What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?
“Where do I go from here?” was born out of frustration of the growing knowledge gap between those getting started with WordPress and those that are doing WordPress work professionally as writers, strategists, designers, and developers.
How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?
While I was never a “stick and ball sports” type of kid, I do enjoy competition as I feel it helps us move forward in our pursuits. After high school I joined a drum & bugle corps which is essentially the highest level of competitive marching band. I learned many lessons there, one of which is that to succeed you must respect and trust one another, even the people you may not like personally. If you think managing a 53-member football roster is big, imagine getting 128 members working towards the same goal. The best part is one person cannot do it alone, it takes the entire group to make a lasting impact. I still am involved with the local drum & bugle corps “Minnesota Brass” and I hope to spread the idea of success in numbers to all.
If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?
I would be something simple but useful like WP Migrate DB. Something that is great at something, and is easy to use, but doesn’t have a lot of extra features. Plus I think as developers we should be more formalized in our change management—and this is one plugin that can help put an end to cowboy coding.
If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?
I would be in urban planning and development. I have strong opinions about the environment we’ve built and ways we can do to improve it for the next generation. A lot of it is boring stuff like city code and parking requirements, but the fun stuff is bike lanes, “granny flats” and making sure there are opportunities for local entrepreneurs more than mega-franchises. To partly fulfill this desire (while keeping my day-job) I serve as a volunteer on the Fridley Environmental Quality and Energy Commission.
What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?
I have a standard stream of blog subscriptions, podcasts, and followed twitter accounts, but I can’t keep up with it all. I rely heavily on my peers to bubble up the relevant information to the top. As much as I love the freedom that working from home provides, I encourage people to remain connected in-person. See each other at meetups and make time to connect face-to-face.