WebDevStudios just can’t get Georgia off our minds. Having spent our company retreat there just last week, one of our team members returns (okay, he actually already lives there) for WordCamp Atlanta, May 3-5, 2019. That person is Tom McFarlin, Senior Backend Engineer, who will not only be attending the event, but will also be giving a talk.
“I want people to learn how to use WordPress as a foundation on which they can build more complex applications,” Tom explains the inspiration behind his talk, “A Case for Building Web Applications on WordPress,” which takes place on Sunday, May 5th at 9 a.m. in the Red Room. “When you work with WordPress almost exclusively on a daily basis and spend a lot of time reviewing the APIs, as well as the core code, you begin to see just how much is possible with WordPress.”
This is Tom’s fifth WordCamp talk, and while he doesn’t view WordPress as a framework like Laravel or Ruby on Rails, he does see it as a foundation for web applications. “It allows us to build distributed applications where a portion of the software may be built in, say, Swift and run on iOS and then communicate with WordPress via the REST API,” he elaborates. “And it’s something that I see as the next wave of possibilities with WordPress. So I want to help not only evangelize that a little bit, but also help get people thinking about this a little more, too. I’m also going to give examples as how to you can approach software development, and ultimately problem solving, using WordPress as a foundation for just that.”
As is the case with other speakers and attendees, Tom is mostly looking forward to connecting with other WordPress developers and users. “It’s always fun to catch up with people who are part of your local area involved in WordPress, but WordCamp Atlanta is also always extremely busy,” he adds. “It’s a chance to meet up with people you may interact with on the web more than face-to-face because a lot of people travel to Atlanta for the conference.” Additionally, Tom has been given the honor of introducing the event’s keynote speaker, Chris Lema.
With three days of workshops, sessions, and an after-party, WordCamp Atlanta has a lot offer. Tom recommends attendees go to sessions that cover subjects they think they already know, saying that, “It’s quite often the case the speaker may know something you don’t or someone may ask a question that gets your mind going in another direction about the topic. It’s a way to really expand what you’re already thinking about.” He also says that because the landscape of blogging has changed in the last five years but is still relevant, WordCamp Atlanta attendees should definitely consider attending these types of sessions, too.
You can see a full schedule of WordCamp Atlanta here. Keep up with the event on Twitter by following @wordcampatl and the hashtag #WCATL. One more thing, if you have time outside of the conference, Tom says you should check out the Georgia Aquarium.
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