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...

This past week, an interesting article hit my radar from Wired magazine, titled simply "Top 5 Reasons It Sucks to Be an Engineering Student". As a former engineering student myself*, I thought I'd share some perspective on this one...

First, yes, most of the textbooks are awful. Some of them are beyond awful.. some of the worst ones are written by your own profs.

I remember getting chewed out by my Department Head and having to apologize to another Department Head when I publicly criticized the choice in a text book change and would not allow usage of the old book. Yes, because apparently thermo tables changed somewhere in the last year... oh wait, it was that Department Head's book. ;) That said, the single best "book" I had was a 90 page super cliff-notes guide to circuit analysis written by another prof. I still keep that one on hand.

If you got to this article via Twitter or happen to be connected to me via twitter, hear me out hitting "send".

Good question... I asked myself that for quite a bit of last year. Twitter seemed like what blogging was in the early days. A running inner monologue detailing the silliest thoughts, concerns, and non-sequitors... trivial, stupid stuff that no one would listen to. I teased/openly mocked a couple colleagues on it, specifically David All and Aaron Brazell. ;)

Well, I was right.

...but still horribly wrong.

When I wrote about the Broken Window Fallacy in Software Development a while back, it appears that there were a number of misunderstandings.

• First, there is a fundamental difference between the economic Broken Window Fallacy and the "ghetto-ization" that comes along with the sociological/psychological aspects of the Broken Windows Phenomenon. I've already covered that difference.
• Second - and much more importantly - that doesn't mean you should never rebuild something!

I simply believe that you should be selective in your choices.. Every day you spend rebuilding something that works is one day that your competition has to catch up or get ahead.

That said, there are a number of times where rebuilding might make sense... but consider it carefully. Before you do anything else, just STOP. Don't go any farther until you ask yourself one question: "What's the goal here?"

While I am not the President or even have any official role in the DCPHP Developers' Group, I am one of the moderators on the mailing list. The list itself has really been alive and active as a place for discussions - as opposed to just announcements - for about 18 months.

It started off small with probably a half dozen people doing most of the talking. As other people realized that they could help others and had questions to ask, the traffic and number of voices grew. But about a year ago that I noticed something dangerous...

A few people had set themselves up as notoriously difficult to deal with or particularly clueless. Unfortunately, the tone of the list started to change. Instead of being the bright, intelligent people that some of us are known for being, the remarks started to get harsh and once in a while downright disrespectful.

It seems like the last one just wrapped, but the good news is that the next one is right around the corner:

DCPHP Conference 2008

The DCPHP Conference has come a long way the past couple years.  The first year... there were some logistics issues and the attendance was a little low.  I prefer to call it "intimate".  ;)

Last year, it was a world of difference.  The venue was better - (George Washington University in DC, same as this year) - and the organization, polish, attendance, and logistics were at a whole new level.  Unfortunately, I have some good news and some bad news...