Daniel Kamzik

5/27/2018

Hello All,

   This morning I had the privilege of attending Wordpress’ 15th anniversary networking event at Le Pain Quotidien in Midtown, Manhattan NYC. Going in I wasn’t sure what to expect- wordpress after all is a very widely used platform by people of differentiating skill levels and backgrounds. I was pleased to find a medium sized group of people waiting for the event to kick off, all seated around a family-style table. I was quickly greeted by one of the event hosts who was friendly, welcoming and, most of all, it seemed to me that she was genuinely excited to be putting on the event. That is one aspect of working in the digital realm that I deeply enjoy; the true and genuine interest that technology enthusiasts have for their respective fields. This enthusiasm was shared by many of the attendees as well. I was able to meet many fellow web developers from all demographics and skill levels.

   As a quick digression I would like to make note of the gender and race demographics in this meeting. I was not surprised, given my prior experience in attending events such as these, that the demographic was spread evenly throughout. The women probably outnumbered the men by a slight degree and many diverse cultures were represented as well- it is New York City, after-all!

   Okay, that happy digression aside, the conversation and networking aspect was pretty standard. The people I ended up connecting with the most were people who had been either involved with the Wordpress community for a few years or otherwise people who were directly involved in hosting Wordpress events. Over coffee and a light brunch consisting of skillet eggs, chives and fresh multigrain bread (who says this can’t be a food connoisseur blog as well?) we discussed many differentiating topics, from our experience in the field up until now, where we wanted to go in the future and the future of Wordpress itself. Although any web developer worth their salt cannot limit themselves to Wordpress alone, it was interesting to discuss our use cases with Wordpress, our likes, dislikes and frustrations as well as the new technology that Wordpress is about to release.

   This tech is a new site builder interface called Gutenberg. It’s purpose is to make creating a website for the layman even easier, with more customization with less knowledge of programming languages. The update has not yet been released, but I am looking forward to trying it out- so keep your eyes open for a new blog post about Gutenberg in the near future!

   After about an hour and a half of good food and conversation, it was time to part ways. After an exchange of business information and a few quick photos for Meetup’s website, the event was over.

   On our way out, we were informed of Wordpress’ next event, the WordCamp New York City Event running from September 15th to the 16th. I posted a link to the event with more info below!

https://2018.nyc.wordcamp.org/

See you soon!