I've often felt that the best way to learn a subject such as PHP would be to take half a day of training per week over a period of perhaps 8 to 10 weeks. Practicals exercises to try between each week's session, with the tutor starting each session / lecture with a review of issues that trainee have raised by email from the previous one. However, I've see some logistical problems with this approach:
a) Trainees come from far and wide and wouldn't wish to travel every week
b) Trainees might not have the commitment to do the practicals during the week, and would have forgotten one lesson by the next
c) Trainees might not be able to make every one of the (say) 10 sessions which would mean they would miss a vital subject
I'm delighted, then, to see my old University (City University) offering a
10 week evening class in PHP starting on 5th October, and again next Spring. It's pretty much in central London, so it's likely that they can overcome the travel problem for anyone who's working in the City, and if anyone's committed enough to stop in London from 18:30 to 20:30, then they'll probably be committed enough to do the practicals too ;-).
Cost wise, it looks good too - around £14 per hours compared to the £29 per hour that we charge for a place on
4 day intensive public PHP course. Our products, markets and costs are very different, and I'm quite happy to post up information on City's courses here.
Our real competition at Well House Consultants on PHP training is the Central London course that costs £1375 (that's about £41 per hour) ... but even that's not really a competitor. I've lost count of the number of times that this expensive course has been cancelled at the last minute and we've had people contact us in some panic as they've got to learn PHP within a few weeks as part of their employment.
(written 2004-09-19, updated 2008-05-10)
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