2012 Review, 2013 Look-ahead

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At the beginning of 2012, I did a soft reboot of this blog with the intention of using as a log for a daily practice of contributing to WordPress, no matter how small the day’s contribution: it could be as small as helping a beginner user with an easy (for me) question, or as big as a patch on a new feature.

I didn’t do so hot with the daily logging part, but the rest turned out pretty well:

  • I contributed code to WordPress 3.4 and 3.5, and I’m busy thinking about what I can do for 3.6.
  • I was named a Recent Rockstar for the 3.4 release, and you know I saved screenshots of the credits screen.
  • I was invited to the first WordPress Community Summit, which was an incredible honor and a bit of a life-changer.
  • I gave my first conference talk at WordCamp Raleigh, about making the move from being a committed user or dev to being a community contributor — and including all kinds of roles in “contributor”.
  • Outside of WP-land, I was selected to attend the Ada Initiative’s AdaCamp DC conference. Between that and the Summit, I had two conferences this year that really expanded my views on what we do in open source and open culture, how our communities can make a foundation for that work, and my own place as a part of all that.

Looking ahead to 2013, I’m looking toward a mix of stepping up technical skills and turning everything I did last year into stuff that benefits people other than just me:

  • This is the year I really, seriously, learn JavaScript. Not just cute bits of DOM manipulation, but the stuff you build apps with. Turns out it’s a really cool language.
  • I want to speak more. I want to polish up the community stuff, and also add at least one technical subject to the list of subjects I can talk about.
  • Release more code in public. Whether it’s paid or free, the fact is that I do better work when it’s not just hidden away in the back end of a single site.
  • Find a team, part 1. I don’t yet know what form this will take: whether it means looking for a job or redirecting my freelance work toward bigger projects with distributed teams, but I do know that solo projects are limited projects compared to what I can do with good partners.
  • Find a team, part 2. As an outgrowth of the Community Summit, a new WordPress Community Outreach team was founded, and we’ll be starting up in the new year. Don’t worry — I’ll still be working on core code and reviews, but the Community team is an amazing mix of all the empowerment and outreach and learning ideas that drew me in to Open Source in the first place… of course I’m all over that!
  • Blog more. Duh. Maybe I’ll try logging some of my contributions.

One thought on “2012 Review, 2013 Look-ahead”

  1. Awesome list Amy and strangely very similar to mine. I also have “learn js” on my to-do list and I’ve even signed up for a class early January.

    I tried to look for a team this year, but didn’t do so well. I’ve been on my own since 2001 and I’m starting to think that getting a job is my next move, but I keep going back and forth. The pros for remaining a freelancer are so strong. I’m not sure I would truly be happy working for a large company, but part of a smallish team may be what I need, at least for one or 2 projects.

    On my list of things to do this year, is more responsive sites. At the community summit, chatting to Rachel Baker is what changed my mind. I think that convincing clients to go responsive is the way to go and I’ll aim to do that this year.

    Here’s to 2013 and hopefully meeting again at a WordCamp near you.
    Cheers

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