Category: Articles (Page 21 of 257)

TL;DR: If you’re a drive-by reader coming from Google or another search engine, this probably isn’t the type of post you’re looking for (insert the Obi-Wan meme here). But if you’re someone who’s read this blog for any length of time, then feel free to stick with me for a bit.

I’m writing this post in the Classic Editor and it’s the first post in a very long time that I’ve used said editor.

• I’m not anti-blocks,
• I’m not anti-Gutenberg or FSE,
• This isn’t a post that has an agenda for anything related to anything like that.

Instead, I just felt like using the Classic Editor. It’s comfortable because I’m used to it and it works really well. I also use the Block Editor which is a bit uncomfortable because I’m not as used to it and that doesn’t work as well because it’s still in its infancy [but it’s maturing daily and it’s going through more testing at a faster rate than the Classic Editor likely ever did].

Obligatory First Post, 3 October 2010. That permalink 😆.

And this is somewhat of a metaphor for what I’m going to talk about in the rest of the post. So if you’re ready for a little bit of a longer article than usual – and one that isn’t as technical – keep reading.

Continue reading

TL;DR: The rest of this stuff is just a short list of other things I would tell my previous self (or maybe someone else just entering the industry) if I were just getting started.

At the beginning of the month, I started writing a few articles rooted in the idea of if I knew then what I knew now as a software developer working in WordPress. And in the first post, I wrote:

So in the next set of posts, I’m going to talk about a few different things that I’d tell my past-self – or The New Class of WordPress Developers – on what to expect or how to process things when working in this industry.

WordPress Then, WordPress Now

If you’ve not read any of the other posts, you can find them all here:

1. WordPress Then, WordPress Now
2. Where to Start With WordPress Development?
3. You Should Write About Your Work
4. Play By The Rules and Be Careful What You Write
5. Know Your Strength, Hire Your Weakness

And this will be the last post I write in this series (and if you’ve been subscribing to the podcast, then it’s going to be the last episode for this ‘season’ of episodes).

TL;DR: Though it’s obviously possible to be a full-stack WordPress developer (that is, someone who is capable of working on each level of the stack with complete competency), it’s more common to find people who are stronger in one area than in others.

And if you’re working on a project and know someone who’s stronger in an area than you, it’s often worth partnering with them to complete whatever it is on which you’re working.

But weaknesses aren’t always in the form of knowing a language or an aspect of the application.

TL;DR: If you’re going to write about WordPress, it’s important to determine about which you primarily want to write. Is going to be less subjective material such as code or more opinionated material such as op-eds?

Further, know that whatever it is you share online is up for grabs for conversation, and sometimes it can go in unexpected directions. Be prepared for this to happen regardless of your intent.

To some degree, you get to pick the game you want to play. But when you do that, know the rules, play by them, and be careful what you write.

In the last post, I stated the following:

Since I don’t think someone should go into writing about their experiences blindly (especially when it comes to the negative that may come from it), it seems only fair to also share what that looks like.

You Should Write About Your Work

And the reason I think this is deserving of its own post, perhaps now more than ever, is because whenever you publish anything regardless of its a blog post, video, podcast, there are obviously going to be people who are going to read and respond (even if they don’t do it directly to you).

After all, what’s the purpose of publishing things publicly if you don’t want people to hear them?

Years ago, I learned this the hard way. And I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t talk about the less flattering side of when you write about your work.