Author: Tom (Page 125 of 428)

What is a Senior Developer in WordPress?

February 3, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

I don’t write much about running a business on this blog, though it’s something I’m looking to change in 2017. So why not start now?

One of the conversations several of my friends and I have been discussing is finding quality people to employ (and this can be via contracting, full-time, part-time, whatever). And each of us – like any other business – have our criteria.

A topic that has come up is the stigma that’s attached to the idea of a “senior developer” or a “senior” anything for that matter.

Senior Developer in WordPress at Pressware

The way that I’m currently running Pressware is simple:

I have two contractors. One is a developer. One is an implementer. It suits the needs of the business perfectly.
I have, like any organization who wants to be on the up and up with their taxes , a CPA. I also have a part-time person who helps me keep my books.
My role has changed into both software development and business management (and I’m still figuring out how to do that – thank God for people who have wisdom they are willing to share).

The way in which we all run our businesses vary (and some of these firms include Reaktiv, Sandhills, Zao, and MemberUp), but there are a few things that are common in a recent discussion: What is a senior developer in WordPress?

Querying Event Post Types with WP Query and The Event Calendar

February 2, 2017 / Tom

If you’ve done any work with The Event Calendar from Modern Tribe, then there’s a chance you’re familiar with some different ways to go about doing certain tasks.

Querying Event Post Types with The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar Homepage

That is, programmatically creating events, altering events, setting up repeating events (if it’s the pro version), and so on.

What if, though, you need to go about querying event post types – some or all, doesn’t matter – and you find that your query isn’t working? And no, I’m not talking about using a raw SQL query or even a parameterized version with the $wpdb class.

I’m talking about WP_Query.

How Good is Good Enough? (Manage The Tension and Ship It)

February 1, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

I was having lunch with some friends and other business owners and developers yesterday, and one of the topics that came up during our discussion was the idea of how good is good enough?

Specifically, whenever you’re working on a software project, when is it Good Enough™ to ship to the customer?

How Good is Good Enough with Coding Standards?

The implication being, of course, that if it’s good enough then it satisfies the requirements, but there’s likely some underlying tension that, given more time, money, or some other resource, we would go back and improve certain aspects of a project.

If you’re a developer or a designer, perhaps you’ve felt this tension. I have. For what it’s worth, I feel it with nearly every single project I on which I work.

And sure, we can debate all day long what it means to be good enough. But I think that the definition changes the further we get into the industry.

Learning JavaScript in 30 Days (Or Less!)

January 31, 2017 / Tom

When it comes to writing about learning JavaScript in 30 days or sharing a link to a resource that I know almost everyone else in the web development industry has likely heard of, it causes me to pause when writing a post about it.

Learning JavaScript in 30 Days

I mean, why bother, right? I’ve heard of it. You’ve heard of it. So what’s the point of reiterating something we’ve already heard?

Two reasons:

We’re one month into 2017 and, if you’re like me, you’ve adjusted some of the goals you’ve set for yourself.
The start of a month is always a good time to begin a, ahem, month-long journey.

And with that, I’m thinking that I’m going to be going through Wes Bos‘ #JavaScript30 course throughout the month of February. (A 30-day course in the shortest month of the year. 😁 I know, right?)

Why Keep Using WordPress If You’re Not a Fan?

January 30, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

If you work with any set of technologies for a long enough period, you’re going to develop a sense of what you love, what you like, what you dislike, and what you hate about it, right?

Honestly, I think this applies to just about anything we do, or we use regardless of if it’s related to our jobs or hobbies or what have you.

At this point, I’ve worked with WordPress long enough to develop a sense of all of that (and it’s not limited to the core application either).

And, to go ahead and be clear, this post is not about the problems that I see with WordPress or with anything tangentially related to it. Nor is it about the things that I think it does well.

Instead, it’s about asking why would anyone – you, me, or anyone else – keep using WordPress if they aren’t a fan of the platform for development?