move on. You deserve a better company than that.

If you really must! A little static site generator is a nice one. The great thing is, it's the kind of thing you can pick up whenever you have a spare few minutes, as there's always some new little feature you can add...

My thoughts exactly - some very long walks in the fresh air and some good nights of sleep would be my top priority!

In 3 weeks!? If you want something tricky a compacting memory allocator in C should be doable in 3 weeks. Maybe I'm just slow! :(

I had a similar thing about a decade or so ago. Thought I might be able to wrangle a (part) remote gig with them. No dice.

There's no way I was going to commute to London every day. Nightmare. They kept coming back to me though.

In my case I think it was more likely a combination of poor process, and a clueless recruiter, rather than a deliberate retargeting of me that resulted in the ongoing calls/emails.

It's real deja vu looking at this thread. Many of the questions/comments here are exactly the same ones that came up in the early 1990s with Taos on CiX, and then later with Elate/intent. :)

Chris was far ahead of the curve - a heterogeneous, load-balancing, multi-processor, multi-tasking OS, with Object-Oriented Virtual Processor, byte code, load-time translation, support for multiple CPU types (including RISC/CISC/transputer and LE and BE), and tiny footprint message-passing kernel, when most people used MS-DOS 3.3 or DR-DOS 5.0, with Windows 95 still a gleam in Bill Gates's beady eye! Nearly 30 years on and he is still ahead of the curve!

p.s. no one has mentioned it yet - try a Google search for "edge tao spyfish". That was 1995!! Not released, but still very interesting reading material.

I have a friend that turns time allocated for other things into paid time. For example, she got certified as a Spin coach, so takes classes a couple of times a week and gets paid to work out. She also does yoga classes and gets paid for that too. Sure, you might not hit $2K/month but it'll get you part way there...

You can probably get about £200/day painting and decorating for people you know. If you're prepared to work weekends it'll get you nearly there after word gets around that you're trustworthy and polite...