Becoming the end user

Hello internet, I am Leo.

I have built tons of WordPress sites but haven’t been a WordPress user for a while now. This is a problem. Not actually using the application I work on distances me from the users I develop for and makes me a cruddy developer as a result.

Currently, my interaction with WordPress consists of spewing dummy content into the admin panel. Meanwhile, as much as possible I ignore the interface that is allowing me to do so.  Every few months, a new WP version comes out and I dive into the release notes excited about whatever changes are relevant to me as a developer. The rest, I ignore.

It is not like I am not aware of the benefits of blogging to a developer, I have heard it first hand from developers I respect. I have read about it from time to time and it shows up almost daily on twitter… I have however always found excuses not to write. The excuse I reach for most often is that I am a bad writer or that I don’t have enough knowledge to write down (I’ll write about impostor syndrome sometime).

This year though, I plan to ignore my instincts and write anyway.

I will not take myself too seriously or attempt to set unrealistic goals of writing award-deserving, thought-provoking posts. I will most likely not write amazing tutorials that redefine the way we build WordPress, or blow people’s minds with my infinite cleverness. Instead, I will be happy to write at all, slowly improving the quality of my posts and perhaps eventually writing something worth reading.