[hiAndrewQuinn]

PHP is underrated, especially as a learning resource. I'm very surprised I only ever built something with vanilla PHP on the job a few months ago - and how fast I could go from idea to prototype.

There is a very natural learning progression to: First build apps that run purely locally; then build a few static websites, maybe starting with hand-crafted HTML and eventually using something like Hugo; then build a small dynamic website with vanilla PHP; then finally build something with a more complex framework, like Laravel or Django. Going upwards in these iterations I think would help a lot ofd newer devs internalize where the tradeoffs of inital complexity vs. future ease of development lands for them.