I want to return to programming for earnings, which technology to choose?

Question

Distant work

Hello!
My story in short. Higher education in economics, then studied 1999-2001 in applied mathematics (did not finish)
. I know English quite well, I can communicate, write correctly, read.
I studied Delphi, then Java (in 2001 I received a Java programmer certificate (SCJP), then php. I
worked remotely in Java for a couple of years, then I was engaged only in my information projects more or less successfully (for myself, I programmed in php + mysql, various APIs, without any In general, the experience of programming at the moment is permanent exactly on php, for example, today I programmed)) But I think I will also remember Java.
Now projects bring much less, you need to think about additional. earnings, I plan to return to programming on a remote basis.
The question arose about specialization: Which technology to choose? Monitoring on HH suggests that the z.p. Java has more specialists, but the requirements, it seems to me, are higher.
1) If Java, then in which area? For applications or for the web? In general, in what direction should you look (but something is not the most difficult)?
2) If Php, then which platform is better to choose? What are the minimum skills required?
What should be expected in the near future? In general, maybe I'm far behind life and I shouldn't even bother? ))

Answer 1

If you want to freelance further, then php is probably easier, there will be more orders. If in the office, then Java. I didn’t quite understand what is meant by applications, if it’s a desktop, it’s not Java’s forte. And so if this is not a super duper mega application from a bunch of spare parts, then Web. And so if you know English well, don’t bury your talent, you can become Senior java)