Dwayne McDaniel has been working in tech and open source sales since 2005. He knew as soon as he started working with Java middleware developers he never wanted to work outside of open source ever again. Dwayne first started building in Drupal and WordPress for the San Francisco Improv teams and projects. He fell in the love the community and then found a position at Pantheon at the end of 2013. As a Community and Agency Success Manager he has had the privilege of presenting at dozens of community events from Paris to Iceland to MIT and Stanford. Outside of tech he loves producing and performing improv theater, reading webcomics and singing karaoke!
We’re thrilled to have Dwayne onboard as a speaker at WordCamp Sacramento 2018 asked a few questions to help you get to know more about him. Check out our mini interview with Dwayne below:
What is the topic of your WordCamp talk?
Why do you think this is important?
The biggest thing I want people to take away is that it is going to become more and more important to test content in in multiple environments as we are seeing configuration move back into that content. Think nested blocks and API keys. Moving content is a traditionally a pretty hard problem if you are unable to access the DB. WP-CLI makes it straightforward to post content and manipulate it in so many awesome ways.
This use case is just one of many you can create with the tools and I hope it inspires people to dig deeper into this end of the product. Between the CLI and the Rest API, WP will let you do just about anything as a framework.
What’s your WordPress origin story?
Originally I was a blogger. I didn’t ever think about building a WP site of my own until late 2013 and went with Drupal instead for the final project, which lead to me working for Pantheon. Once I started to talk to WP developers I dove in and have not looked back, developing a number of different sites along the way. These days I focus on tooling and give back with the https://Make.WordPress.Org/Marketing community.
How has WordPress impacted your world?
Helping people communicate better is a wonderful thing to say here, but the truth is I was the one who learned to communicate better through blogging. And the best blogging platform I have ever yet to find is WordPress. Writing and posting over the years made such a huge difference between not having a voice and at least getting my voice out there somewhere on the free and open internet. Getting to give back now feels amazing.
You can connect with Dwayne further at:
Get Your Ticket ASAP!
WordCamp Sacramento 2018 sold out in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and we do expect it to sell out again. Be sure to get your WordCamp Tickets asap to secure you spot at this awesome event! Tickets are only $40 (thanks to our generous sponsors) and include:
- Two full days of Beginner Tracks, walking new users through how to use WordPress.
- Two mixed tracks of sessions on Saturday.
- Two mixed tracks of sessions on Sunday.
- A Happiness Bar — our version of a help desk, open throughout the event so you can get help with your site and get your questions answered.
- An opportunity to network with and meet sponsors, speakers, and other WordPress community members, including business owners, designers, developers, agency owners, bloggers, copywriters, freelancers, site owners, and more.
- Refreshing drinks throughout the entire event.
- A WordCamp Sacramento 2018 t-shirt.
- A catered lunch on Saturday.
- A networking reception Saturday immediately following the event.
- Snacks on Sunday.