So PHP has jumped from version 5.6 to 7…which means they skipped (version) 6. Interesting? Maybe, but wanna know what’s really cool? It’s almost 50% faster and now PHP has jumped up to version 7.3. Why should you even care? Well for starters STUDIO WEB, our kick-ass course that helps you learn to code fast and efficiently, yet is somehow packed with learning and exercises solving problems you will encounter in the real world (Whoa! that was a lot of shameless promo, apologies!), that runs on PHP and when we moved up from 7 to 7.3 we saw a 15% increase in speed and big reduction in memory requirements (aka footprint). Which means you can learn at an even faster rate while having your load times cut practically in half (okay, that’s the promo stop line, right here. Sorry.).
It should come as no surprise really, “the PHP community are working hard to optimize and to bring PHP to a higher level.” Possibly because for a few years PHP was getting really bad press, due to most people thinking PHP was still using version 3 (not their best version). However, “PHP is a very very capable language. Facebook was created with PHP as an example…Most dynamic sites are driven by PHP, they’re putting a lot of effort into optimizing the core language…so you see this huge speed increase at run time…PHP takes much less RAM and memory…it’s much quicker”.
So there it is. The VLOG is pretty much just us loving PHP and talking it up but you get to see my dapper mug…and blink and you’ll miss it…maybe the most subtle and pacified dig at RUBY yet? -Enjoy!
With more and more people accruing astronomical student loan debt, many wonder is education really better than real world experience.
Full transparency:. 1. This is mostly an American/North America problem. 2. Not all higher learning institutions are created equal. 3. We are talking mostly about software engineers. 4. There will be shameless plugs to our online courses.
If you’ve been a young adult on this planet in the last 120 years, you’ve heard the sales pitch: Go to school, get a degree/diploma, get a really good job, make money, get married, buy a house, settle down and pump out 2.5 kids and get a dog…maybe a cat. And we’ve all accepted and railed against this pitch to varying degrees. But more and more (and this is especially prevalent in the US and Canada), graduates are leaving colleges and universities with astronomical student debts and <almost> worthless degrees. Which in turn begs the question; ‘What did I do with the last 3-5 years of my life if I can’t get a job in my field of study?’
Now I feel I need to say that this is not always the case for everyone. And there are fields like medicine where higher learning and degrees are expected and can be worthwhile, but let’s talk about software engineers…and maybe people with philosophy degrees…sorry, artistic types.
I’ll get to the point quickly because if you’ve just graduated a 3 year program at $30K/year you either don’t have time to read all of this at your 9-5 entry level job you had to take to pay back your almost $100K student debt or you really should stop reading this and go back to looking for a job to pay it off… But that’s the problem isn’t it? You have this crazy debt and no guarantee of a job in your field, while someone who hasn’t gone to college or university, and has taken a well put together online course…like STUDIO WEB ( sorry, that was shameless), has completed the course in way less time than you, has had time to garner real world experience and is now just as qualified, if not more so, to work in your field.
This has a lot of people wondering is a higher learning degree worth it? Look, I know it’s hard for colleges and universities, they have a lot of staff to pay; academic and administrative. They have curriculum that take long to approve, which almost always guarantees that the knowledge being passed down to you is dated or even irrelevant. While courses being offered online for less than half the price of admission, or even just going in with no education but ability to jump in and get your hands dirty has gotten others to better positions in the field in (sometimes) way less time.
Check out the VLOG for an almost surgical analysis of this subject. Heads up, it’s a meaty one. But there are article quotes read and then in depth experiences that are shared. We’re not saying to not get your education or to drop out if your already…institutionalized? All we’re saying is to weigh your options, look at the market (in your field), and think of what is really important in that field; most times while education is an important foundation, real world experience wins out almost every time. And if you can take our awesome STUDIO WEB courses, and our freelance courses (<links at the bottom>/ Shameless promo #2, sorrynotsorry…) and get that foundation in months, that would leave you way more time to accrue that oh-so-sought after real world experience…
No matter how knowledgeable you may be, humility is still the most appreciated skill to have…
Another startling discovery from DUH (the Department of Urban Humanity); no matter how much knowledge you may posses, nobody likes a ‘know-it-all’.
“…a sure sign of youth, or a classic trait of the young is arrogance; figuring that you know it all or that you’ve figured it all out.”
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t some arrogant old-timers out there but (and this is assuming that with age comes wisdom, of course), “…one of the things you learn as you become older is to become more humble: to realize that you do not have all the answers…”
And we do not want to make this one of those ‘back my day’ rants at all. We realize that this generation is one of the most well-informed and knowledgeable generations there is. Think of this as more of a life hack (and yes, it is very ironic): The more humble you are in any given situation, the more empathetic you become and the more people are going to want to listen to you. “you want to be skeptical of everything and…you want to realize that you don’t know everything…”
Check out our VLOG for an in-car-chat about our experiences as we got older (yes, we were arrogant ‘know-it-alls’ once upon a time too). And know that the ability to admit that you’re wrong or that you don’t have all the answers is not a weakness, it’s a strength…but then again, what do we know?
Look we’ve all been there, man… You’ve got a task to do and you don’t feel like doing it. You put it off… you do the dishes (maybe even clean your entire house), or just play video games and go down youtube’s rabbit hole…
It’s procrastination: pure and simple. You’ve fought it since you were 13 years old and had a 15 page essay to write, due in 2 weeks. But as a dev or a programmer; new or veteran, you’ve got a job to do and you can’t just put things off (for too long, anyway…).
Let’s start off by trying to understand procrastination and then we’ll go into some techniques to combat it…well, ONE technique really but it’s pretty effective. When it come to procrastination there are really 3 problems at play and you could have one, both or all mixed in a cocktail of “I’ll get to it later…”, which is a terrible cocktail cuz it never gets made <baddum-ching>.
1- Fear: Ah yes, that old chestnut… But yeah, fear this isn’t going to work, fear that you’re not going to go anywhere or that you’re missing out on other things, etc, etc. 2- Being Overwhelmed: There’s too much to do, too much to learn, etc… 3- Boredom: This one is pretty insidious. We don’t really have the end goal planned out (the job we’re going to get/money we plan on making, the skill we’ll have learned, etc.).
The key answer for all these problems and procrastination in general is something your mom or even your teacher might have told you (and believe me, I hate to admit they were onto something too)…
…Do 20 minutes a day…
I know it’s so simple you almost have to laugh but it’s true. Doing 20 minutes a day of any activity has so many benefits but I’m only going to list a few here: -It’s an easy to achieve goal. 20 minutes can go by pretty fast and if you find yourself ‘getting into it’ and want to take longer, you can! -You tend to learn much more quickly if you expose yourself on a frequent basis to that activity you need to get done. Some interesting math: 20 minutes a day for 5 days a week (cuz we need our weekends) is 100 minutes. That frequent exposure is going to help your brain learn faster and more effectively than 200 minutes once a week.
I can’t even begin to tell you the length at which this is covered in the VLOG and shameless self promotion: 20 minutes a day is roughly how long the lessons in our courses (link below) are structured for, so don’t have to sit there for hours wondering when it will end with a fried brain. Check it out…after the video game, heh. Enjoy!
We received an email from someone recently who hasn’t worked in the field for about 10 years now. They have a computer science degree and are wondering about our courses and what they need to get themselves seen in today’s market…
The advice in this VLOG is good for both people returning to the fold and for those just starting out, but I’m going to cherry-pick a few good starters to <hopefully> whet your appetite…
– “In the last ten years the big change in the web development field has been front-side development: HTML5, CSS3, etc. and how people work with front-side frameworks a lot more than they did 10 years ago…”
-Freelance work or not, you should have some sort of website up and running. Designer or code-monkey, get something that “legitimizes your profession”.
– Our courses (links at the bottom) teach the basics, it’s true, but we also teach how to build “simple but real-world projects”, that way you can launch right into it. So in other words, “you won’t be building facebook (yet), but definitely the beginnings of facebook.”
-As a freelancer PHP is a good way to go because a lot of small businesses use PHP, but you’ll also get a well rounded education on the “fundamentals”, so you can use whatever you need to get the work done efficiently and quickly.
There’s sooo much more that is touched on in the VLOG and you would really be doing yourself a favor to check it out. In the meantime, check out the links below to the courses we offer. Whether you’re the new kid on the block, curious about freelancing or a grizzled old veteran who just wants to sharpen their skills, we have something for everyone.
Coffee and fasting increases your mental capacity by a considerable amount.
Before we get started, please consult a physician before starting any radical changes to your diet…
Coffee: Sweet siren of the morning, warm cup of non-judgmental love… Almost all of us are familiar with coffee in some shape or form, but it`s not just for sipping on while ignoring your co-workers in the morning. Caffeine in coffee has been shown to increase cognitive ability by 50% for about 2 hours within minutes of drinking it. As a dev or programmer, you could do a lot with that 50% bump…
Intermittent Fasting (24 hrs.): This will be wayyyy less fun than coffee… But studies have shown that fasting helps to increase brain functions and activity. Now, the first few times you do this, it’s gonna suck; honestly! But you will get past it and you can drink coffee (which also suppresses appetite), and water. Also, the best time to start a fast is right after dinner, the night before so that when you wake up from sleeping, you’re usually about 8 hours into your fasting and only have about 16 hours left (he said as if it was a good thing).
So there you have it! Feel free to do some independent research on these topics and listen to your body if you’re not feeling well. Check out the VLOG for some more fun and enjoy that first cuppa…JAVA…mwahahaha, I got a million of these!!
People tend to fall into “camps” when it comes to programming languages, operating systems, etc. They swear by a certain operating system or only code with a certain programming language… Simply put, if this is you, you’re going to have a bad time…
To use an analogy, “If I was doing home repairs…[I see] we’ve got some nails to hammer, I’m not going to pull out my screwdriver…”. “When you become a professional developer, you’re going to be language neutral. You’re going to look at all these languages as tools to leverage depending on the circumstance.”
Broken record time: it’s all about fundamentals. Learn your fundamentals, “…because every language, every technology has it’s purpose or has it’s strong points and weak points…with some exceptions, some technologies are just dated…and they’re old school and you’re not gonna use them anymore.”
Generally speaking “noobish developers will say that this language is the best and everything else sucks, and if somebody tells you that on youtube or anywhere else, you know by definition they’re noobs (…except for us LOL).”
Check out the VLOG for some other really fun analogies and a sweet dig at RUBY. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t dig at it every now and then… Go out there, try it all and save the camping for summer vacation or FPS games!
We’ve touched on this before in past VLOGS but maybe you haven’t seen that one or you want a more up-to-date take on this subject.
So, short answer: Java is really best for web application development, and Android client development. It never took off for desktop applications (we go into more detail in the VLOG).
If you don’t believe us, check out the job market. We would venture to guess that very little to zero jobs are going to have you building desktops apps with JAVA; “JAVA is not client-side, …it is server-side programming”.
The VLOG comes equipped with not only my lovable mug crooning to you about all the finer points about this, but I also offer solutions to in forms of other languages and options that will optimize your time and output for creating desktop apps. You should check it out, it’s less than 4 minutes!
A top tip for solving complex development problems. This problem solving tip also works in all other aspects of life…except dating.
The number 1 problem solving tip, huh? I know, everyone and their mom claims to have the number 1 problem solving tip to end all problem solving tips… But unlike THOSE guys, ours isn’t just the top ranked, it’s also the first in a series of problem solving tips that we can continue if this gets popular.
So what is it, you ask? Strategy: “…to break down the problem into simpler components and then deal with those components individually.”
By taking a complex problem and breaking it down to it’s smaller components, it makes it much easier than trying to tackle this big, giant of a problem and either drowning in the sheer mass of the problem or just plain rage-quitting.
We tackle much more than just the philosophy of STRATEGY in the VLOG. We talk about how this technique has great roots in “object oriented programming” and even how you can apply this technique in aspects of your everyday life. Once you try it, it’ll be hard to solve problems any other way.
Come yung’uns, gather by the fire that I may tell you a story… well more of a walk-through really… The older kids have heard it before and have gone on their separate ways… Now, you’ll hear it and make your choices and go your separate way… I see you’re all fresh-faced and want to make a splash at being a developer but you feel inexperienced and unequal to some of the bigger boys and girls out there. You wonder, ‘what can I do to become a pro ASAP?’ Well huddle ’round the fire quickly and listen, before you start asking yourself why are a bunch of ‘young’ developers huddling around a fire to listen to an old man? Wait, what’s happening, where are we?!
1- Learn Your Foundations Well: Foundations being the languages; HTML5, CSS, JAVAscript, etc. Understand the client-server model, understanding the relationship between client computer, server computers, client apps, server apps, etc… <SHAMELESS PLUG1: Check out our links at the bottom to a bunch of awesome and beefy courses which will detail everything you will nedd to know>. 2- Frequency of Exposure: Simply put: the more you code, the better you get at it. You can read a book or watch a video but if you can’t put the theory into practice, how much have you retained? How much can you really use? <SHAMELESS PLUG2: Our courses have a wealth of questions, quizzes and exercises to make sure that you can put what you just learned into practice.> 3-Start Building Little Mini-Projects: You don’t have to build a “facebook” right outta the gate. Tiny, diverse projects will get you way more all around experience. Then you can start building small projects that actually do things for yourself or others. Ex: build a shopping cart that integrates with paypal, build a basic login system, etc… 4- You’re Always Learning New Things: Obviously, a developer of 10 years has a lot less to learn than a dev of 2 years that they’re STILL learning. It keeps you sharp and versatile. Which brings us back to point #1, if you’re well versed in your foundations, learning new stuff is pretty easy…
Well, that’s it yung’uns… Any questions or something you need more explanation on, check out this Vlog where we go into detail on all the points and of course, feel free to check out the links below to our courses, you won’t regret it <SHAMELESS PLUG3>. I’m going to go talk to our location director… -Enjoy.
