2016 Recap from a WordPress Developer
and some Development success and fails from 2016
Things I did differently this year.
A lot has happened this year, both personally and professionally. I set out at the start of the year to make some changes to both these areas and I feel pretty good how things went.
I have changed my eating habits and lost over 17Kg so far and should tip 20 + Kg before the end of 2016. I have been attending more meetups this year and had a double first ( or is that First squared) by attending my first WordCamp and also speaking at my first WordCamp at WordCampSC on the SunShine Coast then onto WCSyd in Sydney where I also spoke. I have started a new business partnership and currently working on a second business idea, both should be up and running starting 2017. It will be a big year.
The biggest thing to improve was being more social. So important to connect with other people to prevent you from getting trapped in your self-judgemental nature. I am my worst critic and I am sure that is common for most creatives but I am also a victim of imposter syndrome. The constant feeling of not beeing good enough which has progressed through many different jobs I have had in the past. I have always put in a massive amount of effort when I start something and then very quickly lose steam if the effort and the work is not appreciated.
There is always someone in front of you and someone behind you, ALWAYS
You spend days, maybe weeks working on a fantastic website design and build, add in some wicked functionality with a touch of smooth tech, then make it super fast and mobile responsive to boot. The big meeting with the client to show off all the hard work and their response is “That’s nice”. WTF, are you kidding? There should be gasps and admiration and …. seriously I know I have some issues. It just annoys me a little that you can get the same response buy a pre-built theme from online as you do putting in a major effort to create something unique and specific for our clients.
My point to all this ranting is that I realised you will never get it, from clients. Sharing work and ideas with your peers and colleagues is how you can truly get a return on all that hard work as well as grow and learn from mistakes you have made. So my goal this year was to connect more with others, to share and help others learn and with that I have listed some things I found this year that helped me do just that.
No such thing as standing still, your either moving forward or going backward
P.S. Please bookmark this page as I will add to it when I realise I missed someone that I need to give credit to.
Connecting with others.
- WP Australia Slack Chanel – http://www.wpaustralia.org/slack/
- WP Developers Club – https://wpdevelopersclub.com/
- TweetDeck – https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/
Developer training for WordPress and things Web.
- Know the Code – Tonya Mork – https://knowthecode.io/
- JavaScript for WP – Zac Gordon – https://javascriptforwp.com
- Watch and Code – Gordon Zhu – https://watchandcode.com/
- WP Elevation – Troy Dean – http://www.wpelevation.com/
- Develop with WP – Bobby Bryant – https://www.youtube.com/c/DevelopWithWP
- JavaScript – Understanding the weird parts – Anthony Alicia
- DevTips – Tavis Neilson – https://www.youtube.com/user/DevTipsForDesigners/
- WordPress Beginner – Topher DeRosia – https://www.youtube.com/
- Topher DeRosia: Introduction To Plugin Development
- State of the Word 2016 – Matt Mullenweg
People to follow on Twitter.
Anyone you want to emulate, follow them. Ask them questions but don’t be too pushy or persistent. I have spoken, or at least chatted with all the people below on many ocasions.
- Tonya Mork – @hellofromtonya
- Zac Gordon – @zgordon
- Bobby Bryant – @mrbobbybryant
- Tom McFarlin – @tommcfarlin
- Know The Code – @KnowTheCodePro
Things to focus on in 2017!
- Https – https://letsencrypt.org/ – Add HTTPS to your Wp Site
- WordPress recommended PHP version is PHP 7
- WordPress REST API – Top 10 Resources
- JavaScript Framework – AngularJS ( Building Themes with AngularJS ) Vue.js – ( Creating a Theme with Vue.js ) and REACT ( a simple REACT.js App in a WordPress Plugin )