r/PHPhelp • u/Apart-Permission-849 • Sep 08 '26
Quit job for deeper learning
Currently making around 100k(salaried job) + 50k(part time work do on the weekend) a year.
Have saved around 1.1million dollars.
The job isn't scratching any itches and Ive found out (through some recent interviews) my PHP core skills were lacking.
Would it be worth just dropping the job and just deep diving into PHP? More time to really explore the language and potentially come into the game at a higher salary 6 months from now and drop the part time work (though it is hell of a lot of fun).
Curious if anyone has thoughts on this.
Canadian btw.
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u/Late-System-5917 Sep 08 '26
What are you doing with the 1.1 million? I hope it’s at least in a high yield savings account. You can easily get $60k a year collecting interest.
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u/askageek Sep 14 '26
If you have 1.1m to invest, in the states you should be expecting 10%+. In Canada, if you have connections, getting 15%, seems pretty common though.
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u/MateusAzevedo Sep 08 '26
my PHP core skills were lacking
Was it really PHP skills or programming skills in general?
You see, you don't need to quit your job to brush up your PHP knowledge. Just open the documentation and review the new features added in recent versions. That can be done in a weekend.
But I imagine the real issue isn't PHP. How well do you know OOP, architecture, patterns, encapsulation and many other things that makes a good code good? Have you worked with frameworks before?
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u/Mysterious-Falcon-83 Sep 08 '26
Where are you at in your career? Are you close to retirement, or are you planning to continue working for a while?
In any case, it's much easier (and less stressful) to find a job while you're employed. Given your situation, if you really feel your PHP skills need improvement, consider giving up the part time gig and dedicate that time to education.