[vox] Improving Programming Skills

[Richard S. Crawford]

I'm a pretty decent PHP programmer; about 90% of my job consists of
deconstructing the code behind Moodle (and a couple of other major
projects) and building in my own patches and changes to make it mesh
better with my department's business model.  But at my evaluation meeting
yesterday, my boss expressed some concern that I may be reaching to top of
my skill set, and I agree with him.

So does anyone have any suggestions for how I can bring my PHP programming
skills up to the next level?  Almost all of the books I've looked at and
the courses I've checked out online focus on the basics of PHP
programming, and I'm well beyond that.  I don't have a degree in CS or any
related field, and my formal training consists of one week-long course in
PHP and a class in JavaScript that I took at least seven years ago.

My boss tells me that we have "buckets full of money" that we can spend on
training this year, so while a trip overseas for a conference might be out
of the question, something back east might not be.

Any suggestions, anyone?


-- 
Richard S. Crawford (http://www.mossroot.com)
Editor-in-Chief, Daikaijuzine (http://www.daikaijuzine.com)
"Personal is not the same as important."
                       --Carrot Ironfoundersson