I had the occasion to try out and adopt Behat for a particular need in our projects at Onebip. Here is my recount of the experience from a PHPUnit contributor and invested person.

He starts off with a list of situations where he doesn't think that Behat is a good fit for testing including testing of a single object and acceptance tests where comparing the response from more than one test is needed. He suggests that it's more useful for verifying high level business rules than anything. He talks some about the shift they made to using Behat and some of the benefits they found in its use. He finishes up the post by looking at the technical side and includes a warning about letting the size of the FeatureContext file get too large.

Once you start to dig around PHP Security in earnest, you begin to notice trends and patterns in how programmers behave and accumulate knowledge. The most obvious feature of PHP culture is that we do not have an active "leadership" in security. There is no appeal to authority in PHP security debates, only personal opinions informed by a nebulous entity called "They". There are individuals that I have learned to trust and that's about as far as we can go. [...] In the PHP community, the Authorative Knowedge for PHP Security is derived from a concensus. A concensus based on published articles, the practices of libraries and frameworks, printed books, and the vague meandering thoughts of whoever you follow on Twitter. In other words, our current Authorative Knowledge is you.

He notes that this "everyman security expert" hasn't proven to be the best method for increasing the overall security awareness of PHP developers, so he's proposing something different: the "PHP Security Technical Group (SECTG)".

It's a group of members who share a common interest in sharing information, performing research, publishing articles/newsletters, and generally taking advantage of resource pooling without giving up their individual interests - all towards accomplishing some common goal, i.e. creating or emphasising new Authorative Knowledge. The phrase "Unofficial" is implicit in the group name - this is not an official PHP entity.

If you're interesting in joining in on the cause, you can sign up for the mailing list and get more information as it comes.

PHP development is hot right now, but there are also lots of people in PHP development. If you want to make it as an independent PHP developer you've got to know more than just PHP. Here are six other essential skills you need to succeed as a PHP developer.

Her list of six is made up of:

• JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
• Knowing What You Don't Know
• Business Communication
• Business Finance
• Project Management
• Networking

Really, independent or not, these types of skills/knowledge can help any developer out there to see the bigger picture outside of just their code, out to what the business is doing.

Lately, I've found myself in a number of discussions about Technical Debt and how it applies to project development. Overall, I think it's a very powerful tool that -- when used wisely -- can be a great asset to any team. It seems to me that most of the people that I've been talking to really don't agree, and see Technical Debt as a plague that should be eliminated at first sight. So, I figured I'd share my opinions, and see what you think...

He talks about a few different kinds of technical debt described by the names of their financial counterparts:

• the Payday Loan (a current concession for the sake of time)
• a Mortgage (making small parts, payments, of a whole without consideration of the overall picture)
• a Credit Card (not knowing the need causes a sub-optimal solution)
• Hidden Debit (an unclear understanding of the full scope of the debt)

He also touches on two other topics - how to find and get rid of the Hidden Debt your project might have and a common misconception that technical debt doesn't exist in an aglie world.

If you're writing code that will be shared with others, put yourself in their shoes. Don't let your project lose potential users, community members, and possible contributors all because of insufficient documentation.

He (Matthew Turland) suggests a few things to keep in mind as you're writing up your documentation - the content is "king" (an emphasis on good descriptions/examples/use cases), open it up to external contributions using things like wikis (or even stored in the source code repository) and a focus on technical writing skills. Even the best tools out there can suffer if there's poor or no documentation.

If you've had an idea for writing a blog post or article, but you're not sure where to start, this talk is for you! Maybe you've had difficulty effectively documenting your code, or communicating your ideas to non-techies. This talk will help you, too! In this fun and informative session, we'll discuss the basics of writing and clear communication through the written word. We'll also talk about strategies for keeping your writing interesting and informative at the same time. Finally, we'll discuss resources for improving your writing skills in the future.

You can either use the in-page player to listen or you can download the mp3 to listen wherever you'd like.

Just because you set a codebase aside and do it the "right" way, your problems don't disappear. The same bugs that annoyed people yesterday will be there today and tomorrow. In fact, when the bugs are still there a week, month, or year from now, they move beyond annoyances and into frustrations as people think (or say) things like "this has been broken for years.. why haven't they fixed it!?"

He notes that, while tossing the entire codebase out the window and starting over again (a move very, very rarely shown a good idea), you'll still end up with issues - this time involving resources and the work needed to sift through all of the bugs in the new code.

Technical debt is something that most project teams or independent developers have to deal with '" we take shortcuts to push out releases, we don't focus on quality, deadlines need to be met, quick fixes slowly become the standard. Whatever the reason, if we don't manage our technical debt (not unlike financial debt), before too long our applications are technically bankrupt, and we are forced to completely refactor and start anew.

She talks about what technical debt is, when it's okay and when it's not, managing it, how to minimize it and how to address it as both an individual and team. You can either listen via the in-page player or download it directly. She's also posted her slides to her blog.

These are my top tips for getting along and meeting new people at a technical conference.

Her five (well, six) tips are simple ones - things like getting in on the pre-conference hype (on things like twitter or IRC) attend some of the "outside the sessions" events and, if you can, staying around an extra day after the official conference is over.

Who We Are
QuinStreet has become the leader in online, performance-based vertical marketing because we've consistently delivered the right leads at the right volume to thousands of industry-leading consumer and business brands since 1999. QuinStreet is headquartered in Foster City, CA, with satellite offices worldwide.

Our Culture
QuinStreet is a meritocracy, where recognition and advancement are based on performance. It is the ideal work environment for someone who is interested in personal growth as well as professional growth. Working here, you will be held to the highest standards of performance and encouraged to dissent when you see a better solution. We deal with each other honestly and non-hierarchically in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We celebrate each other's efforts and strive to create a casual, upbeat and supportive setting in which you can excel.

What We Offer
QuinStreet offers a competitive benefits package to all full-time employees including: competitive salary; medical, dental, and vision benefits; 401(k) plan; Flexible Spending Account; and generous paid time off (PTO) package. QuinStreet is an EEO employer.

QuinStreet offers a fun, casual, supportive, and high energy culture that rewards employees for their performance. If this sounds like an environment you would thrive in, we want to hear from you!

Job Description

The PHP Technical Lead will serve as a lead and manager for a multi-million dollar portfolio of web sites. An entrepreneurial mindset is essential for success in this fast growing team.

• Managing and prioritizing a project pipeline for a team of software engineers, QA engineers, and system administrators.
• The PHP Technical Lead will work closely with cross functional teams so he/she must have the ability to communicate and explain technical concepts to non-technical team members.
• Assisting in continuously analyzing, maintaining, and improving the development process.

Technical Requirements

The ideal candidate will have:

• Minimum of 8 years hands-on software development experience in a broad range of technologies.
• Must be well versed in PHP, Java and ASP.Net.
• Strong and diverse knowledge of web development and infrastructure, e.g. HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, CSS, XML, AJAX, PHP/JSP/ASP/CFM.
• Hands on experience with relational databases, e.g. MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL. Debugging SQL is also preferred.
• Advanced UNIX skills preferred.
• Solid understanding of 3 tier architectures including solid scalability fundamentals such as caching and load-balancing.
• Knowledge of search engine marketing and optimization (SEM and SEO).
• Must have experience in web project development cycle.
• Good business analytical skills combined with the ability to get things done.

General Requirements

• Must have experience with full life cycle projects.
• A high task load is expected. You should be able to manage and juggle multiple projects while exhibiting exemplary time management and task prioritization.
• Recent experience managing or leading a team.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Strong presentation, communication, and collaboration skills, enabling effective interaction and knowledge transfer to teammates
• Ability to work with minimal to no supervision.
• Positive attitude and professionalism in the workplace.
• BS/BA, or equivalent experience

For immediate consideration, please send resume to Leah Rodriguez, Recruiter at lrodriguez@quinstreet.com.