PHP is one of my favorite languages to develop with.

I code in PHP almost daily and am not complaining. It is a powerful and versatile language that I task with a lot of my projects’ heavy lifting. I put my proficiency level in PHP at 85% but am constantly striving to improve.

You can’t have a dynamic site without a database.

MySQL is my Structure Query Language of choice and I put my proficiency at 75%.

Who is going to manage all this content?

Building CMS functionality and developing through a CMS or integrating a CMS platform into my development is a large part of what I do these days. I have the most experience with WordPress but also have experience with custom development and integration with Drupal, Magento, Shopify and have built enterprise-level projects using Sitefinity (although I don’t enjoy C#/ASP.NET development).

My go-to CMS platform.

WordPress is definitely the CMS that I work with most often. Developing custom themes, plugins and extending functionality is a part of virtually every one of my work days. I consider my skills at 85%.

You gotta have your Lego building blocks!

Not a whole lot needs to be said here. Web development would fall just a little bit short without some markup. 90% sounds about right for my markup ninja level.

Because not every site can get away with looking like Craigslist.

CSS is always a large part of any one of my projects. Otherwise, they all might have great functionality but be kind of hard on the eyes. I rate my CSS skill level at 90%.

Let’s hear it for my first web programming language!

The first programming language for web I learned was JavaScript and it will always have a special place in my heart because of that. Although I have moved to using jQuery for most of my behavioral development, I still program in standard JavaScript fairly often when there just isn’t enough behavior to justify including a library. I give myself 85%.

Were sorry, the screen you are browsing with is too small…

Responsive and mobile design and development are a huge part of building and keeping a strong online presence. More and more online users are browsing with their devices before they ever touch their computers and this market has to be catered to. Stay tuned for a tool I am developing to aid in responsive design and development. 80% self-grade for me here.

What is this data? And where does it go?

XML is a great tool for transmitting, storing, and describing data and should be considered a very important tool for any programmer. At my job I work with several enterprise level software suites that run on XML and/or have XML driven APIs. Currently I grade my XML knowledge at 65% but that number is on the rise.

To Flash®, or not to Flash®? That is the question.

Well the simple answer would be not to… There are very few situations in modern web practices that justify the use of Flash® but occasionally you may run across one. I worked in Flash® and ActionScript a lot through school and still sometimes run across a project that requires these skills.

Self Grade: 70%

This site is really awesome; too bad no one gets to see it.

Building a website or application is all well and good, but if you can’t get people to it then what’s the point? SEO starts with good research and then markup and relevant content driven by that research. Once the ground work is in place, SEO efforts are much more manageable. I’m working to improve my SEO skill-set every day and currently rate myself at 65%.

Subjective vs. Objective can be a tough transition.

While I understand design fundamentals and what makes a good design work, I sometimes struggle coming up with a great design concept initially. I tend to do best when I have some art direction, at least a direction, and then I can concentrate on creating a great design following that path. I’m working to improve in this area, but for now I give myself a 60% rating.

Design suite, design sweet.

The design suite of choice for… everyone in the design industry basically. If you don’t know your way around these programs it makes it a lot tougher to do what you need to do. If for no other reason then dissecting color comps and icon creation the Adobe® Creative Suite is a must. I give myself a 75% skill rating.

Stop treating me like some kind of object!

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) can serve a developer well in a lot of situations. It can make your code more modular and reusable, as well as reduce naming conflicts. If well written and documented, OOP can also make your code much easier to understand for other developers who may eventually be working with or modifying your code. This is a subject I am currently working on improving to become more second-nature. For now, I grade myself a 75%.

Can we get any further from plain English?

What can I say? Regular Expressions are definitely something I am working on improving upon. It’s just kind of difficult to really excel at a language that is so far removed from understandable English and something I use fairly infrequently. I am still fascinated with the power that Regular Expressions offer, but for now I rate my skill level at a fairly low 40%.