Get To Know Jon Shumate

I love building on the web and mobile. I love startups (I’ve now started three of them). At this point, I feel like a salty web old timer, but with that comes hard won skills on both the tech and business fronts. I’m a builder for life, steeped in full stack web development, from interfaces and user experience to data & code architecture including API development and integration. I’m skilled with Php, Ruby on Rails, MySql, Postgres, Javascript & Node, Famous, React, Polymer and a healthy smattering of other buzzy acronyms.

We’re thrilled Jon will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2016 and sharing his story of building A Slack Bot SAAS Built On WordPress!

Speaker Q&A With Jon

To help you learn even more about Jon, we asked him to answer a few questions for us, some WordPress-related, and some others we think you’ll appreciate 🙂 Be sure to give him a shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.

What inspired you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I love WordPress like a bee loves honey, and now I love Slack too. Building a Slackbot service with WordPress as the backend was a fun challenge and I thought it’d be a fun thing to share.

How did you discover WordPress?

I put myself through college designing and developing small business websites. I couldn’t help but become aware of and start loving WordPress. You can build amazing businesses on it for zero dollars. That value equation is unparalleled.

How has WordPress Or WordCamp impacted you?

WordPress is the single most important tech I’ve ever used. I’ve done literally over 100 websites with it, many web apps, etc. I’ve built businesses on it and am launching two more. Even though I now use Rails and Node as well, WordPress still holds a special place in my heart and arsenal.

How do you primarily work with WordPress?

It’s my go to for websites. I’m also building two SAAS businesses with it.

What does the WordCamp theme Discovery mean to you?

I like to see unexpected things being built on WordPress. That’s what led to my Slackbot SAAS.

What is the latest book you read?

Chaos Monkeys by Antonio García Martínez.

What is your favorite restaurant? Favorite menu item?

• Katrinas in Auburn, CA
• Lemon pancakes

What TV series are you current binging on/into?

Lucifer.

What do you do for fun?

Basketball and Yuba River/Nevada City for swimming and ice cream. Playing music.