Ask HN: I learned PHP, MySql, Jquery. Now what?

6 points by YoungEnt 14 years ago | 18 comments

I am really really proficient in the above listed languages because I love web development, and I just hack with those all day. But I feel like I'm missing something...I feel like there's more to learn and more to do...Can you please enlighten me, and many other people in my position, and tell us what to do next?

anujkk 14 years ago |

If you aren't already doing so I would suggest you to start developing web applications. Pick an idea that you find interesting and useful(not necessarily profitable, but it doesn't hurt to be so). Develop and launch it. Show it to HN. In the process you will learn many things like

1. Feasibility analysis of idea

2. Project planning

3. UI/UX Design

4. Front-end development using HTML5/CSS3/javascript/jQuery

5. Server side programming using vanilla php and mysql, its freedom and headaches(then you'll understand the importance of frameworks).

6. Testing - unit testing,stress testing,browser testing,resolution testing etc.

7. Analytics and its importance.

8. Performance optimization techniques.

9. launching and marketing your application.

10. and the fact that programming is fun in itself but it is even more fun to use it to actually make something.

Best of luck.

drfloob 14 years ago |

That depends on what you want to do with your life. If you want to build and sell startups, start building and selling them. You don't have to be a great developer to do that.

If you want to become the best developer you can be, then here's my advice:

Learn about the process of building software. Diligently practice various development systems (agile, scrum, kanban, etc.). Build a reliable, disciplined behaviour into your personal development process, so no matter what the task, you know exactly how to best take an idea through to completion efficiently and with as few headaches as possible.

After that: learn about architecture, algorithms, and hardware.

MattBearman 14 years ago |

If you didn't get on CakePHP, I'd definitely recommend CodeIgniter. It's got a much gentler learning curve than Cake, Zend, etc, and is a great introduction to MVC and frameworks. Also CodeIgniter has the best documentation of all the PHP frameworks I've tried.

Once you're comfortable in CodeIgniter you'll find other frameworks make a lot more sense, and you can choose which one suits you best.

I ended up sticking with CodeIgniter, but my own customised version with things like the awesome DataMapper ORM.

j_col 14 years ago |

I'd really get in deep on the PHP platform, with an emphasis on performance. For example, if you have not looked at them already, take a look at the APC cache for opt code and user data, then distributed caching via Memcache (and the PHP clients for this), and I would also spend some time looking at PHP-FPM. Also HipHop if you're doing something really large scale. There is a lot more to modern PHP development than people realise.

ahmedaly 14 years ago |

Work! go to freelanacer: http://www.freelancer.com/affiliates/ahmed613/ and start searching for jobs under the php category. you will find many interesting jobs there, so sign up there and start seeing interesting projects that you can earn money with.

All what you can imagine is there.. so start! thats the proper step for you. Good luck.

TMK 14 years ago |

I think the next step for you to move on from web development is to jump to the native application development world.

This can either be mobile development or desktop development. There are many possible languages to use for this. Java is one of the most popular starting languages these days, but I would still suggest learning C or C++.

YoungEnt 14 years ago | |

Why move on from web development?

And I know both c++ and java. But all my ideas are all web apps, I can't think of anything for desktop development.

TMK 14 years ago | | |

Anything you are developing for the web can be developed for the desktop.

epicureanideal 14 years ago | |

I don't see why this is an obvious "next step". These are different platforms, why is one necessarily preferred to the other?

TMK 14 years ago | | |

Where i said that it's the obvious "next step". I only said (I think) it is.

geekbri 14 years ago |

I'd say learn JavaScript not just jQuery.

michaelpinto 14 years ago |

Languages are really tools — so what do you want to build?

YoungEnt 14 years ago | |

Well all my ideas are web apps...

michaelpinto 14 years ago | | |

Q. Are the tools that you know good enough to at least prototype your ideas?

I mean yes you can learn languages that are heavy duty like java — but so many things are done in PHP if you already know that...

danso 14 years ago |

Do you have a site of any sample work?

danso 14 years ago |

Learn a good JS framework, like Backbone

Speaking of frameworks, how much of your current work to date in web development involves a framework?

YoungEnt 14 years ago | |

none. I tried learning cake once, but just thought it would be easier to just do straight up PHP. I know I'm wrong but, I guess I was just trying to get immediate gratification

petervandijck 14 years ago | | |

You're not wrong, they're just trying to make you believe that.