WordPress Calling

This time next week I will have done three things I have never done before:

1. Contributed to WordPress
2. Attended WordCamp London
3. Met the UK Genesis group

I am really looking forward to WordCamp London. I have attended several WordCamps before. My first was pretty epic, Cardiff 2009. Both Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg were in the house! Another WordCamp highlight for me was Lancaster in 2013, where I shared a house for a week with some really cool WordPress geeks. But this will be the first WordCamp in the city where I was born and where I have spent most of my life.

Fifty shades of WordPress

If you’ve never attended a WordCamp, and you use or work with WordPress, you are missing out. Big time. Working online, even though you’re connected digitally cannot replicate the experience of meeting like minded people face to face. People who really love WordPress. You might think you love WordPress but you will meet some people who really live and breath it. I use it everyday. I make my living from it. I have used it for fun and profit for over a decade. But at WordCamps, I have met some really great people. Folks who’s lust for WordPress could be considered by some to be a tad excessive. We are talking fifty shades of WP grey.

Crazy Love

We are talking super-crazy love. Me, I’m taking the National Express for the 90 mile trip to London from my home in Ringwood. One particularly fit WordPress mentalist shows just how lightweight I truly am. Meet Joe Boydston. A WordPress lover who calls himself the Crazy Running Guy. Crazy Joe ran to his WordCamp, over 90 miles away. Now there is dedication for you. I feel particularly lame for not running the 10 miles to WordCamp Bournemouth last year…

You don’t have to run to a WordCamp. You can cycle, drive, get a train or fly. Just get there already. Just do it.

One thing that astounds me about WordPress are the people. There is a sense of community where people are really willing to share. I can’t imagine engineers from VW, Mercedes-Benz or Rolls-Royce hanging out and sharing tips. It would be like Apple, Samsung and Microsoft helping each other on their top secret projects. It’s not going to happen. WordPress seems to cultivate a different atmosphere altogether. Don’t get me wrong. These are not all WP hippies. Many earn big bucks. But they still are not afraid to share. To give back, to help others, even share code with their ‘competitors’.

A Greater Good

Hopefully this time next week I’ll have had a great day contributing to WordPress. In the grand scheme of things, it’s much more important than paying my rent.

Some good folks are using WordPress to combat bad cancer science. Others are Changing the world with WordPress for charity campaigning and some are positive about using WordPress for Good. Yes, WordPress will help the world become a better place. Just as long as I don’t break it…

Time will tell.