The PHP Mentoring organization has officially updated to an application rather than the GitHub wiki page for matching up mentors with potential apprentices. What is PHP Mentoring? Glad you asked...

We are a formal, personal, long term, peer to peer mentorship organization focused on creating networks of skilled developers from all walks of life. We are PHP developers first and foremost but that is not all we do, nor is it the only skill we intend to pass on to others.

We are mentors and apprentices, teachers and students, coaches, counselors and friends. We're not in this for profit but for the end result, a strong community of talented developers doing some fabulous work. We give back to the community as much as we take, we build up not tear down, and above all we believe in "play nice" and "code well".

The group looks to connect developers, matching those more experienced with ones maybe just starting out or wanting to learn more about a specific topic. They have some guidelines to follow if you're interested in becoming a mentor/apprentice. The application has just been launched and the mentor list is still being repopulated, but in the meantime you can check out the wiki page for more information on current mentors.

The Loosely Coupled podcast has posted their latest episode today, Episode #17 - Mentoring and Apprenticing. Join hosts Jeff Carouth and Matt Frost as they talk about people helping people become better developers build relationships in the community.

In this episode Jeff and Matt talk about the idea of establishing and participating in mentoring relationships. As participants in the PHP Mentoring organization or initiative, mentorship is an important part of Jeff’s and Matt’s lives as developers. The main theme in this episode is that you should find a way to get past your fears and find a way to get involved with mentoring in your community. Along the way they cover some advice based on past experiences of what to expect and how to establish successful relationships.

You can listen to this latest episode either through the in-page audio player or by downloading the mp3 for listening at your leisure. As always, be sure to subscribe to their feed if you enjoy the show.

On the Engine Yard blog there's a new post written up by Elizabeth Smith talking some about the mentoring of PHP developers and how being both a mentor and a mentee is a good thing for you and your development life.

Some believe programming is a science, with well-defined rules that if properly followed always give you the same outcome. Some believe programming is engineering, practical application of some kind of pure science such as math. I personally feel programming is a craft. That word often makes people blink a few times, especially those steeped in logic. Craftsmanship means applying specialized knowledge with skill in a practical manner.

She goes on to apply more of the ideas of "craftsmanship" to development work. She notes that she is where she is today because of the people that took the time to mentor her and guide her towards being a better developer. She talks about the networking options mentoring can provide as well as the official PHP Mentoring project that she helped to found.

At the end of the day, I don’t work because I have to, I work because I want to, because I need to improve the technology that people use every day. The tools and techniques used today won’t be the ones used 20 years from now, so I don’t believe in holy wars over languages, operating systems, or coding standards.