“‘Publish or perish’ refers to the pressure to publish work constantly to further or sustain a career in academia.” Many years ago, my old boss at Community Connect Inc. (now Interactive One), Michael Montero, was having an article published in the September 2002 issue of Sysadmin Magazine. Around that time before the article was published, Mike enlightened all of us software developers on the “publish or perish” idea – write articles, speak at conferences, etc. in order to enhance your development career.
I always took that advice to heart. It made sense to me. If you’re good at something, you use your communication skills to better yourself and make yourself known. Whether it’s writing an article, writing a book, or speaking at a conference, it’s important to share your experiences and impart your knowledge to others.
So, that was one of my big goals for the year. I’ve done the conference thing for a while now, so I wanted to make 2009 the year of writing. By writing, I mean writing code, and writing an article. So, by the time this is posted, my php|architect article, “Make It Mobile with PHP and Open Source Tools” will have been published.
I started it early in the year and finished it in mid-April, many months ahead of the deadline. It’s basically my “Rickroll To Go…” conference talk, but in a written form.
It’s not some huge triumph of an article…it’s not going to win any awards…but it’s representative of a goal I set out to accomplish and succeeded at.
So, if you’re reading the issue, enjoy! If you’re not, go subscribe to php|architect!
Also, special thanks to my php|architect crew for giving me this great opportunity.
I’d like to do some more writing in 2010 (maybe some non-PHP writing, too?), so maybe you’ll see me in print again next year. Thanks for reading! Please send along any comments, questions or feedback via email or Twitter.