Presentation from the Northeast PHP Conference, August 11, 2012 to be updated for the WordTech Conference on March 10, 2018

2. Anatomy of a Virtual Self-
Study Group
The 99% Solution
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3. Overview
Defining the Problem
● Talent shortage / skills gap
Offering a Solution
● The virtual self-study group
What Skills to Focus On
● The Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
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4. Defining the Problem
Talent shortage / skills gap
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5. Talent Shortage
Top Three Hardest Jobs to Fill
● Skilled Trades
● Engineers
● IT Staff
Source: ManpowerGroup's 2012 Talent
Shortage Survey
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9. The Skills Gap
● The majority of U.S. workers (55 percent)
report they are under pressure to develop
additional skills to be successful in their
current and future jobs.
Source: Accenture Skills Gap Study,
November, 2011
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10. The Support Gap
● Only 21 percent of U.S. workers say they
have acquired new skills through company-
provided formal training during the past five
years.
Source: Accenture Skills Gap Study,
November, 2011
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11. Offering a Solution
The virtual self-study group
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12. Maximizing "Downtime"
There are more than 700 hours in a month.
Today's "Meetup" will approximately 7 hours.
How can we maximize non-Meetup time?
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13. The 99% Solution
Let's meet virtually!
No scheduled Meetup time.
Meet in your own place.
Proceed at your own pace.
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14. How a Virtual Meetup Works
Decide on a topic.
Purchase the same textbook.
Make a commitment to ...
● read one chapter per week
● complete the exercises
● post a link to the completed work
Boston PHP Message Board
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15. Virtual Self-Study Groups
Started January 1, 2011
PHP Percolate!
Season 1 -- January thru April, 2011
Season 2 -- May thru August, 2011
Season 3 -- September thru December, 2011
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16. Virtual Self-Study Groups
jQuery jAM
Season 1 -- September thru December, 2011
Season 1.5 -- April thru June, 2012
HTML5 Brunch
Season 1 -- January thru April, 2012
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17. Alumni
PHP Percolate! -- 17
jQuery jAM -- 28
HTML5 Brunch -- 36
Self-Study Group | Wall of Accomplishment
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18. Road Map
PHP Percolate!
Season 4
September thru December, 2012
jQuery jAM
Season 2
November, 2012 thru April, 2013
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19. PHP Percolate! Season 4
September thru December, 2012
Focus on learning the basics of PHP
Go to Boston PHP Meetup announcement
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20. jQuery jAM, Season 2
November, 2012 thru April, 2013
Focus on learning jQuery Mobile
Go to jQuery jAM beta site
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21. What Skills to Focus On
The Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
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22. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#20 Ruby | 117 jobs
#19 SharePoint | 124 jobs
#18 UI | 136 jobs
#17 ASP.NET | 143 jobs
#16 Ajax | 146 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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23. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#15 jQuery | 160 jobs
#14 MySQL | 162 jobs
#13 PHP | 182 jobs
#12 Perl | 189 jobs
#11 Python | 192 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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24. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#10 HTML + CSS | 212 jobs
#9 Web Services | 204 jobs
#8 Social Media | 223 jobs
#7 XML | 264 jobs
#6 C# | 274 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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25. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#5 SQL Server | 336 jobs
#4 JavaScript | 351 jobs
#3 Java | 565 jobs
#2 Oracle | 609 jobs
#1 SQL | 830 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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26. Conclusion
Feedback
Which technologies?
Help
Lead a Season?
Help Build a Website?
Questions
???
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