Julie will be presenting Surviving Support: 10 Tips for Saving Your Users and Yourself on Sunday in the General Interest track
Julie Cameron is a frontend developer for Articulate working in the metro-Detroit area. She is the sole developer and support-provider of the open source SlickQuiz plugins for jQuery and WordPress.
Julie is a fan of Sassy CSS and modular architecture, responsive web design, and is a student of JavaScript and self-improvement.
Mike will be presenting Content Calendars for WordPress: Tips & Tools on Sunday in the General Interest track
Mike has over 15 years of experience building custom websites and applications for everything from solo entrepreneurs and startups to Fortune 100 companies.
He started working with WordPress in 2010 and specializes in customizing themes, building custom plugins and migrating existing sites to WordPress. Once built, Mike helps his clients market their sites by providing content marketing, SEO and social media management services.
Why do you use WordPress?
I started using WordPress so that I didn’t have to build basic CMS functions for every website I built. I also like the availability of plugins to do most tasks. The amount of information shared by other developers also makes it easy to learn how to extend WordPress when you need additional functionality.
What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
The sessions are very informative, and given by speakers that actually work in WordPress every day. The chance to meet and network with other WordPress enthusiasts, users, designers and developers all willing to share their thoughts and help each other is unlike anything else! And, of course, the after parties!
What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I recently published by first plugin to the WordPress Plugin. “Genesis Footer Links Nofollow” is a simple little plugin that marks links in the site footer as “nofollow” for Genesis Framework sites.
I know this isn’t something amazing, but after building a lot of client-specific plugins it was important for me to write something that could be used by anyone and learn more about the plugin creation & publishing process.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-footer-links-nofollow/
Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
If you’re a designer, learn a bit more about development, and vice versa. Understanding how the code and design work together will help your clients in the long run. Also, try to pick a niche market to serve.
It’s hard to say no to projects in the beginning, but don’t short-change the value of your services too much. Building a portfolio is important, but you also have to pay the bills!
What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
The Developer community, and the willingness of people to share information about how to do many different things with WordPress. There’s so many Podcasts, blogs and forums dedicated to WordPress it’s hard to pick any in particular.
Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
One of my hobbies is puppetry. I’ve made puppet parody videos that have gathered over 1.75 million views on YouTube. I’m toying with the idea of having a puppet-based web series depicting the life of a WordPress developer!
Lisa will be presenting A house with no walls: Creating a site structure for the future on Sunday in the General Interest track
Lisa Ghisolf is Gizmo Creative Factory, with 17+ years in print, web & email design, and 10 years in business. She’s worked with big and small agencies alike, creating print work and websites for Kraft, Allstate & many corporations & organizations.
Instead of just putting out fires, she’s now building robust WordPress sites and training clients and giving workshops on how they can manage them on their own.
Why do you use WordPress?
I’ve been building sites since 1996, and it’s the first CMS that’s felt flexible enough and robust enough to really handle most clients’ requests. The community is amazing too, and so helpful.
What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
That they’ll get an amazing amount of information no matter their knowledge of WordPress.
What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
I’m a nerd, but I love optimizing and cleaning them up so they’re running well. This happens pretty often.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
Get to know other designers and developers and keep asking questions.
What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Probably WPMU. Lately I’ve been working on a number of Buddypress or multisite sites and it’s been invaluable.
Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
I’m a Saab snob and love to discuss the various leaks with other Saab folk. We’re a small but dedicated group.
Ben will be presenting From Zero to WordPress Hero on Sunday in the General Interest track
Adventurous sailor and Seattle WordPress(Camp) organizer, Ben Lobaugh has been working with open source communities for 15-plus years and is an active contributor to the WordPress community. Ben currently works as a Jetpack Engineer with Automattic.
Why do you use WordPress?
I first installed WordPress because my homegrown blogging platform was neglected and I did not want to put forth the hours to get it where it needed to be, so I installed WordPress. As WordPress evolved it turned into something with awesome prebuilt structures I could easily hack on for new clients to get sites up and running fast. Nowadays WordPress can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. With WordPress powering 22% of the interwebs there is no reason to switch away now!
What would you say to convince someone to attend a WordCamp?
BACON BAR!!!! But really, the WordPress community is full of amazing people. Coming to a WordCamp can really get you connected. People are so genuine and open that you are guaranteed to learn a ton and have a great time doing it. Have an obstacle you are trying to tackle? The community will band together to help you out no matter whether it is a user, developer, or business issue knowledge is freely and happily shared.
What is your favorite WordPress project you have worked on recently?
Jetpack! Besides being the only project I have worked on recently it is also a really powerful plugin that will offload resource usage to the WordPress.com infrastructure and free your server up to serve even more visitors!
Do you have any advice for someone looking to start or grow a WordPress based business?
The WordPress community is your friend. Get involved in a local meetup and start making connections. Follow and interact with well known WordPressers on Twitter and get involved with the WordPress project at http://make.wordpress.org. The community does a great job at helping people find work and even passing jobs around to each other.
What is your favorite WordPress-related resource?
Local meetup groups and Twitter. The WordPress world is very active on Twitter. Every question I have ever had has been answered quickly via Twitter and even disseminating news via Twitter is a great way to quickly get your message out there. Local meet ups are great places to share knowledge and make close bonds with the community.
Tell us something awesome about yourself that is not WordPress related
On a whim 4 years ago I purchased a sailboat, the beautiful Zippety Doo Dah (http://ben.lobaugh.net/ship-log). I had never been sailing before but I thought sailing sound fun! For years later I am even more in love with sailing now that I ever have been. My intrepid sailing companion is my faithful wooden wrist watch. It has accompanied me on nearly all my sailing adventures and has been by my side when traveling all around the world.
WordCamp Chicago 2014 is over. Check out the next edition!
