Northeast PHP Conference, September 21, 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 25 Web Technologies in Boston
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4. Talent shortage / skills gap
Defining the Problem
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5. Tech Job Explosion
There are 11.5 million tech professionals in the
United States, which accounts for 7.2 percent
of the overall workforce.
Source: Dice, March 30, 2018
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6. More Openings Than Unemployed
For the first time on record, the number of job
openings in the United States exceeds the
number of unemployed Americans.
Source: Fox News, June 5, 2018
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7. Small Business Optimism High
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
soared to a new record in the survey’s 45-year
history.
Job creation plans and unfilled job openings
both set new records.
Source: NFIB, August, 2018
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8. Most Difficult IT Roles to Fill
1. Security/Risk Management
2. Business Intelligence/Data Analytics
3. Cloud Integration
4. Application Development
5. Enterprise Software (ERP, CRM)
Source: 2018 State of the CIO Report
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9. Interactivity #1
Turn to a person sitting next to you:
● Introduce yourself
● Discuss talent shortage/skills gap you are
experiencing either as an individual or
within your organization
● Two minutes each person
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10. The virtual self-study group
Offering a Solution
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11. Maximizing "Downtime"
There are more than 700 hours in a month.
Today's "Meetup" will last 7 hours.
How can we maximize non-Meetup time?
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12. The 99% Solution
Let's meet virtually!
No scheduled Meetup time.
● Meet in your own place.
● Proceed at your own pace.
Anecdotal: Our core member is a PHP beginner.
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13. How a Virtual Meetup Works
Decide on a topic.
Purchase the same textbook (video).
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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14. 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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15. Virtual Self-Study Groups
jQuery jAM
HTML5 Brunch
Git Lunch
Drupal Dinner
Agile Appetizer
AWS Snack
WordPress Dressing
Angular Stew
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16. Alumni
More than 200 Boston PHP members have
completed at least one virtual self-study group.
Some have completed multiple groups.
Our Champion (more than a dozen) is Sunday
Olaoye.
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17. Virtual Self-Study Group Walk-through
Example: Agile Appetizer: Season 2
● Create Meetup
● Create Message Board
● Encourage early starts
● Communicate weekly
● Respond to posts daily
● Follow up with no-shows
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18. Road Map
Develop 37 Senior Percolators.
Build out nine individual websites.
Develop database of graduates.
Launch 10th group to learn blockchain.
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19. Interactivity #2
Turn to a different person sitting next to you:
● Introduce yourself
● Discuss the challenges you experience in
learning new skills
● Two minutes each person
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20. The Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
What Skills to Focus On
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21. Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
#25 Photoshop | 626 jobs
#24 Android | 673 jobs
#23 XML | 683 jobs
#22 Angular | 684 jobs
#21 Axure | 696 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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22. Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
#20 Ruby | 722 jobs
#19 Hadoop | 740 jobs
#18 SQL Server | 748 jobs
#17 UX | 877 jobs
#16 HTML + CSS | 878 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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23. Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
#15 Git | 883 jobs
#14 API | 942 jobs
#13 UI | 1,015 jobs
#12 C# | 1,078 jobs
#11 Web Services | 1,204 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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24. Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
#10 Oracle | 1,229 jobs
#9 scrum *** | 1,404 jobs
#8 SaaS | 1,655 jobs
#7 AWS | 1,750 jobs
#6 JavaScript | 1,909 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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25. Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston
#5 social media | 2,184 jobs
#4 Java | 3,040 jobs
#3 Python | 3,051 jobs
#2 SQL | 3,929 jobs
#1 agile*** | 4,071 jobs
Source: Beantown Web
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26. Interactivity #3
Turn to yet another person sitting next to you:
● Introduce yourself
● Identify one tech skill from the Top 25 that
you would like to become more proficient
in and discuss how you plan to develop
this skill
● Two minutes each person
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27. Conclusion
Feedback
What technologies do you want to learn?
Help
Lead a Season (Senior Percolator)?
Build a Website (Percolator)?
Final thoughts, comments and observations?
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