How were you first introduced to WordPress?
I was first introduced to WordPress around 2007. I was just starting to get into web development and was using WordPress for my personal site and a couple of freelance projects. Instantly loved it and how the dashboard was set up compared to other CMS’s I had used.

What do you like about it?
The community first and foremost. It’s easily one of the most giving and nurturing communities around when it comes to web development. From helping out small business owners, or development discussions on the forums or at meetups, the community is incredibly helpful and accepting. I’ve worked in several other frameworks and communities where an elitist attitude can arise, but I have not experienced that in the WordPress world. Also WordPress has come so far in how you can extend it for large scale websites. It’s an incredible tool to have when building for the web.

What do you do with WP now?
I design and build custom themes for different clients at Snapshot Interactive. A large majority of our client’s websites are built and maintained on WordPress, so I’m in the code for it pretty much every day.

How as the WP community helped you?
I learned WordPress sort of in tandem with learning PHP. My general mentality is to dive in and break things and see how it all works, and so the WordPress community in a sense really helped me grow my development skill-set. Anytime I’ve had questions about how to approach different scenarios, WordPress community has been instrumental in helping me figure out how to tackle it, and grow as a developer in general.

Did learning WP lead to any significant changes in your life?
It’s helped me grow my development chops, as well as opened a lot of professional doors for me. WordPress is widely used, and being able to develop custom themes has helped me find incredible opportunities I wouldn’t have had before.

What would you tell a new user? A new developer?
Have fun with it and reach out to the community. Whether you’re a new user, or a new WordPress developer it never hurts to try new things with it to see what works and what doesn’t. If you’ve hit a roadblock, more than likely someone has encountered that as well and would be happy to give some feedback. Also if you’re a new developer, the documentation is some of the most organized out there, take time to search and read through it and see the example code. Don’t be afraid to dive right in to the deep end.

Anything else we should we know?
Snowboarding is one of my favorite things in the world. One day I would love to do a heli-drop in Alaska! Oh also I love the Green Bay Packers and they shall rise to glory again!

Taylor Lovett

• Taylor Lovett
• Director of Web Engineering at 10up
• taylorlovett.com
• @tlovett12

How were you first introduced to WordPress?
An employer in 2007 asked me to build his website in WordPress. I resisted at first because I preferred to build things from scratch.

What do you like about it?
I like that WordPress has without a doubt (to me) the best publishing experience of any content management system, and that WordPress’s extensive APIs allow it to serve as an application framework.

What do you do with WP now?
I work for 10up where we build amazing web experiences for enterprise using WordPress.

How as the WP community helped you?
Local meetups and WordCamps have helped me learn more about the platform and introduced me to like minded people.

What would you tell a new user? A new developer?
WordPress is not just a blogging platform; be open-minded.

Kristina Parish

• Kristina J. Parish
• UX Designer at Athletics
• LinkedIn Profile

How were you first introduced to WordPress?
I started creating websites for friends and bands in the mid 2000’s. WordPress became my preferred platform after a friend introduced me to it.

What do you like about it?
Wordpress allows me to create something fully customized, from design through development, that also empowers/enables my clients to control and manage their content effectively. WordPress is a flexible tool, meaning you can make it as loose or as buttoned up as you desire. The more I continue to work with WordPress, the more I am able to abstract it and make it work for my purposes in a lean and intuitive way. It seems to grow with you, which is great.

What do you do with WP now?
Nearly every project I design and/or build is run on WordPress. My essential tool for fully customizing the experience (both from a front-end and admin perspective) is Advanced Custom Fields. At this point, this plugin goes hand-in-hand with every install.

How as the WP community helped you?
The internet community is obviously essential — I can’t even begin to imagine how many times a thread or forum on wordpress.org has helped me solve a problem. Furthermore, the local Nashville WP meetup group proved to be the launchpad into my current role with Athletics. Had I not attended the meetup last September. I would not have met these fine folks who happened to be speaking that day. Now I work with all of the tools they presented during that meetup and it’s great.

Did learning WP lead to any significant changes in your life?
Yes — it’s made me 100% self-sufficient through various stages of my career, either working as a freelancer or as a member of a team in an agency environment. It allows me to build what I design in a clean way, and it’s fun to collaborate with others who are also passionate about WordPress.

What would you tell a new user? A new developer?
Dip your toes in and don’t be afraid to break things…many things. It will get better with practice and experience, just like everything else in life.

Anything else we should know?
I once broke my leg in two places when I was 4 because I believed I was Wonder Woman.

BECOME A FACE OF WORDPRESS

Corey Maass

• Corey Maass
• Full-time WordPress developer, part-time entrepreneur
• gelform
• @gelform

How were you first introduced to WordPress?
I maintained dozens of websites for friends who were starving artists and musicians, so like all good developers I built my own CMS. When none of my starving artist and musician friends wanted to pay for it, I switched them all to WordPress so they could maintain their sites themselves.

What do you like about it?
It’s so prevalent. It’s becoming a web standard, so it’s easier to suggest, develop for and contribute to.

What do you do with WP now?
Full-time development.

How as the WP community helped you?
There’s so much discussed and written about WordPress online now, I rarely have a question that hasn’t been answered.

Did learning WP lead to any significant changes in your life?
Yes! I was a full-time PHP developer, and got my first full-time WordPress job about 4 years ago. Suddenly I was dropped into the deep end, and had to *really* learn the patterns and best practices. Which lead me to an awesome community, a lot more work, and a new revenue stream.

What would you tell a new user? A new developer?
For users – have a clear intent for your site, and hire someone to set it up for you.

For developers – setup a site you don’t care about, and break things. Most people start because they need a website that matters, so they’re afraid of it.

Anything else we should know?
I also build non-WordPress web apps like WhatWeDid.Today, cronForWP.com and TimerDoro.com.

BECOME A FACE OF WORDPRESS

Cindy Cullen

• Cindy Cullen
• Cullen Web Services – Freelance Web Developer and Consultant
• cullen-web-services
• @cgcullen

How were you first introduced to WordPress?
I had a blog when WordPress came out in 2003. I thought it was cool, but continued using HTML (and a little bit of Frontpage occasionally since I’m not a designer). I paid attention to WordPress through the years and watched it ‘grow up.’ More and more clients started asking me to help them with their WP sites and more and more designers hired me to fix or modify plugins and/or themes since I’m a programmer first and foremost. Once I saw how awesome WordPress can be for the whole site (sometime around 2012), I began using it exclusively to build new websites.

What do you like about it?
I like that it can be customized to do anything we can dream up. I love that it’s open source. I love the community surrounding WordPress. I love that it’s easy enough for my kids to use and yet sophisticated enough for most any website or web application. I love that there are practically a billion themes out there that are easily accessible and available so that my clients, regardless of budget, can get a website.

What do you do with WP now?
I mostly build web applications with WP or customize plugins and themes for my clients. In addition, I host and protect WP sites for my clients who don’t want to worry about their sites getting hacked. Unfortunately, I also fix a lot of WP sites who didn’t have any protection and therefore, have been broken into. It definitely pays to have protection.

How as the WP community helped you?
The WP community has helped me to learn about new plugins, themes, services and tools available to the WP community that I might not otherwise know about. I meet with other developers and discuss how we have solved certain problems using WP. I’ve also called upon other WP developers, and been called upon, to help out with business logic, tools or solutions.

Did learning WP lead to any significant changes in your life?
WordPress has increased my bottom line substantially through my security and protection services. It’s also made development much faster. I’ve met many Designers, whom I wouldn’t have met otherwise, because they’ve needed help customizing or extending WordPress. WordPress is a wonderful tool that anyone can use to build a website and seems to be very popular with designers because it doesn’t require them to learn much about coding and development. But, when they do need help, they often call me.

What would you tell a new user? A new developer?
I would tell a brand new user to make sure they have good hosting, good backups, good security, and update, update, update! WordPress is open source, meaning that everyone, including those who aren’t so friendly, can find the security holes in themes, plugins and the core code. When those security holes are patched, they are announced to the world, which gives hackers the specifics they need to break into WP sites more easily unless the sites are updated almost immediately. Update and backup everything often.

I would tell new developers, you made the right choice! Get involved with the community and never stop learning!

Anything else we should know?
I love teaching and training and often have about 5 to 10 interns and/or junior programmers working with me in my business. It helps them get the experience they need to get a job (unless I keep them 😉 ) and helps my clients get more affordable help with their sites. I think it works well for all of us.