Eryn O’Neil is speaking on Programmers Can UX Too: Avoiding the Programmer’s User Interface at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

With more and more of the world running on computers, and with users demanding more and more mature interfaces, developers can’t rest on “good enough” any more. I am really excited to help WordCamp attendees learn how to make better software and happier users.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

I always try to keep the big picture in mind: Who needs what I’m building? What do they need it to do? What real problems faced by real people am I solving? It’s easy to get detached from the end-product if you start seeing our job as a series of technical challenges, but knowing your users goals helps keep the work meaningful.

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

Disable Comments, because the internet doesn’t need another comment section.

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

My “other job” is teaching blues dance, a partnered social dance that was the precursor to swing dancing. If I were in a tragic accident where I lost my ability to type and sit for hours, but somehow could still dance, you’d find me in a blues bar.

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

Twitter. Would we have an industry without Twitter? #unrecognizable