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PHP - London course, Melksham Course, Evening course

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2006-03-14 08:15:12 - Graham Ellis

An answer to an enquirer ... I'm posting a part of this here as it compares and contrasts some of the options available if you want to learn PHP.

"""There's a variety of PHP course available, as you say ... and not everyone needs a course; some people do very well self-taught or from books.

I did a comparison a while back on my Blog, comparing a set of evening classes in London, and regular training courses in London, against our own. The comparison is at:
http://www.wellho.net/mouth/55_Evening-classes-to-learn-PHP.html

Each course has its target market, its strengths and weaknesses. In favour of our public course, I can quote:

* Class size maximum of 7 delegates to ensure plenty of attention to each person's specific needs.

* Quiet venue condusive to good learning, in a training centre that's away from the hustle and bustle and where you can arrive early and stay late to study further, with the tutor present, if you wish.

* By using a purpose-fitted training room so we don't have "London costs", nor the cost of hiring a conference room at a hotel and setting it up each time. We provide a very high quality product at a price that's lower than it would be if it was held "in town".

* Training notes written by the tutor who presents the course, who also does a great deal of "live" PHP work; I have also taken time (and invested money too!) to spend time with Rasmus Lerdorf (the guy who wrote and looks after PHP as well as other open source gurus such as Larry Wall, Mark Lutz, and Monty Widenius to ensure that what I present is correct, mainstream, and robust for future developments.

* Rather than present only from the dry set of notes, our courses use what I describe as an "active learning" technique to get the maximum effective teaching in what's quite a short time. See my blog again:
http://www.wellho.net/mouth/628_Active-Learning.html

If you want to see what others say, have a look at Oxford University ..
>http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/learning/technical/index.xml?style=printable#programming

Other courses / providers must speak for themselves, but we are NOT well geared for:

* Delegates who wish to take the course in associate with a visit to London or another major city where they can enjoy the nightlife, or who have an objective of making a large group of new friends learning the same technology.

* Delegates who need to commute to and from home on a daily basis - perhaps because of family responsibilities.

* Delegates who wish to learn in small chunks of a few hours a week rather than on a crash course.

Sorry - I believe in our product and I go on about it a bit; we do have places available on the next course, which is in May. And, yes thanks, this week's is running fabulously. But then PHP is great fun, so that's the norm!"""