LONGSTANDING HISTORY
As you may already know, I have been a huge fan of WordPress since college. I’ve used the platform since 2008 and have fond memories over the past decade-plus, working on my own WordPress client work or tinkering with projects at an agency.
I’ve attended various web development Meetup groups, and different web development conferences, hell, I have even been to a Drupal conference back in 2017 before any WordPress conferences. I was planning on attending my first WordCamp here in Boston back in 2020, unfortunately, the pandemic HAD to happen, and that pretty much placed a big bummer for everything, for everyone.
Since then, I jumped around with tech at various jobs. Some React.js, Vue.js, and then some more Drupal work. But around 2021, I finally decided to return to WordPress and see what was up. Gutenberg was still in its infancy, WordPress 6.0 was delayed a bit with its release, and new theme builders and plugins cropped out.
So what better time than now, to attend this year’s WordCamp in Rochester, New York!
NETWORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY
For the past two months, I have been aggressively attending WordPress Meetups all over the United States. Meeting freelancers, agency owners, prominent speakers, and developers from Automatic. Why, I didn’t network much in the past, well, that’s in the past.
Inspiration and motivation mostly came from an old friend and former coworker who has been in the Drupal space for well over a decade. I would say he’s one of my early mentors in my career as a web developer. I noticed when we attended DrupalCon back in 2017, he clicked immediately with a whole group of people. Clearly, people he connected with online while working on open-source projects. But there is also that sense of “community” that open-source technology promotes from within. A sense of family, a sense of connection, a shared knowledge. This is something I am looking forward to expanding as I venture deeper into WordPress.
Looking forward to connecting with some new folks at WordCamp Rochester, New York this year!