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Awesome TYPO3 CertiFUNcation – Some like it hot!

 Over 130 participants, from all over europe, came to the well known and awesome “Phantasialand” near Cologne (Germany) in order to make the TYPO3 certiFUNcation an outstanding event. But read on what really happend!

The TYPO3 certiFUNcation targeted at folks who like to extend their still valid certificate as Certified TYPO3 Integrator or achieve it the first time. According to the german saying “Erst die Arbeit, dann das Vergnügen” (First the work, then the amusement) the day started with some workshop about several topics. The first two sessions were mandatory for the extension of existing certificates. The extension of the certificate is “only” valid for additional 18 months.
(If you are looking for pictures … just search Twitter for “#certiFUNcation” oder have a look at CertiFUNcation pictures at Flickr)

The “Hard” Part

Session 1: “What’s new in TYPO3 6.2?”

Patrick Lobacher (@PatrickLobacher) showed us the central parts that changed between TYPO3 4.5 and 6.2. For all versions in between there are many more presentation available that go much more in detail. From 6.2 on these slides are available in up to 9 languages right now. You can get all the slides here: https://typo3.org/download/release-notes/whats-new/

Session 2: “Securing TYPO3”

Helmut Hummel (@helhum) presented a diary of a website hack. He took us on a journey what could happen, if the integrators do not pay attention on security. The second part focused on tools and howto find such issues. How to recover from it and the DOs and DON’Ts in this step were the focus of the third part. His slides are on Diary of a hack – Helmut Hummel.

Session 3: “Smooth Migration 4.5 to 6.2”

As migrating from TYPO3 4.5 to 6.2 is a big topic in the  TYPO3 community, Jürgen Godon (@eagen46) gave us a lot of insights on the different parts, that somebody has to take into account while upgrading. The slides are available here: https://jweiland.net/fileadmin/user_upload/upgrade-45_62-certifuncation.pdf

Session 4: “TYPO3 Themes”

Theming is one of the topics, that is there from the beginning of TYPO3, if you remember the templates “GLUECK”, “Green” or “FC Bigfoot”. Jo Hasenau (@bunnyfield) gave us a lot of insights on how to bring theming within TYPO3 to the next level using the cascade of the “theme*” extensions.

Session 5: “The Future of TYPO3 CMS”

As the product owner of TYPO3 CMS, Matthias Schreiber (@mattLefaux) presented the expected changes in TYPO3 7 (LTS). Furthermore he gave an outlook and ideas affecting the upcoming releases 8 and 9.

Session 6: TYPO3 Certified Integrator Preparation Workshop

In parallel to the future workshop Peter Pröll (@alinbu) prepared the participants for the certification in the next slot. As I did not attend it, I just believe, he made a good job. ;-)

Session 7: The TYPO3 Certified Integrator Exam

The last slot of this day was reserved for the official paper based certification. Those, who participated in the exam and succeeded, get their certificate for (additional) 36 months. I hope you all succeeded! (If it would have known it in advance, that it is possible to take the exam as a already certified integrator, I would have probably taken that chance.)

The FUN Part

The second part of the day was there for having fun in the Phantasialand. There whéather was really bright and hot. The temperature was about 30 degrees Celsius and the sun was shining bright from the blue sky. There were much less people in the Phantasialand then I expected upfront. So the queues were quite short except those which had water around, like the “Chiapas” water ride or the very soaking “River Quest”. So we had the chance to see and ride all the attractions at the Phantasialand.

“One more thing” – The Black Mamba

Short after the official closing of the park, there was “One more thing” exclusively for all participants of the certiFUNcation: 1, in words ONE hour of  free and unlimited rides on the Black Mamba, one of the most favorite rolercoasters in europe without any minute of queuing. Ok, if you liked to ride in the first row, you had to wait one or two trips of the coaster. But it was really worth it!

“Dinner for all” – Unter den Linden

Afterwards we headed to the restaurant “Unter den Linden” where we had a delicious BBQ dinner with smoked ribs, ribeye and steaks. Grilled vegetables and soups were served as first dishes. Seafood and some side dishes completed the meal in a really cool way. We sat and stood there and talked until a thunderstorm pushed us to the hotels and made us say “Good night and good bye” to everybody.

Thank you

After all it is now the time to give a big thank you and a big hug to Nicky Uhlbach and Boris Hinzer of the TYPO3 education team. They had the great idea and the energy to organize and push such a great event. I really appreciate this way of certification and building the community. I am looking forward to some similar event next year, as Boris leaked already in a short Q&A session between the talks. :-)
There are IMO two facets that make this event quite special:
1) This a fourth type of event besides the TYPO3 camps, TYPO3 DeveloperDays and the TYPO3 conferences. It is a type that really combines business value (the certificate) and fun (the Phantasialand at least this time).
2) It makes it easy to get in touch with the TYPO3 community. I’ve already visited many TYPO3 events, but this was the one, where I got to know the most unknown faces. I hope that I will see you again on other events this or next year.

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