Often in this space, you read about the latest and greatest events happening around DC... or read the coverage of the conferences I've attended all over the place. This time, I'm using this space to announce something different:

ZendUnCon 2008

Disclaimer: I am the Chair/Chief-Cat-Wrangler of this UnConference. It means I'm 137.2% biased in everything I say here. But remember, "biased" is not the same as "wrong". ;)

Due to a slight mishap in my own coverage of the 2008 DCPHP Conference coverage, this writeup of Day 3 is going live long after my "Closing Thoughts". And by "slight mishap", I mean I forgot to write this one. ;)

Two weeks ago saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the third and final day of the conference and was written after everything was done. Previous coverage is available here: 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 1 and 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 2.

Disclosure: Although I am a shameless promoter of the DCPHP Community, my only formal role is one of the three moderators on the mailing list. Other than being a member of the group, I have no title, investment, or financial/legal ties to any of the groups involved. I just believe firmly that success for the conference and the community means bigger success for the community... myself included on both sides of that equation.

Last week saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the second day of the conference and was written after everything was done. The first day of coverage is available here: 2008 DCPHP Conference - Day 1.

Last week saw the third DCPHP Conference happen on George Washington University. This post covers the first day of the conference and was written after everything was done.

The opening keynote was from Kshemendra Paul, Chief Architect for the Office of Management and Budget Executive Office of the President, who talked about their attempt collaboration and coordination going on between the different Federal Agencies. While I found some of his discussion points and examples interesting, there weren't many Fed or govt-types in the audience this time around. In addition, he didn't bring slides, so the url's he shared were spelled out for all to write down. Wha? The dynamic duo from the State of Iowa - Michael Tutty and Tony Bibbs - were in attendance and shared some perspective and ideas, but it simply wasn't relevant to a good portion of the audience.

When the highly esteemed Zend'er Cal Evans was in DC earlier this week, a number of local DCPHP'ers met up with him for drinks.

One of the hottest topics we discussed was conferences. He - and much of the PHP Community on Twitter - are currently at php|tek in Chicago. Then we have the 2008 DCPHP Conference in less than two weeks. Then we have ZendCon 2008 in September.

And the question always comes up...

Why should I go to these conferences?

Well, they're fun.

But don't tell you boss that.

If you're not in the US college/university system, for clarification purposes, a "senior" is someone who is in their fourth and final year while a "junior" is someone in their third year. Got it? Let's go...

On 02 May, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater - Rose-Hulman - and speak to a class on Software QA. It was a great opportunity and discussion spurred by (hopefully funny) war stories and major screwups that I was more than happy to share.

The most interesting aspect that I saw was the injection of strong Project Management techniques into the curriculum. I don't just mean "here's a deadline... go!". I mean real specification writing, task estimates, milestones, code reviews, deliverables, QA, and overall management. In fact, they get a bit creative in how they do it and even study things such as team psychology and touch on Meyers Brigg. Whoa.

But then they tie it back to the core curriculum...