Hacker News Reader

"Realized that my friends will forever make fun of me if I stay on PHP"

That was lame.

"Considered Cake as well, but went with CodeIgniter mainly because I had friends that had used it"

Can you see a pattern here?

Yes. It's really easy to learn things when you have a support network turn to for questions and advice.

or a willingness to take your own path and not mind the opinions of others.

>I need someone to hold my hand