Have you ever had a client express concern over the services you provide simply because you use PHP?

Question

We've been toying around with the idea that some of the reason we're not getting a higher caliber of client is because we've made it known that one of our primary partnerships is with an open source application vendor that provides a product built on PHP. Some clients we've talked to that don't even have the budget for "enterprise language" solutions like Java or .NET have said as much.

You could even reverse the question, and ask, do you get more respect from clients simply because you're using Java or .NET? This is an important question for our business, and it might cause us to re-evaluate our partnership, and start developing using a different platform.

Answer 1

Maybe not PHP in particular, but some companies have a "no open source" policy.

Answer 2

do you get more respect from clients simply because you're using Java or .NET?

For using .NET? I don't think so, most people I deal with wouldn't even know the difference between Java, C#, or me smashing my head on a keyboard.

The only thing they notice is the "Microsoft Gold Certified", or whatever lovely little title MS has given us for using their products, on the backs of our business cards. Any 'bonus' respect we get would probably come from that, simply because it makes us look more reputable.

Answer 3

Clients look for solutions, not languages.

It's not worth changing your entire platform in an effort to get the very, very few clients that are actually picky about language.

Now, if your solution rarely runs on their systems (for example, if you're running into issues where your clients are Microsoft/Windows infrastructure and your open-source affiliation only runs on Linux), then that might be a reason to change, but not for language alone.

Answer 4

What I have noticed is that if you are dealing with people who are not savvy, your choice of language makes no difference to them. However, a lot of companies seem to have one or two individuals who are just savvy enough to be dangerous.

These semi-savvy individuals malign PHP for a number of different reasons, but the one that is by far the most widespread and least-deserved is the belief that PHP just a giant security vulnerability masquerading as a programming language. In its not-too-distant history, PHP has had brainlessly bad default installation settings and an overabundance of under-qualified programmers (i.e., web designers). PHP's reputation has suffered dearly as a result.

As a programmer who works primarily in PHP and .NET, I would not hesitate to use PHP for an enterprise-level system. I've seen both terrible and fantastic things done in both languages and recognize that the difference is not in the tools but in how you use them. However, if someone in your potential client's organization has a grudge against PHP, it may be an uphill battle to convince them.

At the end of the day, I think it really depends on the client. Some will laugh at PHP. Some will bristle with rage at the mere mention of Microsoft. Some will not care the least bit. You have to determine the preference of the particular type of client you're trying to serve.

In my opinion, while you may at least get some insightful anecdotes here, I would recommend some quantitative market research as a next step.

Answer 5

I would think it's a possibilty, however unfair it might be.

I would think a common front to this argument is to point out some major players that run their entire systems on PHP/MySQL. Flickr.com comes to mind along with a bunch of other Yahoo services; also sites like digg.com.

So perhaps instead of saying "We build our web applications using PHP", perhaps you could phrase it "We use the same industry leading technologies as Flickr.com to make awesome web applications. Just ask us for more information!". =)

Answer 6

Yes, I have, and the client was right to raise these concerns.

There's a popular truism that "Clients don't care about language, clients care about solutions". There's a big truth in there, in that ultimately a business wants to spend n number of dollars because it's going to get n * x number of dollars back.

However, a smart client (or a smart executive) cares about the implications of the solution they're buying, and they care about the platform. It is easier to build trivial, non-robust solutions in PHP. In aggregate, PHP developers are less experienced software engineers than PHP developers. Lacking other knowledge, that's going to be the baseline when you're trying to sell any PHP based service.

This doesn't mean you can't land these gigs, but you need to make it clear to the smart executives that your solution overcomes PHP's problems. Find a way to demonstrate to them you have experienced developers on staff. Find the weaknesses in your open-source platform caused by PHP's architecture choices and explain how you've overcomes them and brought reliable software engineering to a platform that's more known for it's cowboy code monkey antics.

You're also going to run into dumb clients, (or dumb executives) who don't care about the solution they're buying, and don't care about the platform. These executive will know what the common prejudices are, and will press you on them. The flip side of "No one was ever fired for buying IBM Microsoft".

BOTH smart clients and dumb clients will know the going rate for an average PHP developer. All other things being equal, you'll have an easier time billing out at higher rates if you're a Java or .NET shop. Also, clients willing to shell out for the .NET licensing fees are going to (again, in aggregate) be more willing, in general, to pay higher rates for development.

So if you have a PHP solution you need to make it clear that all things aren't equal. You need to make it clear that PHP makes you a better choice, and is going to help that client (or the individual executive) turn n dollars into n times x dollars.

Answer 7

Most people recognize dynamically typed non-compiled languages don't scale. If all you've ever done is PHP, chances are your projects were small (less than 100,000 lines).

People mod me down for hating on dynamic typing but coming from someone who has inherited a team and 1,000,000+ lines of PHP code I recognize the scalability problems.