WCKTM 2018 Stars: An Interview with Shishta Pradhan

WCKTM 2018 Stars: An Interview with Shishta Pradhan

Shishta Pradhan is a WordPress enthusiast currently working as a Front End Developer at Code Pixelz Media. She has been working with WordPress for the past three years. She loves playing with HTML, CSS, JS, and loves implementing the graphical design into a code by combining the art of design with the art of programming to make an eye appealing website. She talked about ‘Scope for Front End Developers in WordPress.’ We caught up with her at WordCamp Kathmandu 2018 and had a little chat.

How and when did you get started with WordPress?

I work as a Front End Developer at Code Pixelz Media. It’s been three years since I started working there. So you can say I have been involved with WordPress since the year 2015. When I first started working with WordPress, I was just sharpening my skills that were required to be a Front End Developer like statics and slicing. When I finally got chance and started performing my skills on WordPress platform, I found it quite easy as the learning curve is not as sophisticated as others put it out to be. I started learning slowly that there were many more aspects of being a Front End Developer.

What do you like most about WordCamps?

The things that I like about being in a WordCamp is that there are different things that you can learn each year from the event. If you learn one thing this year, the next year you will learn something completely new. Also, the participants from other countries come here and then give their insights through which both experienced and the new enthusiasts can learn a lot. Especially for the beginners, it gives them to know what WordPress and WordCamps are. So, I think the WordCamp is especially beneficiary for our new enthusiasts.

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

My target for this year’s WordCamp is to teach our new WordPress enthusiasts on how you can work on WordPress as a Front End Developer. I want to give them pieces of advice based on my own personal perspective. I hope they will know that there are a lot of scopes in WordPress if you become a Front End Developer. Related to the topic, I hope that being Front End Developer is not just about slicing and there are a lot of responsibilities that come along with it.

Are there any challenges you faced that you’d like to share with us?

Being a Front End Developer, you have to be qualified in both fields of a designer and a programmer. You have to look through both perspectives. You can’t just focus on the designing part and leave behind the programming. The complications that come to a Front End Developer, like me, mainly depends on the demand of the clients. There might be some issues with the design or there might be some programming glitches too. So, based on the demands of the clients, I have to be equally comfortable in both skills of a designer and a programmer respectively. I think looking after both the designing and programming part is the greatest challenge one could ever face.

What are your thoughts on the WordPress community of Nepal?

The community of WordPress in Nepal is gradually getting bigger and bigger as the years go by. The people who are attending the WordCamp events has also increased massively over the years. If you compare the WordCamp of 2012 to this years’ event, you can clearly see the numbers of WordPress enthusiasts has a vast difference.

How have you been contributing or giving back to the community?

Speaking about giving back to the community, I would first like to explain to the beginners on how I started my journey of WordPress. I would also like to tell them about the things I learned throughout the years that I have been getting involved in WordPress. More importantly, I would like to tell them that there are a lot of opportunities on WordPress. I think teaching our new WordPress enthusiasts is a great way of giving back to the WordPress Community.

Have you ever felt like you’ve had to prove yourself more than men who also work with WordPress?

Being the only female Front End Developer in my company, I have personally never felt that I had to compete with my male colleagues. We, while working, do not associate us as male or female. Rather, we would like to be known as developers and work accordingly. So, I have not really felt left out of being the only female developer in my company.

What advice would you give to the women who are only joining the WordPress community?

I don’t want to encourage just the female WordPress enthusiasts but rather I want to encourage our new audiences in general. WordPress is not easy but with the right attitude, I have seen people being successful with it. So, I want to encourage the general audience, both males, and females, that WordPress has a lot of scope in it and if you decide to dedicate your time learning about WordPress, as I said, with the right attitude you can be very successful.

What do you think about female participation in WordPress?

I can also see that the female participants have also increased by quite a lot since the first WordCamp. Last time we saw Prithvi Singh Thakuri who represented the young entrepreneur has further encouraged young females to follow WordPress more seriously. As we already know, the female representation in the IT field of Nepal is not as high as the male counterparts but steadily the people have been realizing the scopes of IT and slowly the female participation has also increased accordingly.

How do you stay updated on WordPress?

I have subscribed to different WordPress related websites. I go through them on a daily basis to familiarize with all the latest news going on the WordPress community. I go through at least one article a day from my subscription and keep myself updated.

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

When I am not working, I like to travel to places. I am also a huge foodie, so you might find me in some restaurant, eating.

What advice would you give to a new WordPress user?

The one advice that I would like to give to a new WordPress user is that WordPress has a really easy learning curve and with the right attitude and determination you will be able to become a good WordPresser within a few years. Everything can be achieved through right dedication and WordPress is not an exception as well.

Gutenberg Editor will be the next big thing in WordPress this year. How excited are you about it?

I think everyone is excited about the Gutenberg Editor; it’s not just me. I think it a game-changer for WordPress. Those who are not familiar with Gutenberg Editor, I suggest you start doing some research on it. It is the next big thing in WordPress.

You can know more about Shishta Pradhan here.

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