Earlier this year, I launched a closed-membership site, The First Version, aiming to help the aspiring WordPress developer.

Ultimately, the goal of the site was not to teach in-depth concepts such as PHP, object-oriented programming, or how to create themes or plugins.

Instead, it was meant to give budding developers a survey of the landscape of WordPress development and what tools, resources, and options they have at their disposal for starting on their journey.

Given the feedback, response, and membership, I think it went well. But it’s been closed for a few months. After an exercise in re-branding and a refocusing of the content, I’m relaunching the site for another few months.

The Aspiring WordPress Developer

For those who want to get down to the gist of it quickly, the site is going to be called Start Here, and you can sign up for the mailing list by visiting the homepage.

Start Here for the aspiring WordPress developer.

A landing page rarely enough for some people to decide whether or not they want to sign-up for a mailing list, right? To that end, I thought I’d provide some insight as to what you can expect from the mailing list and the website.

And yes, they are going to feature some different things.

The Mailing List

I know, I know: Signing up for a mailing list can occasionally result in an adverse reaction. As if our inbox isn’t already in bad shape, we’re inviting more into it.

The thing about this mailing list is that I’m going only to send a few emails out over the weeks leading up to the course. Each email will contain more information about the site and each email will include a freebie that will help you as an aspiring WordPress developer even if you opt not to participate in the site.

As far as I’m concerned, you’ve taken the time to show interest in what the site has to offer, so why shouldn’t I partner with some of my friends in the WordPress economy to provide something for you?

If you opt not to sign up, at least you come away with a couple of good deals, and you can unsubscribe. Nothing lost, except a little bit of time, but a few things gained (which will hopefully make up for the lost time).

The Website

Just as The First Version operated, this will be a limited-seat, closed-membership site. I like to try to keep the number of members relatively small so that comments on individual posts are easier to manage for all who are involved.

Furthermore, I’m planning to continue offering this until there are no more aspiring WordPress developers who people no longer show interest.

Whichever comes first :).

can say that this iteration of the site will take all of the things from the first iteration that received positive feedback along with some great advice from a friend of mine and I’ve adjusted it for the better.

Anything that was less than stellar or that didn’t directly contribute to valuing the quality of the content is gone. This means that you can expect:

  • Articles that will walk you through setting up a development environment,
  • The rationale and explanation of various environments,
  • An exploration of the tools that we have available,
  • Podcasts with some of the brightest people (that is, those far brighter than myself) in WordPress,
  • And more.

Straight from one of the previous members:

Between the documents, interviews and blog posts, there is a gold mine of information and I’m sure you didn’t miss any important point.

Paul Douglas, Douglas Web & Graphic Design, Inc.

And there’s more to come.

Something New

In addition to offering the course material, I’m also going to be providing a tier of membership that will allow for a code review of a project (or part of your project).

As of now, this will include a report of what to fix along with one-on-one Skype session (or Google Hangout) to talk through the result of the review.

Pricing, any potential discounts, how to register, and when sign-up will be available will all be in the newsletter.

So if you’re an aspiring WordPress developer, and this sounds like something that you’d be interested in taking part of, then don’t hesitate to visit the site and at least sign up for the mailing list. I promise I won’t sell your email or spam you (as long as you’re nice ;). The list is simply a way for me to keep in touch with potential members.