I thought all of Akash's suggestions were good but a little broad and seemed to involve a lot of reading. And while any budding developer will jump at the chance to expand their burgeoning technical library, I thought there were a couple of items we could add to his list.

The recommendations that made his list are

• Start a project that other people (developers and end users) will use.
• Learn another language.
• Teach someone PHP.
• Ask for suggestions not solutions.
• Use what you read.

I'm particularly a fan of the third one (teaching) - not only does it spread PHP out even more through the masses, but it can really test you on your knowledge (some of those "how do I.." questions can get a bit complex, even from beginners).

So, you’re an up-and-coming PHP developer, you’re spending a lot of time learning new tricks and you’re always on the bleeding edge when it comes to using technologies in your web applications. What’s next?

His four answers to "what's next" are:

• Read books, write code.
• Attend conferences
• Take courses and qualification tests
• Watch the web

...with the final one being his most important.