Python vs PHP what should I learn to develop data based web sites? And which is the most used by the industry?

I would like to chime in as well because this is a big question I have spent a lot of time thinking about too as someone planning a career as a full-stack/back-end developer. Which is better, and which is more likely to get you a job?

In my experience, though it depends on the particular job board and the keywords you use, there does tend to be a lot more jobs for developers primarily using PHP than Python. PHP is not sexy, its not hip and its not trendy (at least that's my perception), and a lot of people seem to love to hate it (I have a friend who is a C# developer to once said "PHP developers aren't real programmers"). But the reality is that even though so many people love to hate it, it objectively dominates the web and if you get to a solid intermediate level with it and you are also comfortable with other core web technologies, you are very likely to get a job.

I took the entire Beginning Python track and started with the Exploring Flask track and hated it. Though I love Treehouse, I felt that the instruction for Python was really bad. I am someone who loves to code and can always figure out the solution to pretty much any code challenge I am given, but the Python courses had me constantly frustrated. On the other hand, the PHP instruction on Treehouse is pretty good, and if you're already familiar with JavaScript then you'll find that for the most part, writing PHP doesn't feel that different. I find that switching back and forth between PHP on the backend and JS on the frontend feels very natural. Not so with Python. Not to mention, and this is big: so use Python for web development you need a framework. But with PHP, you can just create a PHP file and easily write the PHP right into your HTML for simple stuff, no framework or third party libraries needed.

Lastly, I am always surprised to see JavaScript being recommended so often for the backend. There are jobs requiring Node and Express for instance, but again, my experience is that there are not nearly as many jobs for developers using those technologies as there are for the more traditional webstack. I am not saying don't learn Node and Express, because I plan to at some point, but I am pretty sure that my first point of entry into the job market will be with a job that primarily uses PHP and MySQL.

I hope these thoughts help.