Learn Modern WordPress Development With Me

Josh Pollock - August 10, 2016

Cherry TreeCherry Tree

Photo by: Maja PetricSomewhere, in a parallel universe, I’m teaching high school science in an under-served New York City public school. At the beginning of the journey that led me to becoming a WordPress developer, I turned down an opportunity to join the New York City Teaching Fellows.

This was 2010 and New York City was balancing its budget by slashing education funding. It was the wrong time to go into teaching, but I do sometimes regret not becoming a teacher.

But one of the things that the WordPress community has given me is the opportunity to teach. It’s something I love to do — writing about WordPress development, speaking at WordCamps and creating my REST API course — it’s all something I just can’t get enough of. I’m always looking for ways to teach more.

Plugin Development For Everyone

Photo by: veeterzyToday, I’m super excited to announce a new course “WordPress Plugin Development With The WordPress REST API.” This course is what you need to get started with modern WordPress development. It’s not just about the WordPress REST API, but obviously that’s a huge part of what I will teach.

This course is not just for people who want to develop plugins for release, but also, for those who want do site development. You will learn how to create quality, reusable code you can implement on one or more client sites.

strawberriesWe will be offering this course as a one day workshop and as an online video course. The first workshop will be held in Pittsburgh on September 16th, the day before WordCamp Pittsburgh. The second workshop will be held in Tallahassee in October, date to be announced soon.

The workshops will offer both lecture-style instruction and hands-on work time to apply what you have learned. The video course, which will be available later this year will include all of the example code from the course, so you can practice what you have learned or use that code as a jumping off point for something of your own.

What You Will Learn

This is me, at WordCamp San Diego using the force to summon an object to me in the middle of my talk. Photo by Joe McDonald.

Photo by Joe McDonald.

I’m going to teach how to use WordPress hooks — the WordPress plugins API — using real object-oriented PHP. That way you can develop plugins that can work in traditional WordPress themes, via the REST API or both. Then I will show how to build a custom REST API, using object-oriented PHP.

Then we will finish with what you need to know about JavaScript to build a great user-interface that interacts with the WordPress REST API.

I hope you see the progression here. Solid foundation for a REST API and other APIs to a REST API to an interface that uses the REST API. That is what I think is necessary for modern WordPress plugin development.

A Big Thank You

LoopConf Logo

This course’s super-awesome level sponsors are WPSiteCare and LoopConf. It would not be happening with out that support. I’d like to say a big thanks to Ryan Sullivan, the founder of WPSiteCare and LoopConf for believing in the value of this course and backing us.

This is an introductory course that’s designed to get you leveled up fast and ready to start tackling serious WordPress development projects. If you purchase a ticket for the workshop, or pre-order the videos before September 1st, you will receive a $100 discount for LoopConf — the premiere conference for WordPress developers.

Those who sign up for the course will also receive 15% off the WPSiteCare Annual Protect Plan, which offers encrypted backups, 24/7 malware scanning, fully managed plugin, theme, core WordPress updates and more.

I hope to see you at LoopConf this year, giving an advanced Workshop on WordPress development with the REST API and AngularJS. That workshop will be a great follow up to the one I’m announcing today.

Stronger Communities

Downtown PittsburghFor me, WordPress is about community. I just wandered into this, but as soon as I went to my first WordCamp and got involved with Pods, I knew this community was special.

I learned early the mantra of “Add Value” and I’ve done my best to live that mantra. I know I’ve benefited from it and that others have benefited from my contributions in education, code and more.

Unless you know where I grew up — Pittsburgh, PA — and where I live — Tallahassee, FL — the choice of Pittsburgh and Tallahassee for our in-person workshops may sound strange. But community begins at home.

When I made the goal to teach more this year, I wanted to make sure I was contributing to growing Tallahassee’s technology industry. It’s my hope to provide young people in Tallahassee the training needed to make a career in WordPress and help meet the demand in the WordPress community for developers that know “The WordPress Way.”

Tallahassee SkylineAnd yes, I’d like to do more of these workshops in other cities, contact me if you want to make that happen in your community. But, I’m starting at home.

These workshop is a step towards that, while creating new video content that anyone can purchase, no matter where in our global community they live.

So, to my friends in the WordPress community, I’m asking you to support this new course. Help me grow these communities. Your purchase of this course is an investment in your own future, because you or whoever you buy it for can learn from it, but also, so we can keep this awesome community vibrant and growing for years to come.