Category Archives: Faces of WordPress

FACES OF WORDPRESS: James Ashenhurst

James Ashenhurst

  • James Ashenhurst
  • WordPressing since 2010
  • WP Level: Intermediate User, WordCamp Nashville 2013 Speaker
  • Master Organic Chemistry

For James Ashenhurst, WordPress is most definitely his bread and butter, though he is not a developer.

He’s pulled off what many WordPress users dream of – monetizing his knowledge and expertise. James now runs a full-time membership site devoted to teaching organic chemistry, offering study guides, exam tips and other material.

After earning his PhD in Organic Chemistry from McGill and doing a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT, James struggled to find a job as a professor. So, in 2010, he started a blog on WordPress.com to teach anyway. As the project grew so, too, did his relationship with WordPress.

“WordPress is essential to my business but I am not particularly technically skilled with it,” says James.

The thing about WordPress, though, is that regardless of skill level, the help available on the Internet and from the Nashville WordPress community make it much less intimidating than other platforms.

“There’s a huge community of users that you can fall back on to help you solve pretty much any problem you encounter,” says James. “I never feel like I’m dealing with a problem nobody has seen before.”

What WordPress has allowed James to do is both easily share his content and earn money from it, essentially becoming a paid professor with none of the constraints of time or place – freedom most professors never imagine.

James got involved with the Nashville WordPress MeetUp in 2011 for support as he continued to build his site and spoke at WordCamp Nashville 2013. He wasn’t sure he had enough to talk about at first, but because he knew the audience would be friendly and supportive, he took the plunge. His story definitely caught the interest of the Nashville WordPress community – you can hear James tell his story on MaAnna Stephenson’s BlogAid Podcast.

For those on the fence about speaking, James can relate. “I wasn’t sure if I had a ‘good enough’ story to tell,” says James, “but the talk went over very well. It was a perfect environment for telling my blog’s story before actively seeking out things like online interviews.”

As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.

FACES OF WORDPRESS: Nathaniel Schweinberg

Nathaniel Schweinberg

  • Nathaniel Schweinberg
  • WordPressing since 2009
  • WP Level: Developer, WordCamp Nashville 2013 Speaker
  • Fight the Current

When other developers ask Nathaniel Schweinberg “why on Earth” he would develop with WordPress, he has a ready answer.

“Why not is a better question,” he says. “WordPress is what got me into development in the first place. Using WordPress doesn’t make be a bad developer. It’s inspired me to become a better one.”

Nathaniel was introduced to WordPress in 2009 while at Florida State (though not as part of any class) and developed his first custom theme for an artist who needed a website with a portfolio of paintings and sculptures.

He moved to Nashville the following year to intern with a video company that did environmental projection and continued to work in WordPress. Clients would ask for a new feature and Nathaniel would figure out how to make it happen and ask members of the vast and supportive WordPress community for help if he couldn’t.

And now?

Nate has migrated from building WordPress sites to building custom plugins and now is using WordPress to build web applications. One project in the works is creating a 25-user social app for an art school in California. He talked about what he’s up to in a recent blog post:

I’m researching how to effectively develop an API, how to fully utilize Object Oriented Programming within the context of PHP, learning new server side languages, and better utilizing dependency management. I’ve learned how to use HTML and CSS preprocessors, version control systems, picked up a few extra languages, and how to manage my own server.

WordPress allowed him to pace his learning, step by step, and ease into deeper levels of development. It also allowed him to be self-employed, straight out of college.

For new developers, Nathaniel recommends starting with the basics, html and css, then diving into the WordPress core to understand how the php works. From there, you can bend WordPress “to your will,” he says, and use it “in conjunction with other tools.”

“Don’t let the framework get in the way of what you’re seeking to accomplish. It’s ok to use the right tool for the job.”

As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.

FACES OF WORDPRESS: Justin Near

Justin Near of Nashville

In 2012, while helping a local church with its new website (and unceasingly seeking the aid of a very gracious WordPress developer), Justin began her love/hate relationship with WordPress.

Coming from a pure HTML/CSS background, not knowing any PHP, and viewing things entirely through the eyes of a client, WordPress seemed so limited and out of her control. But as the year (and her relationship with WordPress) progressed, she changed jobs and now works almost entirely in WordPress, helping people who are in the exact same position she was in when she started.

Why the change of heart?

…because WordPress opens the doors of websites to everyone, not just coders. Most of our clients are non-profits, and they need WordPress to have a ‘pretty’ site while still maintaining the ability to control their content. The seeming ‘lack of control’ is to protect people, not to limit them. Once you add in the community of WordPress to that mix – from the local level to the international level – you’ve got one helluva platform.

Not quite a developer but not truly a newbie, Justin understands how
most WordPressers feel. The best advice she has to offer:

  • don’t get overly frustrated with WordPress, there is (almost) always a solution
  • get involved in the local WordPress community – someone will have answers
  • don’t be afraid to get your feet wet (or dive in completely!), it’s the best way to learn

    • Justin takes the learning and community part of WordPress seriously.

    She’s in charge of organizing what we’re calling “Track 0,” an expanded Help Desk that will include a combination of group sessions and one-on-one help for WordCamp Nashville 2014.

    As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.

    FACES OF WORDPRESS: Mitch Canter

    Mitch Canter

    Mitch Canter’s career in WordPress began by fiddling around on some old-school platforms (remember Xanga and LiveJournal?) and not accepting their limitations. He actually “discovered” WordPress right here in Nashville, and it was love at first…code.

    “WordPress is simple enough that anyone can jump in and use it, but powerful enough to be able to handle what you can throw at it,” he says. “I’ve found very few things in my development career that WordPress couldn’t handle, and most could be done without having to ‘code outside the box.’”

    To say you could trust Mitch on this is an understatement. He started out solely as a WordPress designer. Since then, he’s developed WordPress sites, spoken about WordPress at conferences, edited WordPress books… And now?

    Mitch manages some extremely high traffic sites (150K+ a month), including a 4,000+ product WooCommerce-based site, and to “stay frosty” and keep his “edge,” he occasionally takes on freelance projects.

    Are you a budding developer? Want to change the world? Think you’re too old to give it a shot?

    Mitch has some advice just for you:

    It’s never too late to start. WordPress has a fantastic track record, and by joining the community you join a long list of users and developers who have changed the world by taking publishing into their own hands. If you’re a developer, don’t just learn PHP and be done with it – make sure you understand the basics: HTML, PHP, CSS, and jQuery. If you can at least read (and later write) those four languages, you can handle most of what the WordPress-driven web can throw at you.

    Still not convinced to love WordPress? Read more on Mitch’s website, Studio NashVegas.

    As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.

    As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.

    FACES OF WORDPRESS: D’nelle Dowis

    dnelle

    • D’nelle Dowis
    • WordPressing since 2009
    • Intermediate (advanced user, intermediate designer, beginning developer)
    • berry-interesting.com
    • Twitter @d_nelle

    D’nelle Dowis began using WordPress in 2009 as a website manager. She fell so in love with the flexibility of the platform that she now builds WordPress sites as a part of job as an internet consultant (a delightfully vague term meant to encompass content writing, social media management, website development and email marketing).

    “I had created HTML websites and used other Content Management systems before,” says D’nelle, “so I figured that using WordPress would be just another CMS to wrangle. I had no idea how it would suck me in… I’m totally a WordPress evangelist now.”

    D’nelle attended WCN12 after years as a participant and volunteer at Nashville’s BarCamp and PodCamp, “Once I saw what a great community has built up in Nashville around WordPress, I wanted to be more involved.”

    After attending WordPress Nashville meetups, her professional network expanded and her business grew. “Not only have I made amazing connections with people I now call my colleagues and friends, I’ve seen new work come my way directly from this community.”

    Speaking at WCN13 seemed a logical step. D’nelle threw her hat in the ring and let the planning crew decide where she fit best.

    “I work best when I’m asked questions or challenged to solve a problem,” she says, “So when I was asked to talk about images, plugins and themes for Track 1, I couldn’t wait. And, as nervous as I was going into it – it was my first time speaking at a professional conference like that – I relaxed almost instantly and had a great time. It was like what I do with my own clients every day, only with a big group all together.”

    This year, D’nelle is organizing all session submissions and is the point-person for anyone on the schedule to speak. “I want everyone in the community – in Nashville and at large – who is considering speaking to take the plunge whether they have experience or not,” she says.

    (If you haven’t already, hop over to the session submissions page and submit your ideas – even if they’re vague or you’re not sure where you fit, we want to hear from you!)

    You call follow D’nelle at http://twitter.com/d_nelle

    As part of the build-up to WordCamp Nashville 2014 Faces of WordPress will highlight members of Middle Tennessee’s great – and growing – WordPress community. We will feature WP users at all levels, newbies to advanced developers. And mark your calendar. This year’s Big Event is May 3, 2014.