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Beth Tucker Long
Beth Tucker Long is a PHP developer and co-organizer of Madison PHP. Beth is a firm believer in promoting community and mentoring. She runs Treeline Design, a web development company, and Exploricon, a gaming convention, along with her husband, Chris. You can find her on her blog http://www.alittleofboth.com and on Twitter
twitter: @e3BethT
Web site: http://www.alittleofboth.com
Articles
This Month, We Celebrate GAAD
By Beth Tucker Long
The sixteenth of this month is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). This happens every year on the 16th of May…er…wait. It’s not May yet. So why am I bringing this up now? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in World Community, March 2024
Dear Past Me, What were you thinking?
By Beth Tucker Long
by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The PHP Gambit: Winning Strategies in Code, February 2024
Confident Uncertainty
By Beth Tucker Long
You have to be an expert. You have to know everything. If you admit you don’t know something, they will know you are a fraud. You will lose all credibility, and you will never work again.—Imposter Syndrome, taken from “Untrue Daily Affirmations We All Keep Saying” by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Bad Bug Bounties, January 2024
Sunsetting User Groups
By Beth Tucker Long
Are you still a member of a user group? If so, is your user group still actively meeting? Many of these groups no longer regularly meet, if they meet at all. Why have these groups faded over the years? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Generating Efficient PHP, December 2023
Gratefully Looking Back
By Beth Tucker Long
by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Command Line Picasso, November 2023
The Heart of the Code
By Beth Tucker Long
by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Software Archeology, October 2023
It’s Time to Reinvent the Wheel
By Beth Tucker Long
by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The Spectrum of PHP, September 2023
Have you tried turning it off and…being bored?
By Beth Tucker Long
*When work gets hectic, we push harder at a frantic pace. We work overtime to get everything done. We plow through patches and tickets, slowly chipping away at the mountain of work before us. We know what needs to be done, but what if there’s a better way?*
by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Packing Up PHP, August 2023
finally{}: Living on the Edge
By Beth Tucker Long
There is a special group out there full of brave thrill-seekers.
Adventurous people who venture beyond the security of the stable and
stand on the forefront of uncharted waters. They hunt out dangers and
ensure the safety of all of us. Their ranks are open, and you can be one
of them. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Be Barrier Free, July 2023
finally{}: Do We Deserve to Be Here?
By Beth Tucker Long
For more years than anyone cares to count, programmers have made
jokes at PHP’s expense, shuddered when someone mentions being a PHP
programmer, or written long rants about how PHP isn’t a real option for
professionals. How has this affected us? by Beth Tucker
Long
Published in Evolving PHP, June 2023
finally{}: CatAIstrophe
By Beth Tucker Long
You would be hard-pressed to find a news source that is not
overflowing with dire warnings and speculations about recent
advancements in AI. I have even gotten messages from people wondering if
I know what career I will do next, seeing as AI is eliminating my job.
Is “Judgment Day” coming? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in HTTP Burritos, May 2023
finally{}: Stop Waiting
By Beth Tucker Long
What’s on your ‘Someday’ list? What do you keep putting off, waiting
for the right time? Dust off that list. Someday has arrived….Stop
Waiting! by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Getting TEKnical, April 2023
finally{}: Nothing Lasts Longer
By Beth Tucker Long
The system needs a new feature, but we will need to do a lot of refactoring or rewriting to get it done. Someone proposes a quick workaround to get it working while we wait to get the rest of the proper work done. “What? We can’t do that”, someone responds. “We have to do this the right way.” by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Box of PHP, March 2023
finally{}: Making the Cut
By Beth Tucker Long
Between a major shortage of programmers, rampant burnout, and a workforce disrupted by the pandemic, employment in the tech industry is in turmoil. At the same time, our hiring practices continue on as if nothing has changed. Why are we letting this happen? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Knowledge Crunching, February 2023
finally{}: Self-worth
By Beth Tucker Long
As the new year dawns, the snow is flying (at least where I am), and so are the resolutions. I can’t even count how many emails I have gotten from companies about how they can help me stick to “my resolution” to lose weight, exercise more, read more books, learn a new language…the list goes on and on. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in PHP is Standing Tall, January 2023
finally{}: Who Controls Your Content?
By Beth Tucker Long
We are becoming a world increasingly reliant upon “free” services – free document sharing, free email, free video meetings, and free chat programs. The list goes on and on. Would your organization survive if these free services disappeared? Do you truly understand the risks you are taking? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Owning The Web, December 2022
finally{}: Our Responsibility in Learned Helplessness
By Beth Tucker Long
Security and clean data are a must in our industry. We go to great lengths to ensure that the data we bring in is not malicious but also, and perhaps even more importantly, is the right data we want. Are we training users to be helpless in our quest to create applications and systems to get exactly what we want from users? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The Value of the AST, November 2022
finally{}: Beware: Tek is Disruptive
By Beth Tucker Long
In between where we start and how we end up, lies the journey. It’s usually filled with uncertainty along the way; however, we’re often grateful for the path we took in the end. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The State of PHP, October 2022
finally{}: Everyone’s Eyes and Ears
By Beth Tucker Long
If we want our projects to reach a multitude of people, we need to realize what a multitude of people need from what we build. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Making Code, September 2022
finally{}: The Dangerous Safety of Comfort
By Beth Tucker Long
Muscle memory is our absolutely amazing ability to train our bodies to do things without us needing to think through each movement/action individually. This is super helpful in many ways. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in PHP Blueprint, August 2022
finally{}: Blind
By Beth Tucker Long
It has been a while since I’ve worked on in-person conferences, but with events starting back up, conference planning has started up again as well. I recently chatted with someone about improving diversity in speaker line-ups. This is a very difficult topic, but one I am very passionate about, so before we get too far into this article, I want you all to know that if anyone is interested in improving the diversity of your speaker line-up, I’m happy to talk through your process and offer suggestions. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Database Freedom, July 2022
finally{}: Pulled From All Angles
By Beth Tucker Long
Everywhere I look, there are articles targeting programmers with suggestions and plans for how to be “better.” Some articles promise to make you a better co-worker, while others extol the virtues of being a better manager. Some will make you better at communicating while others will make you better at coding. In all cases, though, the message is the same: you programmers need to be “better.”
Published in Another Bright Idea, June 2022
finally{}: Survival of the Fiendish
By Beth Tucker Long
In ages past, the claim has been that the “fittest” survive. Nowadays, the fittest appear to fall by the wayside, crowded out by those fiendishly over-promising, under-delivering, and making it unbearably difficult to escape. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in One Last Slice, May 2022
finally{}: Tech is Taking Sides
By Beth Tucker Long
Throughout history, industries have stayed relatively neutral during wartime. Global companies especially may offer marketing-focused messages of hope and concern but keep their heads down and their tones neutral when faced with actually taking a stand against one side of a conflict. Per usual, though, the tech industry is happy to disrupt the status quo—not just taking a clear stand but putting their money and their talent where their mouth is.
Published in Testing The Core, April 2022
finally{}: I Just Can’t
By Beth Tucker Long
**ding – Subject line: Reminder to complete your student’s school registration.** A new email arrives. *Right, I need to get that done as soon as I finish work for the day.* **ding – Subject line: Your domain names expire in 3 days.** *Ack, I forgot to renew those last week. I need to get that done before they expire.* **ding – Subject line: Did you get my email from last week?** *What email?* (scroll, scroll, scroll) *Oh, there it is. Not sure how I missed that…*
Published in World Backup Day, March 2022
finally{}: Every Which Way But Loose
By Beth Tucker Long
I recently saw yet another discussion online about PHP’s infamous naming convention exceptions and needle/haystack rotations. All the typical vitriol was there from the PHP haters, but I was very happy to see several new programmers add to the conversation or ask for clarifications and receive very supportive and educational responses from the thread. PHP is nothing if not consistent in its status as a recipient of the internet’s hatred. However, I am forever proud of our community’s ability to ignore the hate and still welcome and encourage newcomers. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Parallelize Your Code, February 2022
finally{}: Experts or Out-of-touch?
By Beth Tucker Long
After talking to someone about ideas for new security education, I popped over to check out the latest OWASP Top Ten list. A quote on their homepage stood out to me: This category represents the scenario where the security community members are telling us this is important, even though it’s not illustrated in the data at this time. https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/ by Beth Tucker Long
Published in Domain-Driven Resolutions, January 2022
finally{}: Still Rolling
By Beth Tucker Long
Just when we think things are finally going to calm down—here we go again. It seems the changes never stop coming, but this is no ordinary change. It is a turning point, and times like this are when we all need to choose if we will stand up or give up. by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The Zen of Mindful Programming, December 2021
finally{}: Roll With It
By Beth Tucker Long
The last year has been a big year of change for workplaces in a lot of the world. Every time we think we are settled into our “new normal,” things change again—variants, treatments, policies, work locations, hiring practices, staff sizes—an overwhelming amount of change. A quick internet search reveals many studies showing that rates of burnout are alarmingly high and still rising. We are all resistant to change, but should we be? by Beth Tucker Long
Published in The Art of Data, November 2021
finally{}: Rubber Ducky, You’re the One!
By Beth Tucker Long
Deep in a wild, overgrown forest, a lone developer studies an ancient map carefully. Checking a compass against the angle of the sun and the moss on the trees, this exhausted programmer pushes on, finally making it to the entrance of the long-forgotten cave. Inside on a dusty stone pedestal waits the sought-after artifact—the rubber ducky!
Published in Decrypting Cryptography, October 2021
finally{}: Back to School
By Beth Tucker Long
Here we are, the season for students to say goodbye to break and head back to school. For those of you without children, this is why the office supplies areas of most stores have been looking like post-apocalyptic movie sets with a few broken packages on ransacked shelves and a few hollow-eyed clerks left staring vacantly at the mess. I hope none of you needed crayons. They are going for big bucks on the black market right now.
Published in It’s Really an Upgrade, September 2021
finally{}: Stepping Through
By Beth Tucker Long
Sometimes you need something tried and true, and sometimes you need to escape the daily grind and try something new.
Published in Trimming One’s Sails, August 2021 —Available for Free
finally{}: Rebuilding
By Beth Tucker Long
Recent times have been anything but expected. The community landscape is vastly different from it was two years ago. Where do we go from here?
Published in Deep Dive Into Search, July 2021
finally{}: PHP is Not Important
By Beth Tucker Long
Every technology has its share of haters. Disagreements in coding philosophies become language wars. Differences in project priorities become personal attacks. It’s vicious. It’s demoralizing. Why would anyone stay in an environment like this?
Published in Debug, Rinse, Repeat, June 2021
finally{}: Awkward Conversations
By Beth Tucker Long
When we talk about long-term planning for our code, we often mean making sure that it can handle increases in traffic as usage increases (if we are lucky). We also usually mean making sure the code is flexible enough to handle the new technology and client requests inevitably coming its way. These are great things to plan for, but we leave ourselves open to a lot of risk when this is all we plan for.
Published in Testing Assumptions, May 2021
finally{}: Doomsday Prepping
By Beth Tucker Long
Thanks to the pandemic, doomsday prepping has gone mainstream. Many think this is a new philosophy that is gaining popularity, but it has long been at the heart of the tech world.
Published in Busy Worker Bees, April 2021
finally{}: When the Wrong Answer is Right
By Beth Tucker Long
I’ve been doing web programming for over 20 years, most of that as a consultant, so I have worked on countless different environments over the years. I pride myself on following best practices and building applications ready to hold up for a long life. I always want to do things right, but over and over again, I learn that right is not always what is best.
Published in Lambda PHP, March 2021
finally{}: Fun with Big Data
By Beth Tucker Long
In years past, scientists had to draw conclusions from whatever small data they could procure themselves. Advancements in data collection, storage, and analysis have revolutionized the data sets now available to scientists—and also you and me.
Published in Dealing with Data, February 2021
finally{}: Getting Through to Myself
By Beth Tucker Long
The more some things change, the more some things stay the same—especially when you are a PHP developer. Being a developer is an exciting, stressful, exhausting, invigorating thing. With technologies constantly evolving, our job is as much about learning as it is about building and fixing.
Published in Newfangled Views, January 2021
finally{}: Resolutions
By Beth Tucker Long
As programmers, it is our job to build. We create things. We modify them. We fix bugs. We solve problems. We fill needs. Maybe it’s time to start applying this to something a bit bigger than just our codebase.
Published in PHP 8 Bits and Git, December 2020
finally{}: Put Your Best Page Forward
By Beth Tucker Long
Is your workload filled with looming deadlines and minimum viable products? Is the focus on pivoting quickly and allowing user complaints to drive feature development? Are we exhausting our customers? Are we exhausting ourselves?
Published in SOLID Foundations, November 2020
finally{}: Async Life
By Beth Tucker Long
Our day-to-day used to be full of needing to get to physical locations in person at specific times, but just like programming, we are becoming more and more asynchronous.
Published in Running Parallel, October 2020
Accessibility Makes Things Better for Everyone
By Beth Tucker Long
Accessibility is a broad concept that covers many ideas and requirements, and your project needs accessibility for many varied reasons. Perhaps you are required to comply with accessibility laws and regulations. Perhaps you have existing users complaining that your services are difficult to use. Maybe you are looking to attract a larger, more diverse audience or are just interested in making sure your website works for all people. No matter your reasons for starting, improving accessibility is about increasing the number of people who can use your site or app, and that’s a good thing for everyone.
Published in Out on a Limb – February 2019, February 2019
