Level 5
Build a project and make some profit ?
Best value for CV.
Feb 12, 2017
4
Level 3
Essential quals/experience for a PHP developer?
Not really coding related, but I am looking for some advice.
I have been given the gift of time (and some money) to invest in some personal development, ideally to improve CV, but most importantly, improve my skill.
I generally work with PHP and front end technology.. HTML, CSS, jQuery .. trying to learn Vue. I only possess some small computing qualifications and a diploma in Web Development, I'm self taught for the most part.
In my position, what exactly would be the best way to invest time and money? What are employers looking for in 2017?
How beneficial would it be to attend Laracon or some other Laravel investment.. or maybe going back to basics and taking the Zend exam? Other than buying a shed load of books and studying I'm not sure what else is available to add value to a CV?
Thoughts? .. thanks :)
Level 47
Build a portfolio that includes both completed, live projects and some open source stuff. The completed projects show that you can start and finish a full project and the open source stuff shows off your coding ability. Hitting the books is good, but listing a bunch of books on a cv is going to get you nowhere. Employers want to see what you can do so show them.
Level 53
I would say that motivation and drive to learn and get better every single day is the most important skill you can have.
I would say that Laracasts is probably your best resource for Laravel which helped me to find a job and help colleagues. Oh and it's an amazing feeling when I can mention watching Laracasts videos on my LinkedIn profile as experience and colleagues at my first company say stuff like "Are you Ruffles from the Laracasts forums?!" :D Thanks @JeffreyWay
I learn mostly from video tutorials so I am subscribed to some other popular web development video tutorial platforms besides Laracasts.
I've also bought a few useful PHP / Laravel courses which I've learned a lot from (haven't touched Adam Wathan's book Refactoring to Collections and his course Test Driven Laravel yet).
I also watch conference talks to get some tips and tricks, help people on these forums here from time to time and I have a few books that I want to read but I have not found any free time to focus on them. Newsletters are piling up in my email and I read some of them.
Before I forget, I also learn a lot from working on real projects where I have to implement different features for clients. It taught me how to figure out stuff on the spot, by reading docs, googling and asking people on forums or the Larachat slack channel.
Maybe the Awesome Laravel list will help you find some resources.
Attending Laracon is not a bad idea, if you have the money and time to attend it. Laracon Online will be interesting.
I don't see much value in certificates really, because the technology is moving so fast and they might be useless after a while. Adopting a new technology quickly is more important than a certificate if you ask me.
Level 75
Three rules
- Rule 1 - Never trust user input
- Rule 2 - Never trust user input
- Rule 3 - Never trust user input
Any questions, then read the rules again.
Short of that, while learning three rules
- Rule 1 - Don't be like some who try to learn laravel in one day
- Rule 2 - Pace yourself, you absorb better if you don't over do
- Rule 3 - Have a practice project to do while learning
Many of the beginner series videos are free, watch them.
Later when you feel better on forum, give @jimmck a hard time.
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