Each PHP programmer who learned the language at some point may want to turn his skills into cash. It's completely natural and best of all is that you are doing what you like to do ... write code. There are actually two ways to make money from PHP programming: become a freelancer or get a full-time job.

I can't really say which one is better for you, in my career I learned that it all depends on your character. If you like to do more then just write code, for example deal with clients, create graphics and so on then freelancing may be a better option for you. Often people who start off as freelancers few years later build their own IT companies and as you can expect as a company owners they are making more money the as an employee. On the other hand some freelancers end up in full-time job so you can never tell how will it go until you give it a try.

As for the other group - full-time programmers. That may seem like an easy and fun way to earn a lot of money - and it is - but sometimes that's not the case. There are few things that you should ask your future employer before signing contract. The point is: everyone likes to write code not debug or profile (although this maybe fun as well), so here is the list of three questions you should ask:

• What will I be responsible for? In fact it's a main question you should ask on any job interview. You can also make some assumptions by looking at the company profile. If they have boxed product (eg for retail sale) then there is not much room for creating new applications. Probably your job will be to work with existing code. On the other hand companies that create custom applications for clients are the ones where you will be writing a lot of code.
• Will I write only PHP code? This is a big one, because I know by myself that I want to write just server side stuff, while companies are looking for programmers who will write PHP, JS, SQL and HTML code, but again that is not necessaryly bad if you like to do this
• Expected salary? Well that's an obvious one, but the point is that programmer who is not satisfied with his salary is a bad programmer. Obviously do not go over the top and ask for $1 000 000 a year - be realistic especially if you are just starting out.

Of course you should ask other questions that you feel are important for you, but the ones I listed are meant to help you find a job were you will be doing exactly what you want, so next time you will for an interview keep them in mind.