I'm still in college, but I've found myself in similar situation.
I was/am a jack of a lot of trades but master of none. I manage to code in whichever language that comes by or feels good to do the job at hand in the easiest and best way. I've to blame my nature for that. I like variety.
At the end of the day, I had nothing to show off on my portfolio that's fashionably cool. Only a bunch of apps that most average coders would have. I realized that most awesome ideas I thought off still rested in my head or I discarded them with the reason that the idea's implementation required tech skills way above mine.
So I just charted a schedule for my normal day. I spent half the day learning and half the day working. I code when I'm fresh from sleep (early morning or after the afternoon nap). I spend the other boring time learning. I'm able to learn things very quickly. I hope this trick will help you learn more.
And I totally agree with patio11 says. I can't help myself from stumbling atleast 10 "php developer wanted" job posting every day. Since you said you've been doing it for 8yrs now I assume you are really good at what you do and you are way better than half the php crowd if you've done it right for most of those 8yrs. So maybe continue your niche (small sites on cheap hosting) while the rest is busy learning/doing rails.
I was/am a jack of a lot of trades but master of none. I manage to code in whichever language that comes by or feels good to do the job at hand in the easiest and best way. I've to blame my nature for that. I like variety.
At the end of the day, I had nothing to show off on my portfolio that's fashionably cool. Only a bunch of apps that most average coders would have. I realized that most awesome ideas I thought off still rested in my head or I discarded them with the reason that the idea's implementation required tech skills way above mine.
So I just charted a schedule for my normal day. I spent half the day learning and half the day working. I code when I'm fresh from sleep (early morning or after the afternoon nap). I spend the other boring time learning. I'm able to learn things very quickly. I hope this trick will help you learn more.
And I totally agree with patio11 says. I can't help myself from stumbling atleast 10 "php developer wanted" job posting every day. Since you said you've been doing it for 8yrs now I assume you are really good at what you do and you are way better than half the php crowd if you've done it right for most of those 8yrs. So maybe continue your niche (small sites on cheap hosting) while the rest is busy learning/doing rails.
P.S: read this http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438983 for another bunch of tricks