A new blog from someone new to PHP

I met Chris when he was temping for a client of mine doing data entry into an e-commerce system we were writing. Recently he contacted me to let me know that he has now started learning PHP and is starting to develop a career in web development with PHP. I was quite impressed that he had even managed to land himself some freelance work and had a client happy enough to pay him!

He asked me for some advice and I provided some information on the sorts of things he need to learn about and some ideas on where to find communities that will help.

I had recently read Cal Evans’ PHP and Community post, which contains this gem:

Until all 4.6 million PHP developers are active in the community, there is always a seat at the table. If you are a PHP developer – junior level, architect level or just a weekend warrior – I urge you to get involved.

Start a blog and write about what you have learned. Trust me, if you put up something that isn’t accurate, someone will come along and correct you. That’s a win for everyone.

As a result, I also advised him to start a blog so that he can document what he now knows to the benefit of us all and also allow potential employers the opportunity to understand his skills much better than a mere CV can show.

He’s taken this advice and http://jibbles.co.uk/ has been born. It turns out that Chris is a very good writer – much better than I was when I started (and probably better than I am now too)! If you are interested in watching a new coder develop into a better coder, then it may be worth keeping an eye on his blog. You could also comment periodically when he needs a pointer to something that he’s probably never heard of before :)