In the latest in their series of PHP community interviews, the 7PHP.com talks with Jacques Woodcock one of the leaders in the Nashville PHP community and of the Nashville PHP User Group (see his previous interview for more on that). In this interview they focus on some quotes from Jacques posted on the SouthernAlpha startup Twitter account about giving back to the community.

The ‘level of wisdom’ in them was too strong to be left there, I had to bring it out and I’m thankful to Jacques ‘TheKit’ Guy for sharing with me (and hence you) his precious experience he gained down the years and elaborating more on those quotes.

They go through each of the quotes and let Jacques expand on them a bit - why he got started with the community, some ways that people can get involved in their local group and remembering that a community is made up of more than just single actors.

In his latest post Matthew Turland has shared some of his thoughts about how to be a better developer, regardless of the language or skill level you may find yourself at.

I’ve shamefully ripped off the title for this blog post from what I expect will be a phenomenal session given by Ed Finkler at php[tek] 2014. Sadly, I haven’t seen the session and may not be present at the conference. However, I’ve spoken with Ed and seen him give sessions on several occasions, so I know he sets the bar pretty high. If you’ve not considered attending the conference and his session, I highly recommend doing so. Ed has plenty of insightful things to say about being a great developer. Today, the subject coincidentally crossed my mind and I realized I had a few things to say on the matter that may also prove useful to others.

He suggests that there are three main qualities that developers need to become better at their craft and, as a positive side effect, work better with other developers around them. These three points are:

• Humility
• Patience
• Imperfection

For each, he briefly explains the topic and makes some practical suggestions for achieving the goal.

These are things I’ve learned from my own experiences. I state them here realizing that they may be more applicable to me than they are to you. You must form your own opinions and find your own wisdom. [...] In the end, you must find your own path. Regardless of what that path is, I hope you find the passion shared by myself and those who inspire me and I wish you well in your pursuits.

In a recent post to the php|architect site Marco Tabini has a suggestion of five meta-skills he thinks every PHP developer should learn.

But being a PHP developer is much more than writing PHP code. In fact, good PHP skills would be something that I would take for granted that every PHP developer should have—and, if enough employers are as crazy as I am, there’s a chance that I’m not the only one who wants to look beyond mere PHP to decide who is good and who is exceptional.

His list five of meta-skills for the PHP developer covers a wide range of things, not just involving the technology of web development:

• HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• Understanding business
• Coming to grips with reality
• Using the phone
• Being humble