This is the third post in a series to help you get to know our 2015 WordCamp Sacramento organizers a little better! We kicked the series off by introducing you to Bill Mead and Brian Bourn, and today you get to learn a little more about Jake Goldman.
Be sure to give Jake at shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.
Get To Know Jake
Jake Goldman is the President & Founder of 10up, a web agency focused on outstanding content management experiences, with full time designers, engineers, strategists, and systems experts. Jake bootstrapped 10up from a 1 man show to a leading force in the WordPress market with over 120 employees, and customers like ESPN, Microsoft, Google, TED, Dropbox, and AARP — to name just a few — in 4 years.
He has been building websites since the mid 90s, and his analyses have been quoted on publications like Fast Company and c|net. He is a core contributor to WordPress, and maintains some of the highest rated plug-ins on the official repository; cumulatively, they have been downloaded nearly 1 million times.
He’s also a proud web community volunteer: he co-organized the first WordCamp Boston in 2010 while living in Rhode Island, started the Providence WordPress Meetup in late 2010, rebooted the Sacramento WordPress Meetup in 2013, and is now proud to be co-organizing Sacramento’s first WordCamp.
WordPress Q&A With Jake
Why WordPress? Why do you use it?
I’ve been working with content management since roughly 2002, including significant time with a lesser known ColdFusion platform and Drupal (and plenty of bespoke work!). WordPress consistently made for happy customers with a very reasonable cost of ownership. I thrive at the intersection of sales, user experience, and engineering, and WordPress was clearly a platform that delivered success on all three fronts. And had a great community to boot!
What is your favorite thing/feature in WordPress?
It’s openness and extensibility as a platform: we can really solve any content problem, big or small, using it as a platform.
Share 1-2 plugins you use often and think people need to know about.
Honestly, I created the plugins I needed all of the time: Simple Page Ordering (solves the clunky core page ordering) and Restricted Site Access (makes it easy to block a staging or development site).
How has the community made a difference for you or influenced you?
My first WordCamps were arguably an inflection point where WordPress shifted from being a “tool I was really appreciating” to a platform I wanted to turn my full attention to. I found 10up’s first employees, and continue to find many outstanding partners and coworkers through our vibrant community. It’s been an immense well of both inspiration and resources.
What makes Sacramento awesome? Why should people be excited to come to Sacramento for WordCamp?
Having lived here for only 3 years, I feel uniquely qualified to say that Sacramento is really underrated: the weather is beautiful in November, it’s incredibly convenient and easy to get to from all over California, and the people are kind. It has a nice downtown, all without the congestion and associated aggravation in some of the larger California cities.