Sometimes when you want to learn something new, it’s hard to know where to start. Here are some books and links that I’ve found helpful. If you want to achieve expert knowledge, you need to have a solid understanding of the basics first. Advancing your career means hard work and overcoming obstacles. Buying a few books or a membership to an educational site is a small price to pay. Most people give up when the going gets hard. Learning from professionals makes it all a bit easier.
MySQL
Murach’s MySQL, 2nd Edition
I’ve read this book, twice, and refer to it often. It’s unique in that it’s both a tutorial and a reference book. It uses an example customer database that one would find in a business situation and it shows you how to write all kinds of queries with real-life examples. The book’s content is broad, but it’s more aimed at programmers than database administrators. If your goal is to learn how to write complex queries, this book will save you time. It covers transactions, functions, procedures, foreign keys, subqueries, joins, and more. One caution though, it does not cover all of the information found on the UpWork tests.
WordPress
Here are helpful articles for wordpress plugin developers.
Best way to initiate a class in a WP plugin?
How to Sell Premium WordPress Plugins
How to Build WordPress Widgets Like a Pro
WordPress Settings API Tutorial with Examples
Yoast: The anatomy of the WordPress theme
Tuts+ Anatomy of a WordPress Plugin
Mike Jolley: Developing for WordPress? Keep your shit secure
WordPress Beginning: Tutorials
Javascript
These the books that I’ve personally bought.
JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual
Online Books and Training Sites
Lynda.com – Very helpful training videos on WordPress, PHP, Javascript, Photoshop, and Web Development. Monthly subscription but you may be able to access it through your local library for free.
Coursera – Take free classes from top universities. Earn certificates. They have courses on programming, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and computer science.
Safari Books Online – Access tech books and exclusive videos. Subscription.
PackT Publishing – Tech instructional ebooks and videos. Subscription.
CSS
Find yourself googling web design problems often? Try reading this book and you’ll understand the cascading nature of style sheets, how to write selectors, and all of the choices for positioning content.
Computer Security
Counter Hack Reloaded: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses
I am in the middle of reading this book. It explains security attacks and how to prevent them. It has rave reviews and I honestly have not been let down. If you are the type of person that can find a computer book exciting, you might like this one.
News
Hacker News – Check daily for top tech news and programming articles
General Tech Links
Historical Security Flaws of Popular PHP CMS’s
Stack Exchange Job Listings – Programming and Tech Jobs
Java Programming Books