Is This Test Worth It? Evaluating the Real Value of Testing
Unit, integration, contract, or end-to-end: the question that matters is what a test actually buys you.
Things I've
Talked About
Notable talks
Let Go of Ownership
A keynote on swapping the ownership model for stewardship: in code, career, and community.
Yak Free Docker: Everyday Uses That Aren't Deployment
Docker for the everyday stuff that is not deployment: runtimes, dev tools, and throwaway utilities.
From the comment cards
What people said after.
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Tim's public speaking is great: confident, vulnerable, and low-ego. He does a great job with examples and he seems to know the audience well.
Nick Pattison · php[tek] 2023 · on joind.in on Let Go of Ownership
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Great talk. I'm stealing the "take stewardship" instead of "take ownership" approach to "I want you to take ownership" conversations.
Sandy Smith · php[tek] 2023 · on joind.in on Let Go of Ownership
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The slide presentation set the standard for the rest of the conference, which no one supplanted.
Chris Meza · Lone Star PHP 2016 · on joind.in on Adventures of a Contract Developer
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Tim is one of my favorite speakers, and I certainly appreciated his emphasis on giving us real, "you can use these today" examples. Even the Live Demo Gods approved!
Steve Grunwell · Northeast PHP 2016 · on joind.in on The API Toolbox
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I'm literally just going to steal Tim's toolbox and share it with others as if I found all the tools.
Jason Lotito · ConFoo 2015 · on joind.in on The API Toolbox
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Both last year and this year I thought I already knew a lot about his topics but I went because I knew he is good, and both times I ended up learning a lot.
Phillip Shipley · php[tek] 2016 · on joind.in on Robust Second-factor Authentication with PHP
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Third time seeing this talk, and it keeps getting better. Any time someone talks about ownership at work (or worse, CODEOWNERS) I want to scream "STEWARDS!".
Steve Grunwell · PHP TEK 2025 · on joind.in on Let Go of Ownership
All the talks.
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2026
BattleSnake Hackathon
The tutorial slot for the php[tek] BattleSnake tournament: quickstart, docs overview, and a dissection of a snake.
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2025
Event Sourcing Teardown: Understanding the Pattern
Events, aggregates, projections, snapshots, and commands, taken apart so the pattern is easier to use well.
highly rated -
Is This Test Worth It? Evaluating the Real Value of Testing
Unit, integration, contract, or end-to-end: the question that matters is what a test actually buys you.
highly rated -
Let Go of Ownership
PHP TEK 2025 · Longhorn PHP 2023 · php[tek] 2023
A keynote on swapping the ownership model for stewardship: in code, career, and community.
highly rated -
2024
Yak Free Docker: Everyday Uses That Aren't Deployment
CascadiaPHP 2024 · php[tek] 2024 · JestPHP
Docker for the everyday stuff that is not deployment: runtimes, dev tools, and throwaway utilities.
highly rated -
You Can Handle APIs: Introducing API Handler
A no-slides, just-code introduction to API Handler, a PSR-15 middleware pattern for building APIs.
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2023
HTTP Tortilla: Make PSR-7 Burritos
Wrapping PSR-7 request and response objects so the framework pieces you already use fit together.
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HAL It Works
How a production API team uses HAL as a hypermedia format, the constraints on it, and the client-side cache pattern it enables.
highly rated -
2021
HTTP Patterns: PSR 7 & 15 By Example
A hands-on look at HTTP Messages and HTTP Handlers and how to properly leverage them.
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2019
Building First Class Client Libraries
Do consistent API patterns and good HTTP clients make the API-specific client library obsolete?
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Hypermedia Without The Hype
Hypermedia and HATEOAS without the skynet: applying what works for human navigation of the web to APIs.
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Patterns For API Development
Common code patterns used when building APIs with PHP, with examples.
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Versioning: Every Way Is Wrong
API versioning: you do not want to do it, and when you do, someone will say you did it wrong.
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URIs – The Path To Your APIs
URIs are the path to your API data, and different design patterns use them very differently.
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API Request & Response Formats
Requests and responses are the core of an API. Pick formats that are natural for the consumer.
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Authentication: The Token API Talk
How to authenticate API users, when you do not need to, and what each method trades off.
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APIs Are Everywhere
We consume APIs every day as SDKs and libraries. The same design principles apply to the web APIs we build.
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2018
Yak Free API Tips & Tricks You Can Use Right Now
php[world] 2018 · Cascadia PHP · Longhorn PHP 2018
API tools, services, and techniques that need little or no setup and that you can use before I stop talking.
highly rated -
Hands-On API Design
php[world] 2018 · Longhorn PHP 2018 · php[world] 2017
A workshop on going from an API-first decision to an API people actually want to use.
highly rated -
Building PHP Daemons & Long Running Processes
WavePHP 2018 · php[world] 2017 · ZendCon 2016 · OpenWest 2016 · Lone Star PHP 2016 · Nomad PHP 2015 · php[tek] 2015
Stop abusing cron. Daemonize a PHP script that responds responsibly to process signals.
Slideshighly rated -
2017
Adventures of a Contract Developer
PHP Unicorn (online) · Northeast PHP 2016 · OpenWest 2016 · Lone Star PHP 2016 · php[tek] 2014 · php[tek] 2012 uncon
A contract developer for ten years shares a philosophy of contracting and the clients you will run into.
Slideshighly rated -
2016
Robust Second-factor Authentication with PHP
Nomad PHP 2016 · ZendCon 2016 · OpenWest 2016 · php[tek] 2016
Single-use codes, phone verification, apps, and physical devices: how each second factor works and what it costs you.
Slideshighly rated -
The API Toolbox
ScotlandPHP 2016 · Northeast PHP 2016 · ConFoo 2015 · Madison PHP 2014
The tools worth having around when you build and consume APIs.
Slideshighly rated - 2015
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2013
Crons, Queues, and Daemons. Oh my!
When to use a cron, when to use a queue, and when you really need a daemon.