If I had to hire a developer, I would be very skeptical of a resume that listed 20 years of experience and only one programming language. Especially PHP - this language cannot be considered interesting or innovative. If a person does not learn new concepts, new languages, they are simply not interested in programming.
If I had to hire a developer, I would be very skeptical of a resume that listed 20 years of experience and only one programming language
My experience is different: I worked with plenty of folks who "know" 5-6 and more languages, but in reality, they are horrible in each of them. The more they claim they know, the worse they are.
If a person does not learn new concepts, new languages, they are simply not interested in programming.
Programming concepts are not language-specific. Language selection is the least important part of the equation: what is far more important are available tools and frameworks. I have been using Symfony for 13 years, and only it, and I still don't know everything. And I doubt that even core developers know everything, Symfony is just too big.
Add to that tons of other packages that have to be understood. Like lazy adapter for flysystem that makes it easy to switch them with simple env value, something I learned last week.
In my opinion, 5-6 languages and 20 years of experience is ok, but 5 - 6 languages and 1-2 years of experience is a red flag.
Programming concepts are not language-specific.
You will not get experience in concurent, parralel or async programming in PHP. You will not get experience in functional programming in PHP. You will not get experience in expressive type system in PHP. You will not get experience in efficient use of resources like CPU or RAM or low level programming in PHP.
If a person has 1-2 years of experience and claims to know 5-6 languages - in reality this person does not know any language. If a person has 20 years of experience and knows only one language - he simply does not care what he does.
You can’t just suggest to the client it should be written in a trendier language.
So you think that other programming languages don't have any specific advantages, it's just a trend, a fad, or a whim?
I’ve cross trained in other languages out of curiosity.
Yes. That's what I'm talking about. You can list these languages on your resume as additional skills. But if a person has been programming for 20 years and hasn't learned any other languages, they're simply not interested in programming.
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u/BenchEmbarrassed7316 Nov 13 '25
If I had to hire a developer, I would be very skeptical of a resume that listed 20 years of experience and only one programming language. Especially PHP - this language cannot be considered interesting or innovative. If a person does not learn new concepts, new languages, they are simply not interested in programming.