About
PHP Developer Guides is a range of guides on subjects from the perspective of a PHP Developer. All the guides are written by Paul Waring, a freelance PHP developer based in the UK.
PHP Developer Guides is hosted on a VPS I rent from Mythic Beasts, who I highly recommend.
Why I am writing the guides
I prefer to learn from books, rather than videos. I think it's a shame that technical books are not as popular as they used to be, either in paper or electronic form. In particular, it's really hard to find good PHP books, or books that teach you a certain topic from the perspective of a PHP developer (as opposed to a Java or C++ developer).
Why the guides are free
I've made the guides free for a number of reasons, some commercial and others personal. None of these are an issue when I'm selling general PHP development services, because I restrict myself to UK clients.
Pricing is hard
Deciding how much to charge for guides is difficult, given that:
- Incomes vary between countries - $50 might be nothing to a senior dev in the US, but a month's wages elsewhere.
- Incomes vary within countries - $50 is a lot to someone who is struggling on benefits or early in their career (or a poorly paid sector such as a charity).
I could get around some of these problems by charging a different rate per country, or a 'pay what you feel' system, but that gets complicated and I wouldn't expect to sell enough guides to make this worthwhile.
Tax
Tax is too damn complicated - even VAT within the UK is a nightmare. I don't want to take a trip to France only to be arrested on arrival for not having charged the right amount of tax on some sales. It doesn't help that services are sometimes taxed based on the location of the buyer, rather than the seller. In order to work out the correct rates, I'd have to collect lots of personal data (e.g. where you live), and I don't feel comfortable doing that.
I could pay someone to make this problem go away, but they'd take a 15-30% cut for doing so.
Margins
Everyone wants their cut when selling online - marketplace, tax management, payment processing etc. I'd be lucky to get 50-60% of the cover price after deductions, and I would then have to deduct a further 50% of that for UK taxes on my income and pension contributions. On a guide sold for $50, I might end up with $12.50.
Marketing
The guides are a marketing tool for my PHP skills and ability to explain technical content clearly in writing. If a small percentage of readers go on to ask me to do paid work, or refer me to people who hire me, the guides effectively pay for themselves that way.
Thanks
If you like the guides and would like to say thank you, please consider:
- Recommending me as a PHP developer (e.g. on LinkedIn or via email).
- Recommending the guides to other people who you think would benefit.
- Sharing a link to the guides on social media.
- Donating to a charity in your country supporting asthma, diabetes or mental health.
I rely on being paid for PHP development for the majority of my income, so every recommendation or share helps.
Support
As the guides are free, I do not offer any support, other than if you find a mistake. Your options are:
- Ask on a platform like StackOverflow.
- Pay me for mentoring or training.
If you email me asking for free support I will not reply.