I don't think the language matters that much - but there are a lot of people with the skillset you describe (myself included.) PHP in particular has a reputation for poor quality programmers and code (which you'll easily see every time someone posts a PHP project here and gets asked to justify even using the language.)

I'm just suggesting that, if you're looking to impress a future employer, a portfolio might serve you better than eagerness, unless you're willing to start at the bottom.