[UPHPU] Dealing with the low PHP salary problem

[Grant Shipley]

I thought I would quickly respond to this.  (I originally sent this to
the first poster not realizing reply does not send to the list)

Disclaimer:  I am a Java developer, and have been for five years now.
I just recently joined this list because I currently have a side
project that we are using PHP for.

>From am outsider perspective, the majority of companies that employ
PHP programmers are small companies.  This is not where the higher
salaries are made.  Small companies are barely making ends meet as it
is.

Most people think of PHP programmers as people right out of high
school who want to learn how to program.  They grab a book and start
banging out code because its so easy to do and its not object
oriented. (I know you can do classes but its not really object
oriented).  I think PHP is a great language to start with because of
this.  You don't need to understand Object Oriented Design like you do
with Java before you write your first line of code and hence you can
get started quicker.

PHP is not taught in most colleges and universities and therefore
people equate PHP programmers as people with little or no college
experience.  Most Java programmers have a Computer Science degree.
This DOES NOT suggest that I think people with degrees are better
coders, because I don't really think it matters as much as experience.
But thats the perception of management.

Another poster stated some of this will change when PHP5 is released.
I am going to play devils advocate and say that it will not affect
anything.  PHP5 is introducing features that other languages have had
for years and years.  For instance, abstract classes, exception
handling, etc. etc.  Why would a manager trust a language just now
introducing these features when they can use .NET or Java that has
been proven time and again in a enterprise environment.

Another reason is that PHP is so closely tied to mysql.  Mysql is a
great database but its just not used in the enterprise (yahoo,
slashdot, I know I know).  I know that PHP talks fine with oracle but
most PHP programmers have little or no experience with this.  Most
java developers use Oracle or MSSQL on a daily basis because they are
working on big systems that mysql is not a correct fit for.

All that being said, PHP is a great language for getting websites up
VERY FAST.  But those are some of the reasons I think PHP programmers
get paid less that java developers.

BTW, I know PHP programmers making as much or more than me.  So, the
high paying jobs are out there, but you need more skills than just
being able to bang out a web page.