Badge and WP Swag

WordCamp Atlanta 2013 Roundup

This past weekend was WordCamp Atlanta. This was my first time attending, as well as my first time staying in the city. While the city itself wasn’t quite as pedestrian friendly in places as I’d have liked it to be, and those legendary potholes really do exist, the conference was excellent.

Throughout the weekend I was reminded of why I do what I do, which is to help others do what they want. My goal is to make useful back-end interfaces and features to let people build websites without having to worry about code. My work in training and teaching, as well as one on one support like I did a few hours of at the Happiness Bar, reminds me that just because I’ve been working with the platform for years, WordPress is fully featured enough that not every technique is obvious or intuitive.

While there I got to meet with and hear from some amazing developers. Brian Krogsgard gave a ton of useful tips, not just for freelancers like myself, but anyone who works with clients. Similarly, Tom McFarlin gave advice on how to become a better developer, some of which I’m already trying to take to heart.

I learned a few new testing techniques that I’m going to subject my themes to from Michael Novotny, including different ways to load Jetpack and an easy way to test themes for RTL. Joe Boydston showed off some work that he’s done to integrate WordPress with a traditional print media family newspaper line, which amazes me. This is the kind of work that enthralls me: people doing new things and pushing boundaries and developers being cognizant of the importance of the cleanliness and sturdiness of their code.

I am honored to have been included among this group of speakers. We’ve all got a great deal that we can learn from one another (well, I can learn a bit more from them), and events like this, where people come together to share their insights, are amazing. If you haven’t attended a WordCamp yet, I highly suggest finding one in your area. Join a Meetup Group as well, and share the love of this open source and interconnected platform!

Additional note: The guys (and their ladies) at 8Bit know how to put on an awesome after party, as well as maintain a sweet office. Check it out below!


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