{"id":1866,"date":"2012-06-19T17:58:36","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T22:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2012.fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2012-06-20T12:10:12","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T17:10:12","slug":"why-wordcamp-matters-to-me-megan-perez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/why-wordcamp-matters-to-me-megan-perez\/","title":{"rendered":"Why WordCamp Matters to Me-Megan Perez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WordPressThis one time, at WordCamp, a light-bulb switched on. It was the summer of 2010. I was just finishing up a three-year contract as a librarian at the University of Arkansas. I had done a tiny bit of design work and, at that point, had been working with WordPress for about three or four years. I knew the Dashboard. I knew about plugins and stats and the Editor. I also knew, however, that I really I didn\u2019t know much at all. I didn\u2019t know much, that is, until I went to WordCamp Fayetteville.<\/p>\n

WordCamp 2010 was a focused, light, sometimes intense and, at other times, fun, shared learning experience. For the first time, I was exposed to subjects I didn\u2019t have any direct experience with: custom posts, BuddyPress, and CSS3 to name a few. I had heard of these things, but I couldn\u2019t explain how these things worked to another Camper.\u00a0 At the same time, however, I learned that there were some things I knew how to do; things other people struggled with. I knew how to write. I knew how to use WordPress for non-profits on a shoestring budget. I knew about analytics; and I knew some of the best practices for integrating social media with WP.<\/p>\n

WordCamp was the perfect litmus test for me, especially since I was switching careers and coming out of a profession I had been working in for the previous nine years. I needed to know if I could really make a run at a career in the design world or if I should just stick with academia. I was worried. I was unemployed. I was mentally wandering and wasn\u2019t sure where I would land. Thankfully, I found a place I can call “home.”<\/p>\n

One of the most unexpected things I learned at WordCamp, besides all of the technical \u201chard\u201d skills, was that there is a strong, active, global and inspiring community of artists and entrepreneurs who are always looking for fresh eyes and new energy. I met business owners, journalists, community organizers and other creatives at WordCamp, some of which I have become great friends with since then.<\/p>\n

Through WordCamp, I gained confidence in myself, learned about my own skills and abilities, and connected with an energetic group of collaborative, talented and Fonzie-cool people that I just want to hang around with all the time. Sometimes I wish I could miniaturize them and carry them around in my pocket a couple of times a week. Thankfully, because of WordCamp, I sort of do. We guest blog for each other. We follow each others\u2019 tweets and wall posts; and we learn and problem-solve together. I love my WP friends.<\/p>\n

Thanks for connecting us, WordCamp Fayetteville.<\/p>\n

-Megan Perez\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This one time, at WordCamp, a light-bulb switched on. It was the summer of 2010. I was just finishing up a three-year contract as a librarian at the University of Arkansas. I had done a tiny bit of design work … Continue reading Why WordCamp Matters to Me-Megan Perez<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3109479,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5767],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordcamp-fayetteville-2011"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2g2SV-u6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3109479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1901,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions\/1901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fayetteville.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}