Sorry, but the article seems like an expression of imposter syndrome and excessive worry about what other people think or say. In this case the other people mainly consist of anonymous critics and "gatekeepers" online. Why hitch your identity or sense of worth to a programming language or tool? Why get upset about people who have different opinions when you can just as well choose to ignore them?<p>If you can add value for your employer or customers and make a living, which language or tools you use to do that makes no difference. Pick any language, tool, style of work and you can find people who criticize it. So what? How does random criticism rise to gatekeeping?<p>The job market has tightened up because of economic changes and worry that money will get tighter. That affects most sectors, not just tech or programming. If you read HN you know that many companies have hiring freezes, people have or will soon get laid off, and good jobs get scarce with more competition. That has nothing to do with gatekeeping or programmers who look down on PHP. The programming business goes through booms and busts for reasons that have nothing to do with programming languages.<p>I have used PHP for years, since it came out and offered an alternative to Perl CGI scripts, ASP, and Cold Fusion. It gets the job done. It has some problems. I don't use PHP exclusively, I don't think of or call myself a "PHP programmer," and I don't care that some programmers hate it, whether out of experience or ignorance. My customers don't care about that, they have business problems to solve, a budget and schedule, and don't read language flame wars. Focus on finding work rather than complaining about job ads and PHP haters.<p>Sifting through job postings online and filling out applications describes one of the least effective and most time-consuming ways to find work.