In year 2000 when PHP 4 just came out, we had functions.php and when it started being big we made functions2.php. When object orientation came out we renamed our databasefunctions.php and put a class around it and called it OOP. PHP by then, was not very mature. I by then, was not very mature. The community by then, was not very mature.

We have come a long way since then! We now believe 12 year old girls on the internet are not FBI agents. We now have type hints, and namespaces, and composer! We have all matured.

Let me share my story of amazing technology that changed my life. I’d also like to share some horrible community experiences, and the awesome ones that kept me going.

Let’s keep growing, because we never really stop.

Comments

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Pieter Gerber at 09:47 on 28 Sep 2018

Thank you Michelle for sharing your story and some useful tools with us. The PHP community is privileged to have someone as dedicated as you. Keep up the good work.

Andre Smith at 09:52 on 28 Sep 2018

I love to hear the stories that developers in the community has to share. Thanks Michelle for an awesome story, which you presented very well.

Noel Young at 10:00 on 28 Sep 2018

I Love to hear other people's stories and their progression in their programming and this talk captured that very well. Thanks Michelle, great talk!

James Titcumb at 10:46 on 28 Sep 2018

Very strong positive message, a great talk well delivered.

Great talk about community, appreciated the honesty and making verbal/visible the struggles woman have in the industry. It's reaffirmed why and how important it is for us to be mindful and helpful to youngsters - and how mindful we must be when talking to folks in the community, especially young and upcoming devs.

Justin Fossey at 16:29 on 2 Oct 2018

This for me was an incredibly brave talk, sharing some really personal stories about sexism and prejudices in software development. You could see these where not easy things to talk about and Michelle gave us all a small window into the world of being a woman and a young girl in a male dominated industry, and very elegantly linked it to how PHP as grown as a community and how things have improved.

I took a lot away from this talk that really makes a person think. For me the importance and responsibility of senior community members and the examples they set and the role of mentoring could play in giving young woman the strength to look pasted any struggles they unfortunately are encountering. I am glad Michelle found some really awesome people that helped her and supported her.

Watching Michelle's talk made me think of a Ted talk by Brené Brown titled "The power of vulnerability" and how Michelle's talk was a great example of this.

Hopefully one day we can mature enough as an industry that we stop hearing about such struggles and prejudices.

Thank you for sharing.

This was a very honest and sincere talk, sharing some experiences most of us have never even thought about. Thank you for your honesty, and for sharing your story with us. I think its something all of us can learn from.