As 2018 neared its end, a group of seven WebDevStudios (WDS) teammates, along with approximately 1400 members of the WordPress community, descended upon Nashville, Tennessee to attend WordCamp US 2018, in its final year in this honky-tonk city. WDS attended last year, and we couldn’t wait to attend again this year. Collectively, we think Nashville is a fantastic town. Plus, we really enjoy any opportunity to gather together and connect with other lovers of WordPress.
“WordCamp, as always is more about the people than anything,” says Justin Foell, Senior Backend Engineer. “From meeting up with old friends I haven’t seen in years to making some new friends along the way, we’re all in this journey together. I’ve always thought the WordPress community is possibly the best open-source community on the planet.”
Director of Project Management, Cristina Holt, agrees, saying, “Hanging out with my coworkers at WebDevStudios live and in person is really special! We had an opportunity to spend a few days together and bond over WordPress, BBQ, Bourbon and Honky Tonk music. Face-to-face is so important at a remote company. WordCamps, especially national ones, allow us to connect as a company, but also with the WordPress community.”
Her favorite session was “Project Management for Developers” with Jessi Gurr. “She outlined some really great steps to take in tricky situations during a project.”
Aside from the amazing presentations, there was a lot of buzz, and even some tension, in the air as all things Gutenberg and WordPress 5.0 were addressed.
“This year was fascinating,” expresses Jodie Riccelli, Director of Business Development. “There is always an uneasiness when change happens, but we have to be uncomfortable once in awhile to push ourselves to bigger and better. I left feeling more hopeful about the future of WordPress simply because the community always leaves me feeling inspired to be better.”
Justin agrees with Jodie, adding, “One thing the conference itself purposefully did was alleviate many of the concerns I had about Gutenberg and turn many of the fears into opportunities. It’s been a long time since WordPress had such a fundamental update. When I first got into WordPress in 2010, Custom Post Types and Multisite were the hot new thing. I’m sure the ecosystem seemed full of uncertainty back then as it does today. But hearing first hand from community members makes me more excited for WordPress 5.0 (and beyond), and less apprehensive. Are there still issues? Yes, and I’ve experienced some of them first hand, but one thing is for sure, it’s only going to get better.”
You can watch Matt Mullenweg’s “State of the Word” on the WordPress YouTube channel. In 2019, WordCamp US will be held in Cristina’s home city of St. Louis, Missouri, November 1-3. To find an upcoming WordCamp near you, head over to WordCamp Central.
Meet us next year in St. Louis!