Author: Manuel Lemos
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Categories: Software Business
The core developers need more money to at least survive while they dedicate themselves to the PHP language development full time to have faster releases of PHP versions.
The PHP Foundation launch happened yesterday. This foundation will take care of the funding of dedicated PHP core developers. Read this article to learn how you can help the PHP Foundation fund as many developers as possible so that the PHP language can have a better future.
In this article you will learn about:
What is the PHP Foundation
Why the PHP Foundation Needs Your Help to Fund the PHP Language Development
How You Can Change Your Attitude So Your Can Help Saving Your PHP Jobs
How Can You Help the PHP Foundation to Make PHP Have a Future
How Can the PHP Foundation Help PHP Have an Even Better Future
![PHP logos combined with Einarmiger Gewichtsheber Statue By Ueb-at (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://files.phpclasses.org/files/blog/file/PHP-Lifted-by-the-PHP-community.jpg "PHP logos combined with Einarmiger Gewichtsheber Statue By Ueb-at (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
What is the PHP Foundation
The PHP Foundation is a non-profit organization that was recently created to fund the PHP project in a sustainable way.
According a blog post from Roman Pronskiy from JetBrains, Nikita Popov, a reputed PHP core developer that also worked for JetBrains is leaving December 1. JetBrains is well known for developing a popular PHP IDE named PHPStorm.
Nikita Popov was one of the main core PHP developers that make PHP 8 a reality. While Nikita Popov was working for JetBrains, he used to have more time that the company allowed him to work on the PHP core.
Now that Nikita is leaving JetBrains to a new venture, he will have less time to dedicate to the PHP project. This is a sad reality affects also other core developers that have other jobs or do consulting work to pay for their bills.
This situation is something that the PHP Foundation aims to solve. By seeking funding for the PHP core developers, the foundation can pay for the survival of more dedicated core developers. Continue to read more below for more detail explanations.
Why the PHP Foundation Needs Your Help to Fund the PHP Language Development
The PHP engine core is developed by very highly skilled core developers that write code in lower-level languages C and C++ to implement new features and maintain the current features. This is crucial to assure that PHP-based applications are fast and very secure.
I have 53 years of age and started developing software when I was 13 years of age. In the beginning I developed in BASIC and assembly language when I had ZX Spectrum 8 bit computers. Developing in assembly language is very hard and time consuming.
Later I started working with the C language when I had Amiga 16 bit computers. Developing in C is easier but still very hard to develop code to implement complex software tasks.
When I tried PHP 2 in 1997, it was like a dream that was fulfilled because it was like interpreted C. I could develop applications faster writing less code then when I used to program in C.
Many thanks to Rasmus Lerdorf the PHP creator for being such a brilliant person to create a language that is much simpler to develop with and easier to learn.
We must never forget many other brilliant developers, such as Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans that founded Zend to turn their work contributing to PHP core into a real business. Unfortunately they also left Zend for other ventures.
All this to say there is a pattern of PHP core developers that leave the core to dedicate to other businesses.
These core developers are like all of us that have bills to pay to assure their survival. Therefore they need money to continue to do the voluntary work that they do to develop the PHP language core.
Some do consulting work. Others are employed by sponsor companies that pay core developers salaries.
This is not ideal because these core developers are not able to develop the language features fast enough. The consequence is that it takes many months or years between to major releases of PHP.
Therefore, seeking additional funding to pay for core developers to stay focused in the PHP development is one way to go to solve the problem of core developers leaving for other ventures.
How You Can Change Your Attitude So Your Can Help Saving Your PHP Jobs
As a developer that benefits from other PHP developers efforts, you are also responsible to help PHP have a better future.
Just like you need to be paid decently for your work, the PHP core developers also would need to be paid.
It is not a matter of becoming rich but rather of survival and fairness. So lets be fair to all developers that contribute to make the PHP community have a better future, so you can also save your job working with PHP.
Being fair means, that you should use your time to do something productive for the sake of the PHP community as a whole.
You can contribute in many ways. For instance, if you find yourself complaining in social networks of other PHP projects that may not be perfect, please stop doing that. If you do that, you are not helping.
Nobody is perfect. Instead of complain, try suggesting improvements. Instead of using public spaces like social networks to voice your complaints, try communicating in private with the project owners and pass your improvement suggestions. Private suggestions are way more useful than public complaints because suggestions motivate continued improvement work, while public complaints only make projects look bad.
When I mention PHP projects I do not mean just the PHP core development, but also your favorite PHP frameworks, PHP packages, PHP tools, PHP applications or other products or services that help PHP developers be more productive.
In sum, I can suggest that a better attitude means that you will look more mature and respectable by being fair to all other PHP developer colleagues.
There are more ways that you can use to help the PHP community to have a better future. Continue reading to learn more about that.
How Can You Help the PHP Foundation to Make PHP Have a Future
As you may have read above, the PHP Foundation is gathering funds to pay for the work of more core developers.
This means that you can be one many that will fund the PHP Foundation. If the PHP Foundation gathers more money, they can hire more PHP core developers that will develop PHP 9 faster.
PHP 8 took about 5 years to happen. That is the time since PHP 7 release in December 2015 and PHP 8 release in November 2020. That is a lot of time for new version of a language to be developer. I am sure the PHP community can do better with more funding.
Just like Rasmus Lerdorf, the PHP creator, used to say something like: Nothing happens if the PHP community does not move. So lets more to make a better future happen like we desire.
So what you can do right now to be a good PHP community citizen is to spend USD $5 a month and help funding the PHP future for your own sake.
Yes, that is right. It is just USD $5 a month. In many countries that is not much money. I live in a nice city in Brazil and my cost of life per day is $15. So deciding to fund the project was a decision that I took immediately because it is not much money for me.
If you can pay more than USD $5 a month, please do it . You will not regret because good PHP developers can make much more than that in working remotely for big companies. I do not work for those companies because I work for my own company (Icontem). That is the company that I funded in 2005 to manage the PHP Classes site business.
Recently I read that a good PHP developer can work a big company and make more than USD $100.000 a year. If you are one of those developers, please contribute more because if it was not for PHP core developers you would not be able to earn that much money working with the PHP language that you certainly love.
Regardless of how much money you can contribute to the PHP Foundation, any amount is welcomed and the whole community will be grateful.
So all you have to do is to go to the PHP Foundation contribution page and become a contributing member. I just did that and paid with Paypal. Next month I will be charged more $5 and it will help the foundation to gather more funds to pay at least for the cost of life of more PHP core developers.
While $5 may not be much money, many contributions from other PHP developers like yourself will help the PHP foundation to gather more funds. The more funds they gather, the more PHP core developers they can hire.
All this to say you are an important PHP developer that can make a difference in the PHP future. If PHP can have a better future with your help, you will also have a better future as PHP developer.
There are more things that we can do to make PHP can have a better future. Continue reading to learn more on this.
How Can the PHP Foundation Help PHP Have an Even Better Future
The PHP Foundation can help PHP have a better future if you help the PHP foundation. First let me suggest several actions you can take.
1. Spread the news about the PHP Foundation initiative. You can share this article with other developers for instance. You can also spread the article in the JetBrains blog. If you use Twitter, follow the PHP Foundation Twitter account and share the news on this initiative that they will share there.
2. Use the silence in our favor. If you do not have nothing positive to say, just do not say anything. The PHP foundation work will take some time to have good effects. Be patience and wait for the good consequences of the initiative. In the end we will all benefit from this.
3. If you have good suggestions for the future of the PHP foundation initiative, please send them to the PHP Foundation email address phpfoundationofficial@gmail.com. Please be patience because it may not be viable to follow all suggestions.
In general it is necessary to debate to pick the best suggestions and then decide which are more important to implement first. Do not take it personal if your suggestion is not followed soon.
4. For the PHP Foundation members I also have some advice. One is to leave in the past differences with other colleagues of the PHP community. We all had arguments, some of they were ugly, but that is all over. We cannot change the past. So let's focus in the future.
Another advice is to get a business mentor that can help you to make good decisions. A good decision is one that helps the majority of the PHP developers including the core developers. A good decision can lead to what is commonly known as a Win-Win situation.
Personally I am a business creation and evolution mentor and I am available to help if there is interest to make the PHP Foundation a more professional organization in turning the effort into an initiative that is financially viable.
Besides being a mentor, I am also a business administrator since at least 2005 and a business angel. This means that I can seek more investors that can fund more substantial amounts that can pay for more qualified core developers, as well other initiatives that can benefit the PHP community as a whole and need more money to make them happen.
If the PHP Foundation prefers to get help from other mentor that is also fine. Just try to find a mentor that has long time experience to run viable businesses like I had the privileged to make it happen.
5. Here at the PHP Classes site we will finally implement a marketplace that will allow many PHP developers to dedicate full time to the development of new products and services that other PHP developers need to have a better life working with PHP.
I will personally be a mentor of many projects that will be brought to life later when they are ready. First we will launch some products of existing companies that want to benefit from the high exposure that the PHP Classes site can offer. We are reaching near 1.6 million registered users. We seen regular newsletters to about 200.000 registered users.
The size of this community is part of the reason that I want to retribute to all developers that helped the PHP Classes to become a viable business since 2001 when I left my last job working for another company.
If you have a company that provides products and services that other developers may be interested to buy, please send a message to info@phpclasses.org so we can guide you in order to have your products and services integrated in the marketplace.
If all goes well according to the plan, we will contribute a greater amount to the PHP Foundation. This is what we can do for now to retribute many years of dedication of core developers that made PHP a reality that helps us working with the language that we love.
Now it is time for you to do your part. Do not forget to become a contributing member of the PHP Foundation by going now here to the contribution page.
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Comments:
2. php in my first job - José Filipe Lopes Santos (2021-11-25 17:53)
php in my first job... - 2 replies
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1. I love PHP, its the perfect mix of features, easy to learn. - Shelly Warren (2021-11-25 02:52)
We have to keep PHP alive!... - 1 reply
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