Tag: development

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QA != Tester

Last Saturday I had one of those epiphany moments for something way too obvious, still too shocking for me at the moment of speaking. It was related to the QA process and the place of the QA role in the software industry. I got involved in a discussion on Saturday evening regarding several different technical specialties. There were three of us teaching classes at the Telerik Academy here. Trainees could end up as: developers, frontend engineers, support experts, QA guys etc. Not surprisingly for me, most people tend to lean towards the development department, i.e. trying to join the dev… Continue Reading
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Periodic Table, my First Public Upload

Recently I found a link to an app that I've published online almost 10 years ago and as far as I remember, it's my first publicly available application ever, free for download: I'm definitely not proud with the overall end product or the code quality produced back then, but that's my first contribution to the free software initiative and I felt somewhat sentimental. The application was written in Visual Basic and it was a cheat sheet of the Periodic Table of the Elements, displaying various details for each element like the atomic number, temperatures of boiling or melting, density. It… Continue Reading
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How to Identify, Debug, and Improve Messed Up WordPress Code

Debugging and improving upon a messed up WordPress project is quite a challenge. A common misconception in the WordPress world is that a website would work "just fine" by setting up a few WordPress plugins combined with a premium theme. Sure - you can also set up a massive enterprise platform that consumes 8GB of RAM for the first load but it doesn’t make it efficient or the right choice for a successful project. Building a website that is supposed to scale and grow with time by bundling a few dozen plugins in it is “doing it wrong”. WordPress Plugins… Continue Reading
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Quora AmA Recap – Enterprise WordPress Development Business

I've been spending plenty of time on Quora over the past months. In fact, it probably is my primarily place online - excluding work-related activities with my team, clients, and partners. It's a brilliant platform for various reasons: I educate myself on areas where I lack enough expertise. I validate my theories through the answers of others. I receive instant feedback on my comments and answers through views, upvotes, and the overall ranking system. Some of my answers have been republished on Forbes, Inc, HuffPost, Apple News. I also follow a number of CEOs and directors from companies that I respect and… Continue Reading
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Why Are Estimates Challenging For Custom Development Work?

I've been browsing and replying on Quora over the holidays and one of the questions made me think deeper about the estimation challenges when quoting custom development work: At DevWP I've already blogged about why I avoid estimates and the reason we do provide retainer services for our ongoing accounts. I'm no stranger to budget constraints and upfront expectations, but unlike the products business, services may vary drastically. [caption id="attachment_12201" align="aligncenter" width="1241"] dilbert.com showcases estimates in a nutshell[/caption] In the Quora example, the customer needed a drawing solution for his website. However, there are plenty of variables, such as: What features… Continue Reading
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Talking SaaS at WordCamp Netherlands This Weekend

The Netherlands is one of the most active communities in the European WordPress ecosystem, and I'm very much excited to talk about Software as a Service applications in the WordPress context this weekend in Utrecht! WordCamp Netherlands is hosted in Utrecht this year, with a Contributor Day on Friday, Oct 14, and a couple of days with talks in two parallel tracks on Oct 15 and Oct 16. I'm basically closing the WordCamp with the last talk of day 2 talking about "Building SaaS with WordPress" while Franz Vitulli is talking about Slack and internal communication in the other room. I will share… Continue Reading
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The Challenges Of Building a Site For a Friend

I often receive referrals or friends asking me to set up a WordPress website for them. It's usually something fairly small - such as a 5-page business website or a simple magazine website. They are close friends of mine or have been recommended through my network. They have received some offers, but are looking for a reliable solution instead of a shady freelancer or a random website building company. [caption id="attachment_12623" align="aligncenter" width="821"] Costs vs. Value[/caption] Generally speaking, I usually price services based on one of these two approaches: Free help for friends and family for trivial tasks and general guidance.… Continue Reading
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Code Quality And Free Plugins

Update Apr 29, 2015: My friend Emil from ThemeReview.co announced their Plugin Review service which I highly recommend for all plugin authors, business owners and clients - high quality means higher security, better performance and compatibility for your project. We have these regular discussions on Open Source, the future of WordPress and such. I've been discussing the global community aspect and the challenges with the self-made development titles, so let's take a closer look at the community. Growing WordPress As I've said before, I'm all in when it comes to having an Open Source platform for everyone to use and play it. It's… Continue Reading
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On WordPress Talent Shortage

Last week Andy Adams posted a great post - The WordPress Talent Shortage Might Be a Pricing Problem. I hadn't met Andy before, noticed the post through Brian and Jeffro, but I read it three times and I do agree with a lots of his thoughts and conclusions. I’d like to propose that the shortage of developers might actually be a pricing problem. Specifically, WordPress salaries and rates are not high enough to draw talent. What is the level of our experts? WordPress Development Experts If we ignore the Job Title discussion or the issues with the community experts for a bit, the developer community… Continue Reading
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Web Development and WordPress Online Training

The end of my PHP course at the Software University is near, and I'm planning a new program for WordPress development. I've been teaching courses since 2006, take a look at my training portfolio. Few of the companies where I have trained employees are: VMware, SAP Labs, Software AG, Melexis, and I have also trained groups at CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and Saudi Aramco - the world's most valuable company. I am a seasoned teacher at several universities and technical schools, and I have presented at several WordCamps around the world, such as: Edinburgh, London, Oslo, Sofia, Porto, the Netherlands,… Continue Reading