In this new post to his blog today, Jim Plush investigates what it is that really separates out the professional PHP developers from those that are just "scripters".

I've just interviewed probably my 200th php/web candidate during the past three years that I've been involved with staffing. I've come up with some criteria that I look for to get a real "senior" level developer position filled. I'd say 98% of people don't seem to meet even half the criteria. How many do you meet?

He includes his list, including things like knowing differences between PHP4 and PHP5, be able to work with OOP, know what unit testing is, be a part of the community, and his final, most important item - have a passion for improvement.