What to do Next
Now that you have finished Learn CF in a Week, you should have a good understanding of ColdFusion. While you might not be ready to go out and lead a team of developers in building a highly complex and scalable application, you should feel confident enough in creating a few basic applications while you get your feet wet. If you have been following along with the Hands On chapters, you should also have a completed web site. If you do not already have a personal web site, feel free to find some hosting and launch the web site. Having a personal website is a great way of advertising and showcasing your skills to others. With the completion of this course, you are probably wondering what you should do next. There are a few things that you can do to help improve your ColdFusion knowledge:
Read Articles and Blogs There are many articles and blog posts published on a regular basis that will help you advance your knowledge. Often, these resources will be on specific ColdFusion functionality or development problems that you might come across while you are developing. These resources are jam packed with information from developers who have come across the problem and found a good solution. Here are a few useful resources: • Adobe Developer Connection: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion.html The Adobe Developer Connection has weekly updates to its already extensive pool of articles. Not only will you find ColdFusion articles, you will also find articles on topics such as mobile development and jQuery that you might also find interesting. • Adobe TV: http://tv.adobe.com/show/adc-presents/ Adobe TV has a number of training videos specific to ColdFusion. These videos demonstrate new features of ColdFusion, as well as demonstrate how to use some of the IDE’s such as ColdFusion Builder. • The Blog of Ben Nadel: http://www.bennadel.com/ Ben Nadel is a famous figure in ColdFusion. His blog posts go into a depth that none can compete with. His posts are informative and can explain it in a way everyone can understand. • cfbloggers.org: http://www.cfbloggers.org cfbloggers.org is a ColdFusion blog aggregator. Anyone who is anyone in the ColdFusion world has their blog aggregated by cfbloggers. The feed is constantly updating with new blog posts from people around the globe ,allowing you to keep up with all the new developments in the ColdFusion world.
Attend User Group Meetings Throughout the world, ColdFusion user groups are meeting up on a monthly basis to discuss all facets of ColdFusion. User groups are a free event where like minded developers meet to learn new things. Each meeting will have a different presenter who speaks on a different topic each month. To find your nearest ColdFusion user group near you, visit http://groups.adobe.com/. Learn CF in a Week - Week 1 - What to do Next
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