Twenty years ago, back when WordPress was just version 1.2, I installed it, immediately ran into problems, and asked for help in the WordPress Support Forums. While I was waiting, I started helping out in the installation forum, and since then, I’ve never stopped contributing to WordPress.

I didn’t have a wide imagination back then, but I had an idea of how things worked, so I learned how to do cool things with WordPress by simply helping and learning alongside people in the forums who had cool ideas but didn’t know how to execute them.

I filed bugs, I wrote patches that were committed to core, I wrote patches that were committed to plugins and themes, I wrote docs, I wrote for a WordPress news blog, I volunteered at WordCamps, I worked directly alongside the WordPress Support Team and became a forum and Slack admin, I’ve been a WordPress Support Team lead twice, and somewhere out there, people are having the time of their lives with WordPress (maybe even making tons of money) because of a sentence or two that I wrote in the forums.

Working at Automattic was something I had always wanted to do. It was a job that would sponsor me to contribute more to WordPress and a job that had a creed I was aligned with. But back then, their job openings were scarce. When I was laid off from my job before Automattic, I spent a year unemployed during an economic downturn (and without unemployment benefits because I was young, foolish, and took the job as a contractor), but I was committed to keeping up the grind. I worked 9 AM to 5 PM in the WordPress Support Forums while also watching the official WordPress job board for any paid gigs that I could do.

Fourteen years ago, a Happiness Engineer job opened, and honestly, the bulk of my résumé was my WordPress Support Forum profile and the rest of my WordPress contributions; contributions that I continue to make to this day.

WordPress taught me how to help others, how to build and manage sites, and how to be a part of a functioning open source community. WordPress also introduced me to some of my best friends, quite possibly saved my life, and kept me from being homeless.

If you want to get involved too, you can start contributing to WordPress anytime!

It’s been a fun and enlightening twenty years, and I’m looking forward to the next twenty years!

https://macmanx.com/2024/10/04/my-wordpress-journey-20-years/

#automattic #openSource #WordPress

One of the earliest community events that I got heavily involved with here in the UK was OggCamp. Back in the later part of the first decade of the 21st Century, otherwise known as around about 2009, a band of Free Culture and Free and Open Source advocates and fans banded together to create an unconference that brought together these communities to talk about and celebrate … well, everything they were interested in, really 🎉

(you can go back and read my much, much older posts on the subject, if you like)

Over the years, OggCamp has been a lot of fun. It has been held in various places around the UK – I didn’t get to all of them, but I have been to them from Farnham to Liverpool and Manchester. The last time the event was held was back in 2019, in Manchester. I’ve always tried to be a part of the crew where I could, to help everyone enjoy the event and to make it as successful as possible.

This year, a small group of determined individuals are bringing OggCamp back from its five year, deep intergalactic hypersleep state of temporary suspension. For my part, this time around I’m graduating from member of the crew, to the person helping to direct our volunteers! The largest event of this kind in the UK returns over the weekend of October 12-13 2024, once again at the Manchester Conference Centre at the Pendulum Hotel.

🎉 Exciting news! After 5 years away, OggCamp, the ultimate unconference for open source and free culture enthusiasts is back for a triumphant return in 2024! 🌟

🗓️ Join us at The Manchester Conference Centre on October 12th and 13th.

🚀 Get ready for a weekend filled with innovation, collaboration, and community spirit!

🔗 Stay tuned for the Call for Papers (CfP) and ticket announcements – watch this space! 🎟️

#OggCamp2024#OpenSource#TechConference#Manchester

— OggCamp (@oggcamp) 2024-03-29T18:10:45.708Z

A few important things you need to know right now:

• This is an unconference. Although we’ll have a scheduled track (apply here), the most important element of OggCamp is the talks and activities that the participants carry along with them. If you’ve got a project, topic, or social activity you’d like to talk about, bring your talk with you, pop the title on a Post-It note, and everyone will vote on which sessions are most interesting to hear about on the day(s). You may get to attend talks and learn about anything, ranging across a broad spectrum of things such as, but not limited to: free software, open hardware, public data, community, sustainability, knitting, running, beekeeping, all kinds of things! I’ve got more than a couple of ideas for talks I’d like to give, but I know I’ll be busy with other tasks, so there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to bring their own interests and be their own authentic selves.
• Tickets are on sale, and we’ll need to cover certain costs – but, we’re also trying to make it as accessible as possible, so attendance can actually be completely free, if you just want to come along1 – and we have a suggested donation price, rather than a fixed one, if you do want to support us financially. Do sign up with a ticket though, as we need to know numbers2.
• I will definitely be needing help to run the physical spaces on the days: we will have roles from greeting folks as they arrive, helping to operate the merchandise stall, being runners to support any speaker needs, getting rooms set up for talks etc. So, if you’re able to help out, please-please-please register as a crew volunteer 🙏🏻 You’ll get a fabulous limited edition crew t-shirt, and you’ll be part of making the weekend a fantastic one for everyone attending and taking part (seriously: I’ve always really enjoyed helping to run the event, and I want to make sure everyone has a wonderful experience again in 2024; I aspire to be as good at leading the crew as my dear friend and former Chief, the legendary Les Pounder!).

Don’t just take my word for it – Gary, our fearless leader for OggCamp 2024, gave a short interview on the Late Night Linux podcast3 the other day, where he talked about what’s up.

Also: please, do help us to spread the message that OggCamp is back for 2024. Things have changed a lot (online in particular) in the past 5 years, so not everyone may be listening to the same channels as before. You can follow what’s happening with OggCamp in the fediverse via the Mastodon account, as well as across various other channels mentioned on the website.

Hope to see you there!

1. (getting to the venue itself notwithstanding) ↩︎
2. The first version of this post said you don’t need a ticket, but you do / we do need to know numbers for capacity planning, so I updated this paragraph. ↩︎
3. OggCamp segment from 08:27; NB other unrelated elements of the show may contain adult language from frustrated Linux sysadmins… ↩︎

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https://andypiper.co.uk/2024/08/20/return-of-the-oggcamp/

#Blaugust2024 #100DaysToOffload #events #freeCulture #freeSoftware #freedom #Linux #manchester #oggcamp #openSource #openSpace #podcasting #social #Technology #UK #unconference #volunteering