Ask HN: Would you take a job where back end is only in PHP?
I am a java dev with 6 YOE working at Walmart. I got a job recently with really good hike but the work there will be writing micro services in PHP.
I don't have any PHP production experience. Does it make sense to take this job? Would having PHP on resume impact future opportunities? Will it affecting get job at FAANG or equivalent companies.
Any advice from senior devs is appreciated.
The big question you need to get the answer for is will you be writing 'modern' PHP or maintaining 'legacy' PHP.
Modern PHP using the latest tools and frameworks and modern PHP best practices isn't too bad a language. Far from my favourite, but quite decent.
'Legacy' PHP on the other hand can be a nightmare, especially if it's a system that has been around since the PHP4/5 days and still written in style of the time. I would definitely stay away from that.
As to resume impact, I wouldn't overthink the language. Most decent companies care much more about what you where doing, than what language you where doing it in. Building a cutting edge micro service setup that scaled and performed really well (in PHP) should easily count in your favour.
PHP 8.1 and symfony.
Writing or maintaining? I am sure besides all the hate it's surely possible to build cool clean things with PHP.
However, working on legacy PHP code (as I have experienced in the past) ranks within the worst things I could imagine for a job.
There are building a managed wordpress hosting platform. It will be around building restapi for control plane and bit of hosting infra work.
Personally I would be careful. WordPress is just another red flag for legacy PHP code.
But keep in mind that's only me. I wouldn't do a java job either, so I am likely just a bad example
Its not managed hosting platform backend but its for customer's Wordpress site. So you never know. I am bit concerned about that part only.
IMO you're overthinking it. If the company/people seem nice, the money is good and the challenge is something that'll keep you interested - go for it.
You can justify/spin pretty much anything on a resume.
There are many, many jobs out there demanding PHP. They’re not generally glamorous, but if you’re looking for stability over social status, which at some age everyone starts to be, PHP is good experience to have in your back pocket.
I am just 28. I am not looking for stability currently also webdev does not interest me, I am backend dev. Also I already have well paying job. Most PHP jobs are not that good paying and this will be one time PHP thing, if I take up the job. Just concerned how it would look on resume.
FAANG companies care more about your problem-solving abilities and system design skills than the specific language you've used, so learning PHP while gaining microservices experience is actually valuable as it demonstrates adaptability.
PHP is old tech, but works fine.
The language api is somewhat inconsistent due to legacy weaknesses and compatibility.
That said, I prefer old-style PHP (like it was written in version 5ish) instead of the new object orienteted/composer/micro-library stuff (that I consider the javascript virus).
Having moved away from PHP a decade ago, I recently had to update some old code (that I had written originally). And even with almost a decade of not using php, the experience was pleasurable enough.
As a senior the TLDR is: The PHP language itself is fine, the actual code base itself means more (and can either be fine or not), but in the end it is the work environment (do you like your coworkers, bosses and are the time constraints reasonable) that mean the most.
Regarding your CV, I would always prefer a candidate with production experiences in (at least) two different environments to a "one trick pony", so I have a hard time seeing that it could hurt you.
Totally so!
Using PHP in production means:
- The employer organisation is incompetent, or they won't be doing it
- They are also rich, or they'd be bankrupt trying to do it.
Both are good signs if you are looking for a job there.
Haha, they are rich but they acquired this small company. I don't know what they were thinking while building backend in PHP, from the looks of it, majority of their devs are proficient in that only.
WordPress backend is PHP, so it makes sense to use the same language throughout. I've been doing PHP professionally for a long time, and as long as you know other languages (which you do), you surely won't get pigeonholed into PHP roles forever.
IMO the question is not whether you should take a PHP job, it's whether you should take a job building a hosting control panel. Is that type of work something you're interested in? Do you want to become an expert in web hosting? There are lots of companies in the web hosting space, so it could be a solid career domain, but not if it's super boring to you.
I am assuming it would just be REST apis and micro services right? Won't be much different from building any other backend. Is my assumption correct or does the hosting platform backend work any differently? I was told they serve billion request daily, but I doubt the control planes api would be handling such scale daily.
I mean if I take up this job my next job would not be in the same domain. I don't have much interest in webdev, but this role also provides the infra exposure so I thought of interviewing.
Also wouldn't using Java or Golang make more sense here if the scale is such?