Keith Casey has a new post to his blog today sharing some thoughts similar to those he gave in the closing remarks at this year's php|tek conference that recently happened in Chicago.

A few weeks ago at php|tek, I was lucky enough to deliver the Closing Remarks. Well.. it was less "lucky" and more of a "wait.. you haven't done anything this week, make yourself useful." So after a week of sessions, midnight hackathons, midnight unconference, tornados, power outages, a red carpet entrance, a family reunion, I got the final word.. Of course, this recap is not verbatim. I did the original presentation from a basic outline and have since had a few weeks to ponder it.

He mentions a few of the points that were highlights of the remarks including a few things developers should consider and act on when wanting to push them and their skills to the next level - showing up to conferences and events, listen and learn while there and do more than just sit in your chair - get involved. Once you've hit that point you can then be a mentor to those following the same path and try to "not be an ass" to those in the community around you.