Schematic PHP developers were the first in Costa Rica to be officially certified by Zend, the company behind PHP — and now they’ve achieved another first by starting Costa Rica’s first-ever PHP group.

The group’s first meeting was January 29 at the University of Costa Rica, and drew 37 developers with different backgrounds and skills — a fantastic number for a first meeting.

Organized by Schematic PHP developers Pablo Viquez and Karolina Hidalgo–with help from Paul Fervoy from Internexo and Kryscia Ramirez from the UCR–the meeting focused on setting initiatives for the group.

The group, which will meet monthly, already has the backing of local organizations.

“We’ve received support from two universities who want to host our monthly meetings,” Viquez said. “They also offered to let us use their labs for workshops, and to help bring speakers from other countries.”

It’s a great start for the new group, which promises to provide rich opportunities for education, networking and growth within the Latin American developer community.

For more information (in Spanish), please visit the group’s website — which was designed with help from Schematic designer Johnathan Ramirez — at http://www.costaricaphp.org.