Dustin Fillippini is a speaker at WordCamp Chicago talking about Unleashing the Magical Powers of WP_Query. Get to know him below!
WordCamp Chicago Mini-Interview
- When did you first become interested in WordPress?
I first used WordPress for a project in a business class in college in 2005 on version 1.5. At the time, I was making sites on the side here and there and saw some of these new content management systems coming out. At the time, WordPress was lacking many of the killer features it does now, but I could see the potential, especially since everything I made prior was static HTML pages. I kept up with it through the next few years while trying out other solutions until in 2010 I started to move towards full-time web development. I really became interested after finding a WordPress meetup. The WordPress community hooked me in and I’ve been ingrained in WordPress ever since.
- What motivated you to speak at WordCamp?
The community and my drive to challenge myself. Prior to doing my first WordCamp talk, I had never done any public speaking outside of classes. I knew it was something that I wanted to improve and I found that the WordPress community was very welcoming to allow me to grow this skill first through meetups, then through several WordCamps after.
- Why do you think WordPress is different from other web platforms?
Again, I am going to bring the community into my answer. The WordPress community drives the platform. Other open source projects have great communities behind them too, but none seem to work in the same way as the WordPress community does. It not only has brought us a great product and tool