Learning Outcome 1 – PHP in industry

PHP was originally created in 1994 and has become one of the most widely used languages, been used on over 20 million websites, with the vast majority of employers recognising this. There are now many jobs within the Interactive Media Industry that require the knowledge and skill to code PHP. Not too long ago PHP was usually a skill associated with programmers; but it has now come to be a commonly needed skill by developers as the uses of PHP in the industry are increasing.

Using itjobswatch.co.uk statistics I have seen that the jobs requiring PHP in West Yorkshire have increased 20% in the last 6 months, with a rise in the Wakefield area of 50%. This shows there is a real demand for people with PHP skills, there are also a large number of jobs currently going in the Wakefield districts and that figure expands vastly if I were to commute a short distance.

Using the same website I found the most needed relating skill to PHP is MySQL with 62% of jobs requiring PHP; look for people with the ability to code MySQL. This shows that learning both PHP and MySQL would increases job prospects by a fair amount.

The majority of jobs looked at required some experience with the use of PHP usually around one year’s worth. This shows that self taught skills are not enough; they need backing up with experience and a portfolio of some kind. This may be hard to come by and may require some freelance work to create a portfolio with.

Jobs in the Interactive Media Industry vary from the junior roles to the senior manager roles. Someone going into the Interactive Media Industry can expect a long career span starting in a junior role and been able to work their way through different levels of jobs depending on experience. There are also many opportunities available to develop into different job roles, from designer to developer or developer to programmer.

Summary
PHP is a widely used programming language and is highly recognised and required by companies in the Interactive Media Industry. I feel learning PHP with MySQL alongside it, will enable me to have greater job prospects within the industry. They are not the only skills I would require but they do make up a large part of the required job skills I would need to work within the industry and should increases my employability chance.

Word Count: 410