Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy New Year to everyone and wishing you all the best for 2012.
Unfortunately it is that time of year where we all feel obliged to make unrealistic promises to ourselves under the tradition that is “New Year’s Resolutions”. Just like most people, I have got the stand resolutions that roll from year to year which include loosing a little bit of weight and doing more regular exercise.
However this year, I wanted to set myself some new personal challenges and with some dedication, hopefully I will succeed.
Practise what you preach
We are always encourage our customers to utilise social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) and keep their website up to date with fresh new content.
Social media provides you with increased opportunities to gain new customers while reinforcing your branding. Social media has become very popular over the last few years and its influence is becoming stronger. Regular updates to your website lets your users know that your are invested to communicating latest business developments or offers. Far too often I see websites with a “Latest News” section which has not been updated in the last 6 months, this can often provide a negative impression on the business. Most importantly, activities such as these can help with search engine visibility and search engine rankings. More often than not however I am guilty of not dedicating enough time to these activities.
As part of my News Years Resolutions I intend to build upon our social media communities aswell as blogging about company developments, offers or just general banter.
Giving back to the open source community
I am a big fan of the open source community and think its influence on how the internet is involving is often understated. Without open source I would not be the developer I am today nor would we be able to publish new websites to such a high standard while maintaining low costs. A lot of our customer’s website are being powered by the open source Worpress software which is rapidily becoming the most popular content management system in the world.
As part of my New Year’s Resolution, I hope to build and publish a project into the open source community.
Personal development
As a web developer, I am always looking for ways to improve upon my skill set. As part of this goal, last year I started to attend PHP London on a regular basis. Overall, I have found these meetings to be enjoyable and informative and will continue to attend throughout 2012. To further my personal development, I am very excited to be attending “PHP Conference 2012″ for the first time. This is a 2 day event in February which will cover a wide range of topics while providing an excellent opportunity to network with other developers.
I am also setting myself the goal of becoming a “Zend Certified Engineer”. This certification is designed to test a candidates knowledge of PHP. This New Year’s Resolutions is perhaps the one I am most excited about, however may involve the most amount of work and dedication.
2012 New Years Resolutions
In summary;
- Build upon Bigstylee’s social media communities and provide the website with regular updates
- Develop and publish a project into the open source community
- Continue with personal development and become a Zend Certified Engineer
2012 hopefully promises to be a good year, both for Bigstylee and on a personal level. I am looking forward my new challenges and promise to keep you all updated on my progress!
