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Don’t Write Code Every Day (What I Should, What I Have, What I Want)

June 11, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the things that’s becoming more and more prevalent in programming culture is that everyone should learn to code, and even that some people should aim to try to write code every day.

And don’t get me wrong: I think educating others who are interested is extremely important.

I’ve written about the former topic before, but the latter is something with which I wrestle. On one hand, I really like the idea – that is, in theory. I mean, it’s a great argument for how to get better at what it is that you’re doing on a daily basis, right?

It’s a way to help you become world class.

Brand Loyalty of WordPress Theme Companies

June 9, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

Right now, there’s a lot of talk about themes and their place within the WordPress community. Generally speaking, I think that this is a good thing as it’s finally forcing theme designers and developers to thing more strategically about the products that they’re creating, releasing, and to think more critically about their target audience, marketing efforts, and so on.

There are some who believe the market has been saturated, and though I follow that train of thought, I don’t agree with it. Just because there are more product options, more companies, and so on producing themes does not necessarily negatively detract from the industry.

I think it makes it more competitive which, in turn, can make it more innovative (though it can also create more products that should never be on the market, but that’s the nature of an economy and I’d rather keep the post optimistic).

With that said, I don’t think that there’s any reason to be discouraged from entering the theme development space, creating a new theme company, or anything like that.

In fact, I think on the contrary.

Hanging Out at the WP Dev Table

June 9, 2014 / Tom

Comments on the post have been closed. Please see the original post for comments, questions, and more!

Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bronson Quick and Jason Resnick of the WP Dev Table to talk about a number of different things (all WordPress related, obviously).

All-in-all, it was a blast. I really enjoyed the laid back style of discussion, and Jason and Bronson were great guys to hang out with for an hour or so.

WP Dev Table

But when you’re doing a Hangout or a podcast it’s not enough just to share that it was “a lot of fun to hang out,” is it?

Featured on the Dispatch Podcast

June 7, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the The Dispatch podcast with Chase Livingston, and Automattician, and Chase Clemens, a support tech at Basecamp, in which I talked about my experience with WordPress – from how to I got to started to what I’m doing now.

The Dispatch Podcast

You can check out the original post and the actual podcast here.

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The Best Developer Tools (According to You)

June 6, 2014 / Tom / 0 Comments

One of the things that developers love to discuss is the tools that we use. And why not, right? It’s fun to talk about what IDEs, minifiers, compressors, build tools, deployment utilities, and so on that we incorporate into our daily workflow.

It’s also fun to see what other people use to see if there isn’t something to be learned and gained from the way that other people do work.

But sometimes I think that we do cross a line: I think that many of us have a disposition such that we think “if they aren’t using what I’m using then they aren’t being as productive (read: they are as proficient) as I am.”

Overly Manly Man: Breathmints

And this mentality is lame primarily because there are a number of factors that contribute to the tools that a developer opts to use when he or she is getting his or her work done.