I have used PHP at work since 2014, full time since 2018. I have outgrown it at this point and am no longer interested in PHP gigs. I'm looking forward transitioning professionally to a compiled language, most likely Scala, Java or C#.

I'm also toying around with Rust, and I heard great things about Go, but besides programming I also have other hobbies including drawing, gaming and blogging, and I can't learn every language in the universe. Scala as a language checks all the boxes for me. Unfortunately the job market for it seems to offer only elite jobs, which is not where I am, so I may have to pick an alternative.

Side projects:

• Runescape-esque ascii game in Scala 3 and Java Lanterna (terminal based)
• fullstack website in Scala 3, Akka Http, Twirl, htmx, vanilla CSS (frontend stack isn't set in stone yet)
• 2d game in Rust using Macroquad (not sure yet about the genre, I'm just figuring out how to draw rectangles and handling inputs)

Previous side projects (live and ongoing):

• https://rotolist.holonaut.io/ | a todolist application with recurring tasks | Laravel + Livewire
• https://epic-scrolls.holonaut.io/ | a ChatGPT alternative for chatting with OpenAI models, api based | Laravel + Livewire + Web Components