WordPress helps me unwind – story of a part-time developer

In October 2023, I will complete 20 years of my association with WordPress. What started as an experiment soon became an integral part of my life. 

Hi! I am Ajay D’Souza. I am the author of several completely free WordPress plugins, and this is my WordPress story.

In the beginning…

I vaguely recall always having a passion for computers during my school days. Then, it was Logo. It was only in mid-2000 that I discovered HTML. I had initially set out to learn C or C++ and got distracted by this language that allowed me to build webpages. 

I created a site on Sherlock Holmes by hand on a free host. I learnt a bit of PHP, which helped me create dynamic portions of the site. But I still didn’t know what MySQL was. 

In late 2003, when yet another free host closed its shutters, I finally bought ajaydsouza.com. This site has remained my home on the web for nearly 20 years.

Finding WordPress

After buying the domain, I started blogging using WordPress in October 2003. At that time, WordPress was still in its infancy, and I enjoyed playing with innovative technology. This was before the advent of Facebook, Twitter or any other forms of social media.

I blogged about my day-to-day experiences as a student and a part-time developer. My friends thought that I was crazy for sharing my personal life online. But I persevered because blogging helped me unwind and express myself.

Building plugins and a theme

I started developing WordPress plugins in 2005. My first plugin was Bad Behavior Stats, which displayed the number of blocked access attempts by the Bad Behavior plugin. WordPress plugin development was still new back then and Bad Behavior Stats soon became obsolete. I also created a theme called Connections Reloaded, based on the original Connections theme. I maintained it until 2009, when I decided to focus on plugins instead of themes.

Since 2005, I have authored more than 15 WordPress plugins!

A full-time WordPress blogger…

I began blogging professionally about WordPress in November 2005, thanks to Mark Ghosh who ran Weblog Tools Collection. This gave me an opportunity to stay updated with new plugins and themes and share the latest news of the fast-growing WordPress world. I left my engineering job in mid-2006 and blogging for Mark helped me financially while I pursued my MBA. 

…and a part-time WordPress developer

In 2009, I completed my MBA and joined the finance sector as my day job. This reduced my time for blogging and coding. However, I did not want to let go of my WordPress passion. I had already created Contextual Related Posts and Top 10, two popular plugins with loyal users. I continued to develop them and launched a few more plugins over the years.

The professional rebrand

I moved my plugins to WebberZone in 2015. This became my professional brand for my existing and new plugins. It also allowed me to create a knowledge base, which I am still working on.

WebberZone allowed me to split my personal blog from my WordPress development. It has also given me the possibility of premium plugins, should that be a path I pursue in the future.

The challenges with WordPress development today

WordPress development has changed a lot in recent years, especially with the launch of the block editor. To be a developer today, you need to learn not only PHP and MySQL, but also JavaScript and React. You also need to use build tools before you can start coding.

This has been challenging, but fortunately, there are several online tutorials to help. I spent months learning how to add blocks to my plugins and I finally have a working repository on Github of these.

What have I learned?

I have learned some valuable lessons from my WordPress journey. Here are some of them:

• Persist. Not everyone will appreciate your work, but some will. Focus on them and ignore the rest.
• Code. A lot. Reading tutorials is not enough. You need to practise, make mistakes and fix them.
• Learn from others. The WordPress community has many amazing people who create great plugins and themes. Study their code, read their tutorials and follow their best practices.
• Contribute. There are many ways to contribute to WordPress besides core development. You can also contribute by creating plugins, themes, documentation, marketing, tutorials, etc.
• Don’t be afraid to say NO. This is very hard to do, but sometimes necessary. I recently decided to limit support for my free plugins because it was taking too much time from development.
• Take time off. It could be a night, a day, a week or more. Working when exhausted is not productive or healthy. Spend some time with your family.

How does WordPress help me unwind?

WordPress is my way of relaxing. My job demands long hours and constant availability. I love what I do, but I need a break sometimes. 

That’s why I enjoy coding plugins for WordPress in my spare time. It makes me happy to create something useful and share it with others.

My WordPress Future

My goals for 2023 and beyond are:

• Redesign WebberZone, my website where I showcase my WordPress plugins and tutorials.
• Be more active on Twitter and network with other WordPress enthusiasts.
• Improve and update my existing plugins and maybe launch a pro version.
• Learn new skills and keep up with the latest WordPress trends and developments.
• Share my WordPress knowledge through tutorials on WebberZone.

WordPress has given me a creative outlet for my ideas and skills. As a blogger, it has allowed me to share my stories and experiences. As a developer, it has challenged me to build many things that are useful that I can be proud of. As a community member, it has connected me to amazing people and opportunities.

Ajay’s Work Environment

We asked Ajay for a view into his development life and this is what he sent! He doesn’t use a desk, he codes his WordPress material in bed on just his laptop.

2014 Macbook Air

MAMP Pro

Visual Studio Code

Github Desktop

Finder

Terminal

HeroPress would like to thank Draw Attention for their donation of the plugin to make this interactive image!