&gt; And pick a language with a welcoming but passionate community that can give your feedback on your code.<p>Any recommendations? The PHP community (where my commercial work is done) is not that. And far too fad driven.<p>&gt; And when it comes to your money earning work don&#x27;t discount the Just Works outcome.<p>You&#x27;re not the first person to say that to me. I should start listening!<p>&gt; Having an outlet to write more elegant stuff in your spare time can be a valuable sanity saver.<p>Agree - if I despise what I write every day, it wears me down. I haven&#x27;t worked on anything fun (or open source) for years, focusing on making money.<p>Thanks mate!