March 12, 2007 Thanks to everyone who has replied to the survey so far. I got some good feedback from people, and will likely be adding another category to the survey for people hiring contractors instead of full time employees, and possibly a separate survey specifically for contractors.
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February 26, 2007 I’ve put together the first draft of the survey/interview questions. I was initially planning on doing all face to face (or skype to skype) interviews with people, but I think time constraints are going to make that very difficult. To get around that, I’m putting out the invitation to the PHP community to participate in the surveys over at http://www.phpjobbook.com/survey/. Whether you’re at a company that hires PHP developers directly, a recruiter placing PHP developers, or a PHP developer yourself, your participation is welcomed and encouraged. The results of the surveys will be published in the book, and if there’s enough demand, published on this site separately later.
As I wrote before, I’m looking forward to the variety of opinions and viewpoints from a group of people, but I’ll be surprised if there’s not a lot of consensus on certain points. We’ll see. I’ve submitted this to a couple places so hopefully I should start getting some input in the next few days or week.
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February 25, 2007 I’m putting together my base set of questions to ask people involved in the hiring process at companies hiring PHP developers. I’m aiming to talk to people from a wide variety of companies, including both large and small, and software shops vs. non-software shops. In one sense almost any company ‘has’ a software department, but the focus of most companies is not to develop software or “software as a service” for direct end use by consumers or other businesses. Most companies are still in non-software businesses (financial services, retail, construction, food service, etc.) but may still end up hiring PHP developers for a variety of reasons.
If you have a PHP hiring or job question you’d like to see put to hiring managers during my interviews for the PHP job book project, leave a comment here or email me at mgkimsal@gmail.com. Thanks!
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February 25, 2007 I’ve spent the last couple days revisiting what I have since I’d put the PHP job book project on hold last year, and it’s really - well, it’s better than I remembered, which is encouraging. Although I would not say I’m a professional writer, I think like many writers, I may be my own worst critic. There are probably worse things to be in the world, but when you’re writing, it’s not a fun role to slip in to.
I’m having to revamp my original thinking about the book, and I’m paring down some sections, and going to expand on others. The sections as they stand now are:
Looking for a job - the hows and wheres of looking for a PHP job. There’s some specifics in here about job boards and such, but also some discussion of the importance of networking, with some tips on how to improve those skills
Technologies - there’s a wide variety of technologies to be familiar with as a PHP developer. This is compounded all the more because ‘web’ work in general (whether it’s PHP, Java, .NET, etc.) still means many different things at different orgs. Some companies expect you to know everything from CSS and browser incompatibilities to server management, while others will place you firmly in a ‘business logic only’ positions. The majority of PHP developers I’ve worked with over the years have tended to need to know at least rudimentary database fundamentals as well as some element of visual stuff (graphic formats, CSS, etc.)
Interviewing - I’ve got the start of the section about how to interview - specific things to keep in mind when going through the various stages of interviews (phone screening, tech interviews, personality interviews, etc.) This is probably the least ‘tech’ section of the writings I have so far. Initially I felt it had the least relevance, and to some people it might. I think, looking at it again, it may have the most benefit to readers who are newer to the job market.
Interviews - This is a separate section which I’m putting together, which is not about interviewing for a job specifically. This section is where I’ll be interviewing people about their PHP job experiences, both on the hiring side and on the candidate side. These stories will likely tie in with the interviewing section above. This is also the section I’m most excited (and nervous!) about. It will also be the area where the diversity of opinion comes out most. While I’m trying to be as non-biased as possible on the technology side (recommendations about which technologies to be familiar with), I have my own biases about what’s important and why. However, they are just that - my own opinions. Keeping them to a minimum is one thing, but reading the diversity of views as to what’s expected of you at different companies (what tech and skills they find most important) will, I think, be the most enlightening (certainly will be for me).
If you’d like some sample chapters and can give me some initial feedback in return, please email me at mgkimsal@gmail.com.
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February 22, 2007 I’ve been working on and off (mostly off!) for a long time putting together a book aimed at the PHP job hunter. I’ve received a lot of encouraging response from people about the idea of the book, and I’ve recently rekindled the book project.
If you’re interested in learning more about the project, please drop me a line at mgkimsal@gmail.com or post a comment here. I’m leaning towards self publishing, and/or releasing the book for free as a work in progress during the writing process. If you’ve feedback on those ideas, I’d love to hear it!
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