There are a couple of days left before WordCamp Sofia 2017 and we’re happy to introduce to you another one of our speakers – freelance developer from Argentina Mauricio Gelves. He will speak at WordCamp Sofia for the first time this Saturday on Gutenberg and the challenges it poses for WordPress.
Hey, Mauricio, welcome to the speaker lineup of WordCamp Sofia! Could you introduce yourself to the WC Sofia attendees?
My name is Mauricio Gelves, born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, but living since 2010 in Madrid, Spain. I’m a software engineer and I work as a Freelance WordPress Developer for design agencies and customers around Europe.
How did you start with WordPress?
It was in 2007 when I was searching for an Open Source solution to create my travel blog. At that moment I was working, and not so happily, with other technologies. After making a lot of changes in my blog I discovered the true potential of this CMS, and in 2012 I decided to jump to become a full WordPress Developer. From 2015 I quitted working for companies and I started freelancing and traveling at the same time.
What’s the thing about WordPress that excites you the most?
Without hesitation, it’s the community! It’s amazing to see people around the world working together to help, translate, record, contribute and create one of the best tools to develop websites and applications.
Your talk deals with the changes the Gutenberg project will bring to WordPress. Could you tell us a bit more about the topic?
Gutenberg is the name of the new content editor WordPress will have in its version 5.0. Maybe one of the biggest changes this CMS is going through.
I will try to show in my talk why was necessary to start this project, how is it built and how it will affect in our way to create content.Is there anything you recommend attendees read or watch to prepare for the topic?
I recommend to install the Gutenberg plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/) to see how it looks like. Also I encourage them to send feedback to the developers. The plugin has a link in its menu that lead us to a simple form. This information can be really helpful to get a better editor.
You’re a freelance developer traveling the world. What advice would you give freelancers that would like to take on that lifestyle?
Wow, this is a hard one. I’ll try to keep my answer short.
Start slowly: having this kind of life implies lot of problems you may not be used to (visas, accommodations, time management or working from places you never think of). Maybe a trip to you own country can be a nice first step.
You’re not alone: search for a partner to share this experience. There’s a lot of nomads out there who can help you out.
There’s always a price: To travel around with you laptop implies being away from your friends, family or relationships but it is also a great opportunity to learn about new cultures, make new friends and to get to know better yourself.
Get your ticket for WordCamp Sofia 2017 today to listen to Mauricio and our other great speakers live on November 11th.
