word camp chicago 2010 developer 101
TRANSCRIPT
WordPress Developer 101
Lessons Learned By A Newbie
Chris RossCarina LLC
Stuff I’ll Discuss
• My Road to Here• Why WordPress?• What are the tools we depend on to make our
clients happy?• What am I learning?
Some Me Stuff
• Hacker (20+yrs)• Foodie• Poker Fiend• Family Man
My Road To Here•3yr old company (my full-time gig since 2009)
• Focus Areas (by billable hours):• IT Optimization & Consulting (50%)• Collaboration Solutions (30%)• Custom Application Development (20%)
•Geographically Dispersed Team• 3 US states• 2 continents• 4 time zones
Rock Star Coder
Corporate CTO
Technology Consultant
Corporate Dude
“Seasoned”Technology Consultant
Why WordPress?
• Completeness– Significant out of the box usability– Automattic & WordPress.com
• Low Cost High Value– Low barrier to entry for developers– Vast library of themes & plug-ins– Resources (forums, books)
• Community– Passionate, Committed & Knowledgeable
• Complimentary– Plays well with our other competencies (lead-in & pull-thru)– Brand recognition with our customers
Tools of the TradeWhat we use to do what we do
Design & Development
• Adobe Photoshop• Microsoft Visual
Studio• Microsoft Expression
Blend• Microsoft Expression
Design• iStockPhoto
Communication & Collaboration
• 37 Signals’ BaseCamp• Skype• Zoho Meeting /
Microsoft LiveMeeting
Secret Sauce
• DropBox• Camtasia/CamStudio• Pinnacle Studio• IPSwitch WS-FTP• JungleDisk+Amazon
S3• Windows LiveMesh /
Citrix GoToMyPC• Fresh Invoice• Microsoft BizSpark
1
Code Once (or twice). Comment Often.(You won’t be here forever, but your work might)
2
Read Before Your Write.(Ain’t no shame in picking up a book.)
3
Don’t Just Complain. Contribute.(code, ideas)
4
Freely Take. But Also, Freely Give.(criticism, credit, cash)
5
Don’t Do What You Suck At.(Recognize your strengths and weaknesses)
6
Know When To Be Available. And Expendable.(To your clients. To the community.)
7
Take Care of You.(Enjoy Life. Have Fun.)