Category: tips and tricks

WP Career Summit is a new event hosted by the Post Status community that will take place on April 8, 2022. The summit is the first of its kind in the WordPress space – an event entirely focused on job seekers and employers.

Attendees will have the opportunity to network with each other, check out job postings, visit live virtual sponsor tables, and connect with companies that are actively hiring.

“Back in 2020 I saw companies posting jobs and I saw friends posting a need for jobs, and I thought we needed to find a way to match those people with companies,” WP Career Summit organizer Michelle Frechette said. “So I built wpcareerpages.com and started tweeting a job thread every Wednesday.”

After awhile of regularly tweeting the Wednesday job thread, Frechette found that it started to take off. Depending on the week, her threads would get anywhere from 2k-18k impressions.

“Clearly, there is a need,” she said. “I’ve had people tell me they’ve found their new job through those tweets. As a result of that project and conversations with Allie Nimmons around underrepresentation, underrepresentedintech.com was born, and projects and people started getting paired up through that site.”

Frechette said when she first joined the team at Post Status, she was tasked with writing about underrepresentation and job-related content, topics for which she has a passion. She pitched the idea of a career conference to Cory Miller, the club’s new owner, and he loved it.

“My hope is that this summit is the start of even bigger conversations in the WordPress community about connecting talent with opportunity, especially for those graduating from training and education and starting their careers,” Frechette said. “If we can get younger talent into WordPress, in my opinion, we should see even more growth in our ecosystem.”

The call for speakers and sponsors is now open. Jonathan Wold is managing the sponsorship Aspect of the event and Post Status has hired Dan Maby from Big Orange Heart to run the tech part of the conference using the platform he developed and uses for WordFest.

Organizers are looking for speakers who are particularly adept at job hunting or who are knowledgeable about how to recruit and hire talent. Selected speakers will share their expertise in 30-minute recorded presentations and will receive a $200 stipend for participating. WP Career Summit will be a virtual event but will have 15 minutes of live Q&A time immediately following each session.

Registration is now open and is free, thanks to the event’s sponsors. Attendees will be emailed information about how to log in and participate closer to the event.

Husband-and-wife duo Topher and Cate DeRosia announced the launch of the The HeroPress Network earlier today. It is a collection of content from various sites they are working on in a centralized location.

“Its overarching goal is to be a hub,” said Cate DeRosia. “It will display the newest items from around the HeroPress Network, as well as news from the community (to be added in shortly). We can also post information that we think is helpful or educational.”

The “hub” will incorporate content from at least eight projects:

• The HeroPress Network
• HeroPress
• Hallway Chats
• WP Podcasts
• Find It WP
• Slack group
• +2 additional projects in production

The team launched WP Podcasts two weeks ago, making over 7,000 current episodes from dozens of WordPress shows available in one place. Find It WP is currently in beta and will be the next project to launch on or before October 19. They will soon launch the public Slack group with dedicated channels for different types of professionals.

“You could say it’s like the portals of yesteryear,” said DeRosia. “With HeroPress expanding into 8+ or more entities, we wanted one place for people to go and get the most current glimpse of what’s happening.”

She also teased the idea of expanding their educational offerings in the announcement post. However, news on that will have to wait until they build out the projects currently underway.

The team will open funding options on October 24. The HeroPress Network is a for-profit company, but its goal is to make all of its content available for free to the community as a whole.

The original HeroPress.com website did not hit its funding goal in 2015. It attracted 33 backers who pledged $21,855 of its $60,000 AUD goal on Kickstarter. There was some early pushback, particularly from WordPress lead developer Andrew Nacin who cited its “unambiguous hero worship” and the initial male-only lineup of speakers as problems. However, much has changed in the six years since the fundraiser.

DeRosia called the first fundraising event a test to see how the community would receive it. The project has never been funded financially since then. Hosting and resources have been provided for the project, and a few other companies have occasionally donated toward their time and tools.

Despite failing to raise their initial funds, the project continued onward. Today, HeroPress has been a success by simply providing a platform for people to share their journeys in the WordPress world.

Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko wrote the first essay in March 2015. Since then, the site has published over 200 others.

“It’s always been a challenge to figure out how to fund the project,” said DeRosia. “When the pandemic hit and sponsors had money they couldn’t use on WordCamps, they started some conversations with us. We’ve been kicking around ideas since then and feel The HeroPress Network gives us the best resource for reasonable funding. We want to be giving value back to both the community and supporters, and the diversity of what makes up the Network provides more options.”

If everything falls into place, DeRosia herself or one of their daughters could have a salaried position for the project. Her background is in English and journalism, and she described it as a “dream job.”

I asked DeRosia why she was personally vested in this project. What was it that got her up every morning to build it?

“Topher and I both grew up rural poor here in the US,” she said. “We come from communities dying because there aren’t jobs. WordPress has always been such an excellent answer to this.

“With HeroPress.com we’re able to provide a stage where people can tell their stories of how they’ve built their lives regardless of where they lived or what circumstances they were living in. That’s great, but it only goes so far.

“Now with The HeroPress Network, we can provide simplified, searchable access to practical tools that anyone can use to craft the life they want using the WordPress platform. We can also demonstrate how community and business can work together to get the best for both.

“If the option for something better is out there, I want to help people find it. Helping new people get started in WordPress brings a richness to the community that it needs to thrive. Helping established businesses connect with people and resources continues the growth.

“It’s just so incredible to have the privilege to see people build relationships that allow them to flourish. And who wouldn’t get out of bed every morning to do that?”

Automattic is organizing its 2nd annual Worldwide WordPress 5K during the month of October this year. Registration for the race is free and participants will have the opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice, with Automattic matching donations up to $50,000.

Just like the first Worldwide WP 5K that was held in 2015, the race will be virtual. Anyone is welcome to run, walk, bike, or swim the 5K any time between October 1-31. The requirements are fairly loose in that you can use any exercise app to track your run if you want. Participants are also encouraged to share a selfie, a screenshot of your route, and write a blog post that includes the #wwwp5k tag. Automattic will use the hashtag to include pictures on the official race site.

Throughout the pandemic, much of the social running industry has gone online and virtual races have become more common. Although they don’t carry the same energy as in-person races, virtual races help friends keep setting fitness goals and encourage each other through online challenges. Joining in the Worldwide WordPress 5K is a great way to connect with friends around the world for an offline challenge that benefits your health.

There is plenty of time to start training to reach a goal ahead of October and lots of resources available for running your first 5K. If all other motivations fail, maybe Wapuu can get you off the couch. The lack of in-person WordCamps has left some people hankering for new WordPress swag, and the 5K wapuu is ready to deliver. Participants can choose from a wide array of official gear, including hoodies, t-shirts, water bottles, tank tops, pins, socks, and more. Those who prefer not to run but still want to take part in the charitable event can give directly through the donation page.

Earlier this week, the WordPress Biratnagar Facebook group announced a WordCamp scholarship in honor of Ujwal Thapa. The goal is to honor the legacy left behind by one of Nepal’s leaders both inside and outside of the WordPress community.

Thapa passed away a month ago at age 44 from complications with COVID-19. He was a political activist, founding the Bibeksheel Nepali party, originally a peaceful movement against corruption and social injustice. He was the co-founder of WordPress Nepal, a group that has grown to 8,000 members. He was also a close friend and mentor to many in the community and helped many more launch careers in the IT industry.

“After the untimely death of WordPress contributor and co-founder of WordPress Nepal Ujwal Thapa in 2021, due to COVID-19, the WordPress Biratnagar community decided on this scholarship,” wrote the WordPress Biratnagar team. “Ujwal was a dedicated patron to the WordPress community in Nepal, and the WordPress Biratnagar decided to pay applause to his memory in this way.”

The scholarship will cover the following:

• Travel to Biratnagar from within Nepal.
• Hotel stay for the duration of the event.
• A ticket to WordCamp Biratnagar.
• Local transportation.
• Meals outside the official event.

Nepal is still struggling with getting COVID-19 cases under control at the moment. The CDC lists the country as “very high” risk and recommends avoiding travel. There is no date set for a physical conference, and a WordCamp Biratnagar 2021 event is unlikely. The organizing team may not be able to grant a scholarship until next year at the earliest.

WordCamp Biratnagar lead organizer Ganga Kafle said they are just waiting for the situation to return to normal but cannot be sure when that will happen. While there is no date for the next WordCamp, they are still holding regular meetups.

The group is still discussing the details of the scholarship. Currently, they plan to consult with other community groups within Nepal and the global community. Any help creating and maintaining such a scholarship system would be welcome.

The WordPress Biratnagar team did agree to some guidelines. Once submissions open, applicants must be Nepalese. “We believe that empowering community members is an excellent way to honor his memory and carry on his legacy,” wrote the team in its announcement.

Group leaders mostly agreed to award the scholarship to those meeting the following criteria:

• People with disabilities.
• People from lower-income families.
• Women interested in WordPress.

The group said the selection process would be completely transparent, and the awarded scholarship would be at the discretion of the current WordCamp Biratnagar organizers.

Kafle said the scholarship would also be annual. The team plans to keep this going in honor of Thapa and paying respect to the man who helped jump-start many of their careers and involvement with WordPress.