Developer Hours is returning

After a successful trial, a new series of events, entitled “Developer Hours” will be available. These sessions are free to join and participate in. They will take place on Zoom video-conferencing, and will variously consist of discussion sessions and question and answer sessions aimed at developers working with WordPress.


It’s said that “no-one is an island”, and that is as true for developers as it is for anyone. While documentation and tutorials can take you so far, sometimes there’s just no substitute for talking to other developers who are facing the same struggles as you, or getting advice from those who are more experienced than you and who are able to help you overcome your problems – or at the very least point you in the right direction.

The pilot

In early 2022 a set of four trial events was scheduled to provide developers with a forum for such interactions. These events were held under the moniker “Developer Hours”.

These initial events proved to be enormously successful. Links to the videos from these trial events can be found at the bottom of this post. Given this success the decision has been taken to iterate on this trial in 2023 and make Developer Hours a fixture in the calendar for WordPress developers.

Developer Hours will henceforth be held regularly. They are discussion and question and answer events aimed at developers working with WordPress. Anyone is welcome to attend, whether you are a freelancer or work in an agency, and whether your special area of interest is coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. or themes or plugins, or indeed any combination thereof. 

The initial four trial events were purposely unstructured, although attendees were able to send questions in advance so the panelists could prepare meaningful answers. The facilitators and moderators could structure the session on the fly, thereby lending each event an air of spontaneity. 

Feedback provided by attendees and panelists at those initial sessions resulted in the following insight. Rather than the sessions being open-ended and having a broad range of questions covering a variety of development topics, each scheduled Developer Hours session should instead center around a particular topic or theme. This will ensure that each session has a clear focus, it will set expectations, and it will help ensure both that the event is well structured and that it provides value for each of the participants involved. 

Future events

The newly re-launched Developer Hours events will provide you with the opportunity to connect with other WordPress developers, to have a platform to air your concerns or relate your experiences, and to ask a panel of peers and experts about best approaches, tooling, coding and implementation problems, and a variety of other topics related to WordPress development. There’s sure to be someone in each session who can help you or who can address any concerns you may raise.

If you’re starting out and seeking help and advice, an experienced developer who is willing to share their knowledge and expertise to help others, or if you just want to voice your thoughts and opinions to anyone willing to listen, or even vent your frustrations, then Developer hours are for you.

The first three Developer Hours have already been scheduled. The focus for these will be pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party development and they will have a special emphasis on migrating a PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher based plugin, e.g. migrating one that renders content using a shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. or widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. to blocks. So, if you are a plugin developer who is planning, or has already tried, to modify your plugin to also implement a blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience., then one of these sessions is for you. 

The following events have been scheduled and are available for you to sign-up: 

DateTimeEventHosts
Mon, February, 6, 202314:00 UTCDeveloper Hours: Migrate a plugin to blocks
(EMEA)
Michael Burridge
Ryan Welcher
Mon, February 27, 202317:00 UTCDeveloper Hours: Migrate a plugin to blocks
(Americas)
Justin Tadlock
Ryan Welcher
Mon, March 27, 202308:00 UTCDeveloper Hours: Migrate a plugin to blocks
(EMEA / Asia-Pacific)
Jonathan Bossenger
Michael Burridge

These sessions will be held on Zoom and each has been scheduled for different times to cover as many timezones as possible. Click the link for the event scheduled for your region and RSVP on Meetup to join the event. You will see the correct time adjusted for your timezone in MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.. We look forward to seeing you there.

If your interests lie elsewhere then keep a lookout for more upcoming events covering different topics. These are sure to be scheduled soon. 

Get involved

Do you have a particular topic that you want to see discussed? Please suggest it in the comments below or head over to the #core-editor channel in Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and suggest it there. If you’re willing to host a Developer Hours session, new volunteers are very welcome.


Please note that all Developer Hours events will be recorded and the recording will be uploaded to WordPress.tv and to YouTube. Participation in a Developer Hours event implies agreement to, and acceptance of, this – though remember that there are no “stupid questions” and no-one is expected to know everything. We are all learning all the time. The hope is that these recordings will be a useful and valuable learning resource for developers working with WordPress who were not able to attend.


Project background and recordings from 2022


Props to: @juanmaguitar, @bph, @webcommsat, @hellofromtonya for contributions to this post.

#developer-hours