For Developers
While it'll probably be a few more years before I could consider myself skilled enough to mentor, don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions that you think I could help with.
NW Arkansas / Oklahoma (local) developers, especially -- you're always welcome to see if I have any free time to look over anything, or meet over a cup of coffee.
If you're looking into starting a new PHP-based project, I'd highly recommend looking into Composer and Slim Framework.
For Freelance Developers
Disclaimer: I'm not giving legal advice here, just notes from my own experience. If you need legal advice, review your contract for mediation and arbitration clauses and contact an attorney in the state referred to in your contract.
If you're new to freelance development, here are some quick tips:
- Always (at minimum) have a contract with:
- a description of the services to be performed to prevent feature-creep
- a description of payment terms, dates, and late fees
- at least some partial payment up-front
- what to do if a dispute arises -- always put the issues in writing
- follow up with emails reciting details of any non-written part of / change to the contract
- a clause and process for modification / extension of the contract
- Be selective of your clientele -- don't hesitate to stand up for yourself or your ideals
- Never continue to work without timely payment according to your contract -- this can lead to unrecoverable losses
Above all: strive to constantly improve at this craft. If you want some recommendations for things to look into, don't hesitate to send me an email.
Resources || Some things I've found along the way
The Basics
- Atom -- hackable text editor.
- The W3C Validator
- CanIUse -- various front-end technologies and browser support, invaluable.
- Google's PageSpeed Insights
- IcoMoon -- various font-icons.
- Codrops -- various CSS / JS design inspirations.
- OWASP -- Open Web Application Security Project -- security checklists and important concerns for any website.
- Placekitten -- Placeholder images at any size.
PHP
- PHP The Right Way -- various topics in PHP.
- The PHP Quality Assurance Toolchain (migrated to GitHub)
- PHP Live Regex -- regex tester.
Articles & Blogs
- HTML5 Rocks now Google's Web Fundamentals
- CSS Tricks
- Smashing Magazine -- articles on various topics related to design and coding.
- A List Apart -- more articles.
- ircmaxell || Anthony Ferrara's Blog -- self-described: A blog about PHP, Security, Performance and general web application development.
- Alex Sexton's Blog
- The Register -- various tech-related news.
Esoterica
- A Simple Guide to Five Normal Forms in Relational Database Theory -- an in-depth look at normalizing databases.
- The REST CookBook -- helpful REST info.
- PlantUML -- for diagramming those complicated things.
- Roy Osherove's TDD Kata -- useful for getting the hang of TDD.
- XKCD -- self-described: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
- The Phrontistery -- obscure word fun.
Interesting Stuffs
- Telepathwords -- password guessing experiment.