Abhishek Deshpande is a Web technology consultant from Nagpur, currently working as Solutions Architect at Peenak Solutions in the Web Development, Digital marketing across various domains. He has been active in the WordPress Community for the last six years. At WordCamp Pokhara 2018 he talked about –‘Modern WordPress Development Environment.’
How and when did you start your journey with WordPress?
It was early 2007, and I used to run a blog on Blogger.com in my College days. Paid reviews were the source of my pocket money and Self Hosted Blogs had better payout rates. So, I moved to WordPress from a BlogSpot Blogger.
What excites you the most about WordCamps?
I attended my first WordCamp in 2013 at Baroda, Gujarat, India. The WordPress community was such warm-welcoming, and it didn’t feel different. It helped me a lot to learn how productively I could use WordPress, get better coding standards and lot more. WordCamp has become the Official Vacation from work to meet new people, explore new places while learning stuff. Since 2013, I have not missed a single WordCamp in India.
What do you hope attendees will take away from your talk today?
My talk is about “Modern Development Environments in WordPress ecosphere”. PHP is one of the Easiest languages to get started. Then you are introduced to WordPress which takes Website/Web Application development to the next level. However, the tools you use for developing an excellent web might not be the next level. In my talk, I’m listing down those latest tools for next level ease of development — there something for every level of Developer and project manager in it.
Are there any challenges you faced that you’d like to share with us?
I’d faced many challenges. I did my schooling from Semi English Medium. So basically, the very first problem for me was with language in the early days. I’m statistics graduate. Though I’m good with 0’s and 1’s of probability, programming was new. Moreover, WordPress and Web is an enormous field to explore. In the early days, I had no idea what blog meant, but the WordPress communities across the internet helped me a lot to learn. So, I would say life is full of challenges, face them! There’s always a way.
What are your thoughts on the WordPress community of Nepal?
I can’t talk about the WordPress Community of Nepal, as I’ve just witnessed one WordCamp in Nepal. WordCamps are hosted to introduce new people to WordPress, and I’m Witnessing it happening.
How have you been contributing or giving back to the community?
I have been participating in the community activities for the past six years. I help to arrange meetups in Nagpur, located in Central India. I’m a Translation Editor for the Marathi Language and I also help the Hindi Polyglots Team as time permits.
What do you think about female participation in WordPress?
Female participation in the WordPress community is growing. Even in this WordCamp, we can say there are around 30% female attendees. It would be great to see more of them as speakers next year sharing their stories.
How do you stay updated on WordPress?
Staying updated on WordPress is hard. Apart from WordPress Team Blogs, I prefer to read blogs on theme and plugin shops which keep posting great how-tos. I’ve hosted a local WordPress meetup with NewsRoom Plugin where I keep track of latest post published on multiple sites.s
Gutenberg editor is a hot topic nowadays in WordPress, how do you think it is going to affect the WordPress ecosystem?
Gutenberg is an excellent move by WordPress, focusing on content publishing. With new editor coming up, there are vast potentials for Bloggers/YouTubers/tutors to teach how things are changing. Developers and Designers can show off their creativity. Upcoming changes in WordPress is moving the economy forward rather than the stagnancy.
What can we find you doing when you’re not WordPressing?
If I’m not WordPressing, then I’m for sure on Twitter or slack exploring things. If not on Gadgets then I like to ride my bike, travel to some forest near my native place.
And lastly, WordPress 5.0 is releasing soon with Gutenberg Editor as the default editor. How excited are you about it?
I am very excited about the upcoming release of WordPress 5.0 that too with the Gutenberg editor. And, winter is also coming along with it, there’s lot potential to contribute back to WordPress, and I’m eager to do that.
You can get in touch with Abhishek Deshpande and learn new things through his Facebook and Twitter.