As PHP marks its 30th anniversary, I’ve found myself looking back. Not just at the evolution of this now-veteran scripting language, but at the way our paths have crossed, diverged, and grown together.
PHP has shaped much of the web we know today. For me, it’s also shaped a career — starting from basic, static websites to building high-performing, user-focused digital platforms. Here’s a look at how PHP’s story mirrors my own.
Starting Out: HTML, a Floppy Disk, and the Internet in its Infancy
For me, it all began in 1997, at that time PHP was on version 2, having been released two years previously. My first website was built just for fun and believe it or not the entire thing could fit onto a single floppy 1.44MB disk. It was built in raw HTML — simple, static, but full of possibility.
But it quickly became clear that plain HTML had limits. It couldn’t react to users, store data, or update itself. I wanted more control, more interaction, more intelligence. That’s when PHP entered the picture.
1999: My First PHP Website
I built my first PHP-powered website in 1999, using PHP 3. It was a turning point. PHP made web pages dynamic. You could pull in data, add logic, and create real user experiences — all without switching languages or tools.
This marked a shift for me — from experimentation to real development. A few years later, in 2004, I joined what was then Tibus and later became Zesty, and began working full time as a PHP developer. PHP 5 was our daily driver and the main version of PHP for just over 10 years. We used it to handle everything from public utility portals to university sites, holiday booking systems, broadcast radio stations, wedding planners, banks and so much more.
Whatever the sector, PHP helped us move fast, adapt to users, and build things that worked at scale.
Major PHP Milestones That Moved the Web Forward
PHP 6 — The Version That Never Launched
PHP 6 aimed to solve a real need: better support for multilingual, global websites. But it struggled to deliver. The complexity was too high, and the version was eventually dropped. The community’s decision to skip it entirely showed a clear priority: progress over perfection.
PHP 7 — A Huge Step in Speed and Stability
In 2015, PHP 7 arrived. It changed everything. The new Zend Engine 3 offered huge performance gains. Sites ran faster, used less memory, and could handle more traffic without needing more servers. This was PHP showing it could scale — not just for blogs and small sites, but for large, demanding systems.
PHP 8 — Smarter, Safer, Cleaner Code
PHP 8 introduced stricter type checks and new features like union types, named arguments, and attributes. These updates brought more structure to the language — and pushed developers (myself included) towards better habits and clearer code.
PHP 8 reflects what modern development needs: not just speed, but safety, clarity, and long-term maintainability.
The Ecosystem: Frameworks and Platforms that Grew with PHP
PHP’s real power isn’t just in the language — it’s in what’s been built around it.
WordPress, launched in 2003, now powers over 40% of the web. It brought web publishing to the masses, and made PHP essential for everyone from bloggers to enterprise teams.
Symfony, released in 2005, introduced structure and standards. Its component-based design laid the groundwork for cleaner, more scalable PHP apps.
Laravel followed, inspired by Symfony but focused on simplicity. It’s helped a new generation of developers pick up PHP and build fast, secure, maintainable applications.
These tools didn’t just expand what PHP could do — they built communities, shared knowledge, and made PHP feel modern again.
30 Years On: What PHP Means to Me
PHP’s journey is more than a technical timeline. It’s a story of consistent progress, real-world impact, and a community that continues to care.
For me, it’s also personal. PHP helped turn a passion into a profession. It’s been there through the early projects, the complex builds, the redesigns and rebuilds. I’ve used it to build things that made a real difference — for businesses, public services, and people.
Today, PHP remains a reliable, high-performing tool in a developer’s stack. It’s not always flashy, but it works — and it keeps getting better. We still use it every day and we still build web applications for Utilitiy providers, for Councils, National Parks, Sporting bodies, Universities, Government Departments and Initiatives and more.
So here’s to PHP at 30. Not just for lasting, but for continuing to grow, adapt, and stay useful. In a fast-changing industry, that’s no small thing.