Maciej is a WordPress developer working in OsomStudio. After hours he is helping develop Timber plugin. He is also an organizator of WordCamp Lodz (Poland).
What was your motivation to become a speaker at WordCamp Prague 2020?
There are three reasons:
- I like to share my knowledge with others. This is what Open Source is about.
- I like Prague very much and I haven’t been there for a while.
- I never had a presentation in English in front of a larger group – but hey, there is always the first time.
What will be your talk about? / What can attendees learn at your workshop? Who can benefit the most from your session?
I will talk about creating Gutenberg blocks the easy way – without learning React. I think every developer can learn a lot from it. Also, it’s a chance to convince Gutenberg haters that it’s not so bad.
What are a few takeaways that attendees will get from your talk?
I’ll show how to create a block from the start. So after my speech, most users can try to start building their own blocks. I’ll show users what problems they might encounter (with CSS and JS) and how to solve them.
You’re very active within the WordPress community – you’ve participated at WordPress Core, WP-CLI, and Timber plugin projects. I have so many questions – what motivates you, where do you take time, and could even not experienced developers get involved in such things?
I really love the idea of Open Source. We live in a money-driven world and Open Source is just different. I help others, others help me – just like that. Also, it still amazes me how I can create some code with people around the world.
The time part is more tricky – I don’t have all the time I would like to have. But it’s a hobby. If I have some spare time I just open Visual Code Studio and try to code something.
First of all WordPress Community is not only about developers – there are so many topics for non-developers – translations, organizing WordCamps and Meetups, governance project and so on.
I think everyone should try to attend Contributor Day at least once. I remember my first one. I was scared that I’m not good enough – I turned out I was able to create my first patch to Core. From that moment the Contributor Day is the most important one for me.
It’s a couple of days after WordCamp Łódź 2019 which you have organized together with your wife and Kamil Porembiński. How was that? What have you learned, and what did you enjoy the most?
It was hard, sleepless, but it was worth it 🙂
I’ve learned that I like people – I always thought I’m a full-blown introvert. Yet I was responsible for contacting speakers, sponsors and proving general assistance. It turned out it was a really nice experience. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.
The moment I enjoyed the most was in the middle of the second day, after the first lunch break. I was scared that the food will be bad and the queues will be long. But when I saw that everything is ok I knew we did a great WordCamp and nothing will go wrong.
What is your background? What should our attendees know about you?
I’m just a developer from Łódź, Poland. That’s all – programming is both a hobby and a job, but I really like it.
What are you looking forward to WordCamp Prague 2020? Why is that?
I really like to see how other WordCamps are organized. Also, there are some interesting presentations in English.
What would you like to see in the future for WordPress?
Although I’m a PHP developer I really see the future for WP as a headless CMS. Already we can see how many developers are interested in using Gatsby and WP. I really can’t wait what will the future bring.
Have you adopted Gutenberg, the Blocks editor? If yes, do you have a favorite use case for it? If not, why?
I really like Gutenberg and I’m trying to use all the time. Also, thanks to ACF Blocks, it’s so easy to create your own blocks.
For how long have you been using WordPress? And why you’ve chosen WordPress?
I don’t even remember when it all started 🙂 But I think I’m with WP for about 10 years.
Why? For two things – how easy it use for the users and for the community.
How do you feel about the WordPress community? Did you get involved in it?
I really love it – they are like close friends.
What is your favorite tool related to WordPress?
I like Advanced Custom Fields and Timber the most. They both saved me lots of time during my career.
What makes you smile/happy?
Good coffee and a piece of cake will always put a smile on my face 🙂