1. Unpredictable Industry

Have you ever wondered why the industry of PHP is so unpredictable when it comes to the knowledge base of a programmer? This has been tickling my gray cells, few of which I have, for years. Additionally, this is also true for companies, we rarely know the quality or standard of their codebase until you are hired. Occasionally, leading to a rather large shock. 

Why is the industry like this? What implications does this have and can we solve them? These are some of the questions I hope to answer in this article.

PHP and programming in general is an unlicensed profession, this means the market is open to anyone with a laptop and internet access. While morally admirable, allowing anyone to self-learn and rise up out of poverty. It also means the barriers to entry to the market are very low, this also means the level of knowledge is unpredictable. 

2. The Unlicensed 

To many this probably seems obvious, but then why is this the case? Pilots, electricians and engineers don’t have these issues because they have a regulated industry. Why is programming different? Would you ask an electrician to create a circuit in an interview to prove their knowledge? Something, even the most senior programmers are asked to do, prove their knowledge, continually.

In my opinion this is why the PHP community is so skeptical of others' knowledge (maybe even rightly so) which has led to the development of cliques, establishing their own standards and conflicting with others who don’t agree or adhere.

The lack of regulation also means lack of oversight, there is no independent, international authority of PHP that provides audits and reports their findings. like for example the aviation industry has. (there are many including ICAO, EASA and IOSA) 

If there is an accident, an investigation is launched, the facts are established, findings are presented, and culpability is punished. In PHP we have PSR (PHP Standards Recommendations) but these are recommendations and have no legal implication if not followed. 

3. Level of Risk

You may be thinking, this all a bit much for a programming language that mostly makes websites? Actually, no, the number of scandals and lives ruined or even taken due to hacks or incompetence is very surprising.

Let’s look at the track record of Facebook hacks alone: 

These types of hacks result in identity theft, fraud, and phishing scams and we have no way of knowing how many lives these hacks have ruined or worse. Remember this is Facebook alone! So be in no doubt, the risks are equally as high as in other industries. 

The truth of the matter is, the world of PHP is the digital wild west, with low barriers to market entry, no regulation, no oversight and no legally binding standards. The culmination of which sows the seeds of distrust and skepticism of knowledge and ability. 

End of part one.