My first introduction into frameworks in the PHP world started with the http://www.slimframework.com/ and I fell in love instantly, this was nearing the end of Slim version 1. Since then I have spent a lot of time in a lot of different frameworks and languages, most recently https://laravel.com/ for the past 4-5 years or so. Laravel is a fantastic framework, it allows you to create almost anything in a short space of time.
Laravel is a fantastic framework, and I often recommend it to developers looking to get started with being “better” at PHP.
Other times I dive into languages like GoLang or nodeJS, or maybe a framework like https://feathersjs.com/ (which is a fantastic framework).