PHP developers - we have three new high-impact one-day workshops designed just for you.

Spend time with experienced industry professional Lorna Mitchell and learn first-hand the best-practice approaches, tools, tips and productivity boosters  recommended by the expert.  As an added bonus ask specific questions related to your own working environment within this lab setting.

You'll gain specialist skills and resources which enhance your own expertise and open doors for you to take your own development further, beyond the course itself.

The  three workshops are on the topics of:

• Databases;
• Object Oriented Design; and
• Tools.

Why these topics in particular?  We asked Lorna to explain the rationale for these in more detail:

"These are all areas that I find myself spending time on when I work with PHP developers from all kinds of backgrounds.  Very often these topics aren't the reason that I'm working with a team, I might be there for something else completely, but I always make time to fill in any gaps in these areas because they make such a big difference to a development team.

The PHP  Zend II course gives a good grounding covering core topics, but these new workshops are very focussed, with hands-on time for people to flex their new skills and explore new techniques. There is also unstructured time where I will demonstrate approaches, recommend resources for a particular topic, and give specific advice for a particular scenario from my own experience in response to your questions.

Each workshop is different in their benefits, but in all three cases  the pre-requisites are kept to a minimum.  Each of these workshops starts with some degree of a refresher, so whether that's a recap for you or if some of the content is new, that's fine; everyone will quickly get onto the same page These courses are a 'packaged' version of advice I find myself giving frequently, so they're a cost-effective way of getting access some of the expertise I've built up over time .

Object Oriented Design : this course talks about object-oriented architecture and specifically design patterns.  While the topic itself isn't necessarily rocket science, I do think it's very important for developers to be familiar with the terminology we use when building systems. Understanding design patterns means you can build any wheel you like, and be confident that you understand how to use and adapt existing wheel designs.

Databases : web developers often don't realise how much there is to know about databases and so they continue to write applications that are "good enough", deploying more hardware or changing technologies when they hit problems.  Being able to design well for the storage layer, and retrieve that data quickly and confidently makes the difference between an experienced but 'OK' developer and someone who is quickly gaining a reputation for great systems, often even while they are relatively new to the industry.

Tools: These tools will save your time and occasionally your life! It is quite difficult to implement new tools from scratch, in an existing team, with existing work pressures. This one day course makes it possible as you learn how to use the tool and also gain an understanding of how to manage that change. Good platform and process tools are vital for technical leads and senior developers so in some ways this is the most advanced of the courses.  This is the course I needed when I took my first senior developer role! "

Thanks Lorna. These workshops will prove to be excellent value for money for PHP developers everywhere.  Your time is money - so you'll quickly recoup your investment in the training course.