Interview with Brian Hogg about WordCamp Hamilton 2015
Check out the interview below with Brian Hogg (@brianhogg) about the upcoming WordCamp Hamilton 2015 conference!
Tell me about yourself.
I’m lots of things – a custom software developer, WordPress trainer, podcaster and help support communities through events like the Hamilton Freelancers Association and the WordPress Hamilton group. I grew up in Burlington and went to Mac, and has been great seeing communities like Software Hamilton grow the last few years.
How long have you been working with WordPress, and why do you use it?
About 5 years or so now. Even after meeting WordPress co-creator Mike Little at a conference a while back, I still continued on with other PHP-based frameworks and didn’t give it a serious look. But after being contracted to convert a Joomla plugin over to WordPress I discovered how powerful of a platform it can be for sites of any size, and has been my primary tool of choice since then.
What are WordCamp events about?
WordCamps are conferences that focus on everything WordPress. They’re informal and community organized, and are a great way to learn new skills and connect with others in the community.
When is the next WordCamp Hamilton, and how can people find out more information?
The next WordCamp Hamilton is happening Saturday June 6th at the McMaster Innovation Park. Tickets are only $20 and you can find more information and grab a ticket on the website here: hamilton.wordcamp.org/2015
Why did you and the organizing team decide to re-boot WordCamp in Hamilton?
It started from kicking up the regular monthly WordPress Hamilton meetups last year, and growing the community that way. There’s been a lot of interest in getting it going again but rather than try to rush it through last year we aimed for 2015.
What can attendees expect at this year’s iteration of WordCamp?
We’ll have two tracks this year, a more introductory track and a more advanced development/design track. There will be lots of opportunities to connect with attendees with a catered lunch, and an after-party event happening in the atrium right after the last session.
What sort of talks do you expect the development track to feature?
We’ve got some awesome talks coming through, from leveraging the new WordPress REST API to using WordPress to build web apps for a startup. A couple talks on setting up modern tools for WordPress development like Vagrant for consistent environments, composer for dependency management and deployment tools like Capistrano are also confirmed.
Why does having a strong WordPress community matter for Hamilton and the regional tech/startup community?
A lot can be done using WordPress even without development skills, by leveraging existing themes and plugins. The more people that are knowledgeable in WordPress and can add value to their own business or the business of others, the better.
How can the local community help the WordCamp team make the event a success?
Certainly spreading the word about the event, especially to developers. Since there were no advanced topics at the last WordCamp it might be overlooked as not a good fit for developers to attend, but it’ll definitely be worth it this year even if you don’t use WordPress for development currently.
Where do you see WordPress going as a platform in the future?
The flexibility of WordPress makes it a great choice for developing web apps of all sizes, using at little or as much of the WordPress base as you want. With things like the REST API going into core and other initiatives, along with powerful plugins like WPtouch allowing for an optimized adaptive experience for mobile and tablet users, I can see it becoming the development platform of choice for even more projects than it is now.
Freelancer meetups, WordPress meetups, WordCamp, Discover HamOnt podcast – what inspires you to do all of this stuff? 🙂
I’ve been pretty inspired by all the people I’ve been able to meet through the events and the podcast. Hamilton is awesome and I’m happy to give back and spread the word however I can 🙂
