NYCPHP Meetup

[Kristina Anderson]

Rather than paying someone to teach you, I've found that taking on new 
projects where THEY pay YOU, is the best way of learning new things.  
No option to procrastinate or make excuses or take time to dilly dally 
playing with things that aren't relevant...you need to stay sharp and 
think on your feet, and do what you need to do to solve the problems 
and surmount the learning curve.  You've got to deliver to the client 
what you are being paid to deliver, and deliver you will or go down 
trying.

I can remember 10+ years ago when I first started out, for sure I 
talked myself into a few situations that were way over my head...but 
learned from the failures.  Now I always look to expose myself to new 
stuff whenever possible, and just accepted a gig where I will be 
exposed to OO PHP 5 (rather than 4.x) and Drupal for the first time, 
and in a high pressure environment.

So my advice is don't waste time enrolling in courses and courses and 
becoming a professional programming student...jump into the fray and 
find someone to hire you to solve their business problems by writing 
code...the best way to learn.  If you are starting to get bored mucking 
around with textbooks and sample code, there's a good reason why and 
that is that you are probably ready to take a paying job.  If you're 
already taking paying jobs but are unsure if you will be considered for 
the next level and don't apply, APPLY!  You'll be surprised perhaps 
what you will be hired to do.  Look for projects that will teach you 
the things you want to learn!

Please know that you can rely on these good people here on this list to 
help you with any questions you may run into during your work, and good 
luck!

-- Kristina

> A A wrote:
> > I'm a junior web dev and I'm starting to slow down my groove in 
being 
> > self-taught. I'd be really grateful if anyone could lead me towards 
> > valuable courses or training programs here in NYC... Mainly about 
PHP, 
> > MySQL, maybe even mobile web dev, new platforms. I always have tons 
of 
> > questions while teaching myself and then spend a great portion of 
the 
> > day looking for answers when there could be a teacher there to 
answer 
> > them. I could get so much more done and packed in the cranium if I 
could 
> > just find a course!
> 
> try http://nyphp.com/Training/Indepth
> 
> -- 
> =================
> Michael Southwell
> Vice President, Education
> NYPHP TRAINING:  http://nyphp.com/Training/Indepth
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