meetup

Meet the speaker: Brad Williams

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Brad Williams

He’s a published book author, the founder of a prominent WordPress agency, and he’s been developing websites for over 20 years. He’s also the only “official” guru we know. (He won the SitePoint Forums ASP Guru of the Year Award 2005 - 2007).

Brad Williams is the co-founder of WebDevStudios.com and co-author of the books Professional WordPress and Professional WordPress Plugin Development. He’ll be joining us at Prestige Conference Las Vegas to discuss hiring employee #1 and the process of moving from self-employed to building a team.

In 3 sentences or less, please describe what you do for a living:

I am the Co-founder and CEO of WebDevStudios.com, the Co-Author of Professional WordPress 1E-3E & Professional WordPress Plugin Development, and a Co-host on the DradCast WordPress podcast. I also Co-organize the Philly WordPress Meetup and WordCamp Philly.

You could say I love WordPress and might be slightly addicted! :D

Why this career and not something else?

I have always been fascinated by computers and technology. My first computer was a Commodore 64, which is the first machine I learned to program on around the age of 10. Over the years I knew computers were the future for me, but I wasn’t entirely sure what area of computers I wanted to focus on. Then the internet was born and that question was very easy to answer. I wanted to build websites.

When did you figure out what you wanted to be when you grew up?

I knew from an early age I wanted to work with computers and specifically the internet. When I first experienced the internet I knew I was home. I began coding websites early on when most of my friends had no idea what the internet was. I think I rolled out my first static HTML website on AOL 2.0 over at 2400bps modem.

Once you figured out you wanted to build websites for a living, how did you start making things happen?

When I knew building websites was it for me I sought out every single computer course I could take. In High School, I took every programming course available, which was one. I also took courses at local community colleges that were available. My Parents were extremely supportive and helped me not only find these courses, but get me there as well.

If it wasn’t about computers I wasn’t interested, which is why I wasn’t a great student. When deciding what to do after graduating High School I came to the conclusion that college was not for me. Instead, I decided to join the United States Marine Corps as, get this, a computer programmer. The Marine Corps sent me to extensive training for computer programming and I served 4-years in the Corps learning as much as I could. My military career really laid the groundwork for my career in computer programming.

Who were your most valuable mentors and how did you connect with them?

I think my most valuable mentors were the developers I worked with over the years that were better than me. They gave me the mentorship, training, and drive I needed to push myself to bigger and better things. The best way to push yourself to greatness is to work with people smarter than you.

That’s why I consider my team at WebDevStudios my mentors now. They are hands down the best WordPress developers and designers out there and inspire me on a daily basis.

What’s coming up next for you?

I am always striving to grow WebDevStudios to be the best WordPress agency on the planet. We started the company on a coffee table and have grown into an amazing agency with a portfolio that still boggles my mind.

We also love to push the envelope of WordPress and create websites and apps that blow people’s minds when they realize its WordPress. You can expect to see much more of this in the future!

Any industry predictions for 2015?

I strongly feel the WordPress REST API is a game changer. I expect to see completely new commercial markets emerge that interact with WordPress through this new API. We’re already seeing this is some spaces, including Reactor from AppPresser.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

I don’t generally read books, I just write them. ;)

Favorite “guilty pleasure” song or band that you can’t help but rock out to?

Christmas music. I love Christmas music!

Name one thing you’re looking forward to for Prestige Conference Las Vegas:

Networking with new and old friends alike. Also, warm weather!

Meet the Speaker: John Hawkins

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John Hawkins

If you’ve been to a WordCamp, chances are you’ve met John Hawkins before. This self-proclaimed WordCamp addict has attended, spoken, and sponsored more than 20 of them across the US. We’re willing to bet the number is much, much higher than that, but after so many, it’s easy to lose count.

John is the founder of 9seeds, a WordPress development team based on Las Vegas, NV. He runs the Las Vegas WordPress meetup group and is the lead organizer for WordCamp Las Vegas. Most recently, John launched the Hawk Talk Podcast where interviews guests on a variety of topics, including (of course) WordPress. He also blogs at VegasGeek.com.

To say John is a community leader is an understatement. We’re excited to have him involved with Prestige Conference as both a speaker and a sponsor for our Las Vegas event.

In 3 sentences or less, please describe what you do for a living:

I’m a partner at 9seeds. I lead the biz dev team and focus on client communications. Occasionally, they let me write a line or two of code. Occasionally.

Why this career and not something else?

As an early adopter of WordPress, I was already in the community from the beginning. As I started building more and more sites for friends, family and a couple small businesses, I really fell in love with the process. Why not do something I love for a living?

When did you figure out what you wanted to be when you grew up?

When I was 10 years old I bought my first computer with my own money. An Atari 400. I was hooked. I don’t know that I knew then what exactly I wanted to be, but I knew that it would be focused on building stuff with computers.

Once you figured out what you wanted to do with your career, how did you start making things happen?

I spent nights and weekends all through my teenage years writing all sorts of little programs on a Commodore 64. Remember Compute magazine? It used to have code for programs you could write and then run to play games. I’d stay up all night on a Friday to type in the code, play the game for a short time and then, because I had no way to save what I was doing, I’d turn the machine off and the game would be gone. It sounds kinda painful, but those were some of my favorite weekends ever.

Who were your most valuable mentors and how did you connect with them?

Wow, that’s a tough one. I’m like a sponge and I like to pick up tips and tricks from a lot of different people. Chris Brogan has always been somebody I’ve looked up to and have learned a ton from.

What’s coming up next for you?

At my company we’re looking at products as a way to grow our business. So I see a bit of a shift coming from us in 2015. Nothing drastic, we’re not stopping client work, but more likely building up a new team to have a different focus.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

I just finished reading a book called Embrace the Suck. It’s about a guy’s journey in to the world of CrossFit. While I’m driving, I’m currently listening to Book 3 of the Game of Thrones series (but I don’t drive a lot, so it’s going to take me forever to finish all 5 books). And I just started a book called “18 minutes: Find your focus, master distraction and get the right things done.”

Favorite “guilty pleasure” song or band that you can’t help but rock out to?

Seriously, that Taylor Swift writes some catchy tunes. I’d be lying if I said they didn’t get stuck in my head lately.

You’re not going to print this, right? ;)

Name one thing you’re looking forward to for Prestige Conference Las Vegas:

Honestly, just the conference as a whole. I heard so much great stuff about the first Prestige event, I’m absolutely thrilled that they picked Vegas as the second location. I would have traveled to attend if it wasn’t in Vegas, but it’s sure nice to have it right here in my back yard!