Hi Raju,
may I say that I’m immensely proud that you’re our SitePoint Community Member of the Month of July? 
Because I’m an absolute slouch regarding PHP, my colleague, Remon (aka ScallioXTX), who’s a programmer per excellence, has chimed in to ask you a few things related to programming. 
But now onto the interview.
Maleika: You have a BCA (Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Application). How and when have you discovered that programming was something you’d pursue as a career?
[B]Raju[/B]: Well first of all let me tell you how I came into this field. In my country, Nepal, the subject computer was itself a very new one in late 90’s when I had completed my school. My science teacher at school told us something about computer mainly focusing in its uses. At the time I decided to at least learn about it after my school because in my locality there had no computer facilities.
In 1997, I came to our capital city, Kathmandu, and joined an institute for basic courses. After almost two years of general knowledge of computer, one day when I asked my instructor, who had just completed his BCA from India, something about Access Programming.
He suggested to start by learning C (C is not only mother language of all other languages but it is mother language of mine too ;)). When I was learning C, I found programming quite interesting.
Then I asked my teacher about some academic courses and he suggested that I went to India and joined the BCA programme. Luckily one of the Indian universities launched the same course in my city. Being interested in technical subjects, I instantly decided that I could do something in the IT and/or programming field.
Initially I was not aware of web programming, so I mainly worked with Visual Basic.
Later in 2005, when I was working in traditional ASP, I found PHP quite similar to C so picked up it easily and started to work with PHP professionally since 2006, and happily.
[B]Maleika[/B]: Would you say that choosing this particular career was/is a good choice?
[B]Raju[/B]: Indeed Maleika! I have never regretted chosing this career. At least so far I haven’t It is interesting. I believe I am earning above the average salary around here, thanks to my profession. So I am quite happy with my choice for my career.
Remon: Your signature says you recently became a ZCE (Zend Certified Engineer). What did you think of the exam? And do you think being a ZCE will help your career?
[B]Raju[/B]: Yes Remon, I am happy to be certified by Zend:-). I know it is not worth it to have a certification without practical knowledge. But Zend Certification is not one of those exams/tests that are entirely based on theory and can be easily passed by reading some books. One has to have practical experience or knowledge about PHP. I am not saying that being ZCE will particularly help my career but it is very true that it will definitely let the people know about me in the world because there are less PHP programmers who have tried and passed the TEST (I don’t mean that the programmers who have not passed ZCE are not experts, I know there are lots of programmers who are greater experts than ZCEs :-)). And I am proud to be the first ZCE in PHP 5 in my country :p!
Remon: Most of your posts are in the PHP forum. Do you have interest in other forums as well? For example, I couldn’t find any post from you in the (X)HTML and/or CSS forums.
Raju: As far as I can remember, my first post was in the JavaScript forum in SP. So when I had a particular problem, I have used other forums as well like JavaScript, Apache configuration, MySQL (Database), Server Management, etc.
But giving advice to others or posting replies to others’ problems is a different thing. I only reply if I know the answer of the problem. So I mainly post replies in JavaScript and PHP forums because these are the only forums topics that I expertise in. But later on I will definitely try to assist people in other forums as well if I know the answers.
Remon: Can you name some of your PHP pet peeves? Things you don’t like about it or would have done differently had you written the language?
[B]Raju[/B]: No Remon, there are no such pet peeves in PHP. I cannot say if there is anything with what I haven’t tried yet. But the number of functions that PHP has provided are more than enough for me. To use a function with the help of its own manual is really an easy way of working with PHP.
Remon: Have you used other programming languages, or are you planning on using one some day? Which language(s), and why?
[B]Raju[/B]: Yes in my early age of programing life, I worked in Visual Basic 6 for almost 3 years after my BCA. But later when I came to PHP, I rarely tried to go for other languages. Actually there was no opportunity to dive into other languages in my job as PHP was the only language used in the companies I worked for. I did, however, learn a bit of Peral and Ruby (RoR) in the last 4/5 years and worked with those in some small projects.
Sometime in the future, I am determined to learn Java and, if possible, work with Java as well. I don’t know why but Java has already become my dream resolution. Actually I made it New Year resolution twice, though without luck both times :(. I hope one day soon, I will go for it and learn. I want to develop an application for mobile with Java. Application about…? No, it is still close. Will let you know later when I get to that point :p.
[B]Maleika[/B]: As a programmer, it must be a heck of a lot easier to distinguish good scripts from rotten tomatoes. Scripts that many of us frontend developers deal with on a daily basis are Content Management Systems (CMS). I noticed that on your site - http://www.devraju.com - you are running on WordPress. Would you say WordPress represents what you deem an ideal CMS? Is there stuff you don’t like about it? What other CMSes would you recommend and why?
[B]Raju[/B]: Though Wordpress is quite popular among the developers and it seems easy too but in my opinion the purpose of wordpress is quite limited. With my limited knowledge, wordpress is quite good for those who want to have a simple blog type content management system as well. I had installed wordpress for my blog so that I can learn something about it too. So yet to learn it. But I am quite familiar with Joomla for simple and complicated tasks that require a content management system. Huge amount of freely available extensions are another reason why I use Joomla. On top of that, it is really flexible to handle for simple and bigger sized websites.
[B]Maleika[/B]: Socialise this, socialise that. Network here, network there, yadda, yadda, yadda! These terms are thrown around like hot potatoes these days. What’s your opinion on the socialisation of the web? Do you take part in it? And if you do, do you have a favourite means to socialise? Do you think that the traditional “meet-and-greet” via meetups or conferences is a better way to build relationships or would you say that the likes of Twitter, Facebook et al. are just as efficient?
[B]Raju[/B]: Until and unless we get the chance to meet directly, face to face, the social networking sites like facebook, twitter, etc. are good. Connecting offline, joining live conferences are the more effective ways to socialize though.
[B]Maleika[/B]: Working on the internet…there’s more to life than that. Do you have hobbies (outside of programming)?
[B]Raju[/B]: Of course Maleika, I really love visiting the new places but unfortunately I haven’t got the chance to visit some important places yet, even in my own country too :). Listening to slow and sentimental songs, playing indoor games like chess, playing cards, Table Tennis, etc. Dancing is another hobby of mine but I really don’t know how to learn to dance. 
[B]Maleika[/B]: If you had to leave your home today and sent on a mission in the Sahara desert, what three non-electronic items would you take and why?
[B]Raju[/B]: Nice Q :). I really don’t have experience being in the desert yet (even small desert) and I don’t know what exactly is needed there but I would take goggles for eye protection, a bottle of water and a light weight musical instrument ‘flute’ for time pass :).
[B]Maleika[/B]: Music. Is there some music you love? Do you work with music or is everything quiet while you hit the keys on your keyboard?
[B]Raju[/B]: As I mentioned in my hobbies, there is nothing that I do related to music but I really want to listen to sentimental love songs like ‘My heart will go on……….’.
[B]Maleika[/B]: TV. Love it or hate it?
[B]Raju[/B]: I really hate the serials on TV, especially those long ones, but I love TV for rest of the things like movies, reality shows and news/interviews.
[B]Maleika[/B]: Books. Do you have a set of favourite books you read? Which book - if any - has been of influence to you?
[B]Raju[/B]: I seldom read books. I like to read electronic books rather than printed. But I have read a book “Biography - Mahatma Gandhi”. I really like his philosophy and political views.
[B]Maleika[/B]: Is there something you’d love to be good at but lack the skills? (E.g. you’d love to sing but it sounds like someone flushing the toilet whenever you try)
[B]Raju[/B]: I want to be a good dancer who makes a real dance in every type of dances around the globe lolz!! But I know that is not possible learning, you have to be born with that skill.
[B]Maleika[/B]: What do you do to stay healthy?
[B]Raju[/B]: Nothing more than jogging in the morning and some Yoga instructed by Ram Dev, an Indian Yoga guru ;). I normally eat simple deity and soft food.
[B]Maleika[/B]: What motivates you in work, in life?
[B]Raju[/B]: Clients’ satisfaction really motivates and encourages me to go ahead in professional career (in work).
Maleika & [/B][B][URL=“http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/member.php?u=282808”]Remon: We’d like to thank you for being such a good sport, Raju. See you around in the fora.
Thank you so much Maleika and Remon.
