Privileged – HeroPress

Privileged! That’s one weird way to begin a story but that is where I will kick off. Do not be deceived! I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth nor did I miss a meal in a day, however, there are many others in the community who have a different story to tell.

Cut! From the top…

When you read most of the articles on this ginormous account of lives (HeroPress), one theme stands out, “WordPress allowed me to create the life I wanted” and my story does not differ from the others apart from the finer details.

For most of my life, I have wanted to create a leveled playing field for others and myself. That is one lesson my parents labored to teach me; to consider others as well as myself. So for most of my dreamy childhood, I spent my tv-less afternoons contemplating building an orphanage or something that would help those who did not have the gifts/experience I had obtained in the universe. But how would I do this?

I was privileged to go through school from Kindergarten to University (We shall skip the nitty gritty) and obtained a Bachelors in Commerce. That continues to debunk the myth that most IT enthusiasts (read “nerds/geeks”) have a computer science degree. I do not have one and having it might supercharge my ego so I have sunset-ted that idea. Rather, I have focused to push in a direction that one of my former employers highlighted. He said, “You will make a good product manager one day!”. And I am building some WordPress plugins projects to come soon. But let’s rewind to the earlier story.

Yah! No CS degree.

“But how did you get into the IT field?” you might ask.

During my high school long vacation, I broke my sister’s work computer one fateful mid-morning. I had to fix it immediately. At that point in time, it was her life’s work. Luckily, it was just the operating system that was broken. I reinstalled it and that is how I learnt about how software worked. Coincidentally, that is how my passion for IT started.

2 years later, I secretly kept learning new things, HTML but Javascript completely threw me off. So I focused on HTML and CSS which allowed me to make some pocket change while I went through university. I had many corporate clients who sought me out in my university hall for a website.

So I studied 8am-1pm and worked in the afternoons and evening. This allowed me to save up for my first rental fees for when I left school.

(Plays evil music with a surreptitious wink)

Around 2009, one of my mentors in the web development game, challenged me to convert a PSD to WordPress because the client wanted to DIY the changes on their site overtime without need for a technician. As a reward, he would reward me for the hard work more than I had ever earned. He specifically asked for WordPress. I was lost in a new world. My thoughts only run around the idea that one could D.I.Y.

I was a business major, not a database guy. I had no PHP knowledge besides googling up how to make a contact form and linking the form fields. That is how I knew how to make websites. This new task had so many challenges. It led me to learn all the theme and plugin basics from the WP repo but all the themes in the repo did not match what the graphics designer had made. I was toast! We lost the contract because of learning and doing time constraints, but I was now on a new path.

Sigh!

That is how I met Chris Coyier, Jeffery Way, Tom McFarlin and Morten Rand-Hendriksen in that order. Like I said, “I was privileged”. I had the industry leaders show me the way via their video tutorials.

• Chris taught me how to convert PSD to HTML with WordPress PHP via custom themes.
• Jeffrey taught me how to make plugins. Cementing my PHP and Code architecture.
• Tom taught me about making admin pages with options.
• Morten showed me how to make things mobile and styling complex menus.
• Google introduced me to stack overflow and the numerous WordPress blogs I am thankful for.

(Sniffs with tears)

Yes, I am not particularly talented but a good copycat. I followed what they did and deviated a little bit making solutions for my clients and myself. I learnt pretty fast and that is how I honed my current skill.

I kept challenging myself and now I blog about the solutions and have since started a Youtube channel to freely share the knowledge I have attained over time.

Privilege! Such an elite word with a capital P Dangit! For some it comes in different shades, others societal class, others in the life growth patterns. Why do I highlight this? It is because one never sees it unless they take time to meditate and be thankful for what they have.

Some Context

For context, I live in Uganda (East Africa) just on the outskirts of Kampala, its city. With over 70% of the 45 million people as youth and above 87% are unemployed. 25% of the entire population is impoverished (US$0.88–US$1.04 per person per day as the national poverty line. This measure is much lower than the World Bank’s international figure of US$1.90 ). So some of the underrepresentation challenges in the west are multiplied tenfold.

Yes, Privilege! My education really set me up. I went to “good” schools which gave me more opportunities. Through hard work, I got a government scholarship at university which allowed me to study in the morning and work in the evenings. In contrast, the privately sponsored students had a mixed schedule with no wiggle room. So when I was finally leaving school, WordPress had already set me up with a job. I was a freelance web developer with WordPress experience.

From then, I had work that trickled in with the e-commerce world starting to grow in Uganda in the early-mid 2010s. I turned my focus to the global market. That has since yielded much better fruit.

I am thankful for the large and friendly people in the community who have continued to shepherd me in my learning through their blogs, tweets and tutorials online.

At some point, the work becomes too much. And as the saying goes, “busy is good!” You cannot do everything. Since the end of last year, we are now transitioning into a full time WordPress Agency with the help that has come my way.

My dream is materializing. I needn’t build an orphanage when I can share some of my blessings (read work) with others. I am privileged to lead my local WordPress community in Kampala and that allows me to interface/share with lots of local talent.

I am penning this article at the office desk as I wait for Sharon and Faith; two brilliant ladies that I am co-laboring with to come in and we begin the day.

We can all change the world with one simple step(fork) at a time.

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