WCKTM 2016 Stars: An Interview with Amit Kumar Singh

Amit Kumar Singh is a WordPress lover from India. He is the founder and CEO of WPoets. He has helped in organizing PHPCamp, WordCamp, Joomla Day and Drupal camp in Pune. He believes that instead of coding websites, we should be able to assemble it, and is working towards that goal at WPoets. We had a little talk with him at the recent WordCamp Kathmandu 2016.

Amit Kumar Singh at WCKTM2016
Amit Kumar Singh at WCKTM2016

How and when did you get started with WordPress?

I started using WordPress in 2007. I was working with a company back then and we needed to set up a blog, so we recommended WordPress to the customers. From there, I started my journey with WordPress and I am very glad to have entered the WordPress community.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

The best part about these WordCamps is networking. For me, WordCamp is the time when I take a short break from my regular work. I don’t usually take holidays from my work. I go to WordCamps and take them as holidays. Every WordCamp is a mini break for me and also, I get to meet many people, and most importantly I get to meet those people with whom I don’t get to meet in the city. A lot of people from Pune, even I am from Pune, only get to meet at WordCamps. We meet mostly at WordCamp Mumbai. So, for me, networking is the best part of these WordCamps.

What do you hope attendees will take away from your talk?

I hope the attendees will learn that you can do a lot without even writing a single line of code in WordPress. Also, I am going to talk about assembling the website instead of coding at this event today.

Are there any challenges that you have faced?

I have not faced any challenges with WordPress as of yet. We’ve been working with WordPress for a long time and it is going pretty smooth so far.

What are your thoughts on the WordPress community of Nepal?

WordPress Community of Nepal, from what I have seen here, is a closed community group and I like that actually. Because even in Pune or Mumbai, we have a small community group and a larger group around it. And in Nepal, what I saw is almost everybody knows everybody. There are like hundred or two hundred people coming and everyone knows everyone. So, it’s a closed group but a very good one.

How have you been contributing to the community?

I have been contributing to the community by helping organize local meetups in Pune, helping out with WordCamps, and we also have created a bunch of free WordPress plugins. Our latest plugins and an awesome studio is also free of cost and is available in wordpress.org. People from my team review themes and we also answer questions on WordPress. And of course, sharing knowledge in WordCamps is a given.

What do you think about female participation in WordPress?

I don’t see that as an issue because in Pune or in Mumbai or in most of the cities, we have many women participants. We have seen the participation being decent. On the speaking side of things, it is slightly low but still, the participation is there. Like in WordCamp Pune, we had a decent number of female WordPress Developers attending. Most of the companies that I have worked with, have a decent set of developers who are female. So I don’t really see female participation is an issue in WordPress.

How do you stay updated on WordPress?

I read a lot of blogs. One of them is WP Tavern. I also read all the information given on the Facebook page of WordPress India. And of course twitter, I follow many people from WordPress community and read their blogs. 

What can we find you doing when you’re not WordPressing?

If I am not WordPressing, you would definitely find me reading a book. I really like reading different kinds of books.

What advice would you give to a new WordPress user?

To a new WordPress user, I would like to say read as much as you can. There are a lot of help available for you which is just a Google search away. So, don’t wait for someone to guide you, instead just jump in right away, type a question, read two or three blogs and you will have a solution.

WordPress 4.7 is releasing soon. Which feature are you most excited about?

I am pretty excited about the integration of REST API feature in WordPress. I have been waiting for it to happen for a year now. And now that it’s actually happening, I am very excited about it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *