I had a great time at CodeWorks 2011 in Raleigh this week, put on by the great folks at php|architect. Here is a rundown of the presentations, with some of my thoughts. [...] To all the conference speakers, organizers and attendees, I want to say thank you for a fun and educational experience.

The sessions for this stop on the tour were:

• "CI:IRL" by Beth Tucker Long
• "How Beer Made Me a Better Developer" by Jason Austin
• "What's new in PHP 5.4" by Cal Evans
• "Refactoring and Other Small Animals" by Marco Tabini
• "jQuery Mobile and Phonegap" by Terry Ryan
• "REST Best Practices" by Keith Casey

indieconf is a conference for independent web professionals. Whether you're a full time freelancer or part time contractor, designer or developer, you'll find something for you at indieconf. Web and tech conferences have traditionally focused on the technical side of things. While the sessions are often useful, they don't often address the realities of living as an independent.

The event will be happening November 13th with a $99 USD Early Bird rate (before September 25th). Snacks and drinks will be provided during the event, but there will also be a Friday night dinner with all attendees and speakers. The event will be on the University of North Carolina campus in the McKimmon Center. For more information about the conference, check out it's site!

The Opportunity
DunnWell is a rapidly growing services firm located in the heart of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. We are working on a next generation version of ServiceNet, the web application that underpins our business model and drives our growth.

We are looking for a senior PHP developer to help guide the project. This position provides the opportunity to heavily influence the architecture of the application and to work on several leading edge concepts spanning mobile platforms, social networks, and cloud computing.

DunnWell offers competitive pay and excellent benefits. Multiple restaurants and storefronts operate within walking distance of the office, and our location also offers a convenient commute from all communities in the Triangle.

Essential Functions
The right person will be responsible for all aspects of software development, including: feature development and planning, code writing, testing, deployment, and QA/bugfixes. The ideal candidate will be responsible for the software coding, testing, documentation, and timely debugging of issues.

Required Skills

• 3+ years of OO PHP on the LAMP Stack
• MVC Frameworks: Zend, Symphony, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, etc.
• AJAX/JSON & Javascript Toolkits: jQuery, EXT-JS, etc.
• Subversion or similar version control
• Experience working in a small, cross-functional team environment

Preferred skills

• Document-oriented databases, such as MongoDB, CouchDB, etc..
• Test/Behavior Driven Development, unit testing experience.
• Mobile application development (iPhone, Android, etc)

For more information or to submit your resume, see http://tbe.taleo.net/NA12/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=DUNNWELL&cws=1&rid=24

Felix Geisendorfer notes:

Tim and I are very thrilled to announce the very first two-day workshop for everybody who is interested in mastering the CakePHP framework. The event is a collaboration between Debuggable Limited and the Cake Software foundation.

The cost for the event is $600 USD for a normal admission and $500 USD for a student admission. Speakers will include Garrett Woodworth, Nate Abele and Felix and Tim (of the Debuggable blog). The post includes a "what to expect" for attendees and a complete listing of the talks for each day and descriptions of each session.

Signup now to reserve your spot.