Hey Berkshire PHP'ers👋
Join us for our final meet up of 2024! We will be meeting upstairs in the Thirsty Bear in Reading, for talks, networking and drinks in a festive atmosphere🎄🥂
Christmas jumpers encouraged!
Free to attend and open to anyone interested in PHP at any level!
📃 Agenda 📃
6:30pm - arrival @ Thirsty Bear and a drink on us at Humand Talent 🍻
7:00pm - Talk #1 with Andy Burgess
7:30pm - Quiz 🏆
8:00pm - Talk #2 with Ilia Dimchev
8:30pm onwards - PHP discussions, more drinks and networking 😊
Talk #1 - How does the ancient language COBOL compare with our PHP?
Andy's first professional jobs used COBOL in directory publishing and using mainframe-based MRP (Materials Requirement Planning) manufacturing system - in the coal mining industry. He’s even worked as a "COBOL expert” for a job that never started properly - in Switzerland!
Andy has worked his way “down” in size from mainframe and minicomputers using COBOL (and a tiny bit of ALGOL) through Windows Development with "Microsoft Visual" suites to Web Development in PHP and Javascript.
He's worked in many different industries and on many different Operating Systems.
Talk #2 - In and Out of Love With PHP
Ilia’s journey with PHP began at 13, when he stumbled upon the PHP.net documentation, which led to running WordPress blogs and playing with Google algorithms to boost organic traffic. His path then diverged as he pursued computer science, where he was taught a bias against PHP and gravitated toward Python and JavaScript. Ironically, it was during a DevOps stint, managing PHP versions with FPM, that he rekindled his connection with the language.
The turning point came during an interview with a senior developer at Protiviti, who helped Ilia see PHP through a fresh lens: accessible yet robust for scalable architecture. This epiphany inspired him to embrace PHP in his consultancy work, alongside a talented backend developer he once mentored. Today, Ilia considers PHP his safety net—proof that love for a language can ebb and flow but ultimately endure.
📢 Become a Speaker! 📢
Have something to say? We want to listen! We are always looking for new speakers who want to share their adventures with PHP. Please contact [email protected]
