calevans Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hi!, Just dropping by to let you know about a new PHP related podcast, Voices of the ElePHPant. Each week we release two short interviews with people that are helping make the PHP community special. You can listen to episodes on the website http://voicesoftheelephpant.com or subscribe at iTunes. If you like PHP podcasts, check out http://phppodcasts.com for a list of all the PHP related podcasts we've found. =C= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I'll check it out. So far, there has never been what I would even consider a competent PHP podcast let alone a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calevans Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hi gizmola! Thanks for checking it out. Sorry that you've not been able to find what you are looking for in a PHP podcast. (Esp. since I've started 5 of them now and been a regular on another) If I can ask, exactly what would make a PHP podcast good in your mind? Thanks for any help! =C= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Cal, I'm listening to an episode right now and this is already one of the best ones I've heard. In general the problems with a lot of them is that they have poor production values, and hosts who don't know how to interview people, don't know enough about the subject matter to actually figure out good questions, and in general just aren't really interesting to listen to. One thing I liked about this one is that you brought in some human elements to it -- asking Paul Jones about what he looks for in an employer, lead to some good human level discussion. Truthfully, in the rest of the interview, I didn't get a real feel for your level of expertise. You may be an expert, but after he went on a long description of his design for Solar, and talked about DI as an example, you pretty much just said: "um hum, ok" now about communities. I guess for me, this is sort of the same thing I would say about Terry Gross on Fresh Air or Charlie Rose. They are good intervieweres because they prepare questions, and do research and have a good idea where they want to take the interview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calevans Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 reHi gizmola! Thanks for the insight. It's interesting, I never assumed anyone would care what I have to say, I usually try to stay out of the way in these interviews so that the guest can say what they want. I will consider this feedback fur future episodes. (FTR, I've been programming 28 years and 12 of that in PHP/MySQL) Thanks again! I live in an echo chamber of about 200+ PHP developers and it's great to break out of that and get a fresh perspective. If there's every anything I can do to return the favor, just let me know. =C= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Cal, I understand where you're coming from. It's a fine line between talking enough to keep the interview on point and flowing, and stealing attention away from the subject. However on the flip side, if there's not interchange between you and your guests, then you have to ask yourself what value you are providing, when it could just as easily be the guest giving a canned presentation or speech. My suggestion on this is when you're listening to them, just ask yourself if the "new PHP developer" would understand what the guest is talking about. When he started talking about Dependency Injection being a major design goal, I think that's a perfect example, where it would have been good to challenge him on that question. "Ok, so for people who arent't familiar with DI, can you give an example of what it is, and talk about why you feel this is such an important feature of the framework?" Otherwise it's a lot of --- well of course we use "strategy x".... "yeah no need to talk about that it's obvious"... I think a litttle bit more of that sort of discussion, and being able to react to the guest would make what is already a solid podcast, even better. I've listened to FOSS weekly on and off over the years, and it's got similar challenges, and can be really hit and miss. Randall Schwartz is also a programmer, and most of the time that's helplful because when it's a development project he has a good feel for the buzz words, and attempts to draw the subjects out by asking questions that come up in the context of the interview. So, while it's partly about preparation, it's also partly about listening and reacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calevans Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Hi gizmola, Wow. Excellent feedback. Thanks. You won't see any immediate changes. I've already got episodes posted into April. However, I will start incorporating this in new episodes I record. Thanks again. =C= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 No worries, I look forward to listening to em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Yeah, I'm with giz on quite a few of his points especially explaining the terms more. I'm by no means an expert, but I don't consider myself a beginner either. I look for these kinds of things to find new strategies/architecture, but it's kinda a turn off when you say "sure im using X" but never explain what it really is, or why its important. Otherwise - great job! I look forward to listening to more of these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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