Students in my Clark College WordPress class are required to interview a WordPress professional and member of the WordPress Community as part of their assignments for our student managed site, ClarkWP Magazine.
Would you like to be an interview subject?
Here are the qualifications.
- You must use WordPress actively as part of your business. The article will be focused on the usage of WordPress in your business, not you or your business.
- You must work intimately with WordPress on your site or business, ready to answer questions about how WordPress works (or not) for your business.
- Understand that you may be the main subject of the interview, or one of many interviewed about a specific aspect or feature of WordPress.
- You must be willing to communicate with the student on their time schedule and to their best of the student’s ability to connect. They have deadlines. Students typically do email or social media interviews, though some are open to Skype, Google+ Hangouts, and phone interviews. Interview subjects living close to the Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, areas may meet the student in person.
Students come up with their own ideas, questions, and process for the interview. While they do their best to represent you fairly, you will not have an opportunity to review the article before publishing, though you may contact them afterwards and ask for corrections.
You will need to supply them with a photograph of yourself and links to your sites or examples of your work online.
The interviews begin the last three to four weeks of the academic quarter.
If you are a member of the WordPress Community and willing to help a college student interview you, your information will be added to a list. Students will choose an interview subject from that list. There are 16-25 students per class per quarter. Contact for an interview could be this quarter or a future one.
We started this project in Fall of 2014 and it has been an excellent experience for the students to network with members of the WordPress Community and learn more about how WordPress works. The published articles serve as homework assignments as well as credits on their resumes as published authors.
Past interview examples include:
- Interview with WordPress Developer, Jeremy Wilson
- Interview with WordPress Developer Corban Cloud
- Interview with Robert Hughes, Computer Technology (CTEC) Department Chair
- Interview with a Professional WordPress User Jason Meister
- Interview with Scott Gere of Gere Donovan Creative
- Interview with WordPress Blogger: Super Saiyan M
- Interview with Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress
- Interview with Eric Mann
- Interview: Who Are the WordPress Users in Your Neighborhood?
- Interview with Jeff Starr: Perishable Press
- Interview with Kyle Hikalea, Web Developer and Optimizer
- Interview with Bruce Elgort: WordPress for Networking
- Interview with Marci Koski: Fish Biologist
- Interview with WordPress Web Designer Brian Balla
- Interview with Ian Pope: Web Devloper
- Interview with Chris Martin: Professor and Web Developer
- WordPress Developers Discuss Common Fears About Using WordPress
- Interview with Troy Uyan: Developer in the Making
If you are interested in helping students learn more about the WordPress Community, fill in the comment form below and describe your work with WordPress to help the students pick you. Make sure your email and main website is correct in the form fields. Do not publicly publish your email or contact information in the comment box.
Thanks!
Lorelle on WordPress 
70 Comments
Reblogged this on ÇERKEZKÖY HALIYIKAMA TİTİZ HALI.
Sure, I have my own opinion and I love WordPress!
@Michele Jolie: Could you be more specific with your WordPress experience and expertise. I have to describe this to the students on the list from which they will choose. Thanks.
I use WordPress and love it but I do have one huge fear. What will happen if I change themes?
And I really need to change my theme.
At the start (March 2009) I selected a theme that was old then. I think it was already beyond updating. It needs a facelift but I’m so far down the road now that it scares me to think what might happen if I change it.
The interview thing is a great idea, though. Glad I noticed it on my dashboard.
@EnnisP: An odd place to ask as the WordPress forums are the perfect place to ask such questions and keep this discussion on topic. If you change Themes, nothing will happen except your Theme design will change, and the functionality will match that Theme rather than the previous Theme, if there was specific functionality added to the Theme. People change Themes like parents change diapers. Often. No harm done. A little rearranging and rethinking but do it and get over the pain.
I also recommend you check out the extensive information on how to use WordPress for beginners at Learn WordPress. Thanks.
Hi Clark College students,
I am a Marketing Director for lean startups in the US & UK. I use WordPress to host and manage sites for startup companies which vary from measurement equipment for the mining and wastewater industries to small construction companies to record labels, etc.
Currently, I am working on a hosted cloud telephony product in the UK which is being soft-launched. My current obstacles are integrating WordPress with analytics products to measure the success of our inbound lead generation campaigns.
I am really not a developer – more of a “hack.” 🙂 But, I have successfully used WordPress sites to launch startups which are now in eight figure buyout negotiations.
@Rosie: I love hacks. 😀 Ain’t we all one at one or more times in our lives. I like the idea of the students interviewing someone specializing in startup sites. That is quite the specialty. Thanks for volunteering.
Hi, I am a freelance wordpress guru in Hawaii. That alone should make u want to connect with me. 🙂
I manage dozens of sites for clients and create new sites each month
My main focus is serving the small business community and most of my clients are in that group. I am also looking at fine tuning my offerings for several categories of businesses.
WordPress doesn’t fit every project, but works very well for many.
I look forward to hearing back from my fellow wp friends.
I have been developing high impact projects leveraging WordPress for large scale enterprise clients over the last 6 years. I started off when I was a sophomore and it has been an exciting journey since then. I regularly contribute back to the community. It would be a great pleasure to share my experiences with the students and hopefully bring forward some new and interesting perspectives.
@Akshay: Thanks. Thank you for spelling out your specialty, too. That will help the students make their decisions. I hand out the assignment, but they have to choose the interview subject, part of the overall lesson. Thanks!
I have been using WordPress almost from its beginning. I used it as a teaching tool in my Marketing on the Internet and Web Design course for many years until my retirement in 2012. I build exclusively WordPress based Web sites for clients. I am very pleased to see students being exposed to WordPress and develop skills that will distinguish them from their peers. I’ll be happy to participate in your studies and interviews. You can read more about me on my site
@Cemel: I’ve seen you in and around the WordPress Community. I’m sure my students would love to talk to you. I will definitely put you on the list. Thanks for volunteering.
Hi I’m a WordPress trainer exclusively, it’s what I do. Helping beginners and average users get a grip on WP and help them learn and build their sites. Been using it since 2008 and have a marketing, graphic design background for 20+ years. Have designed sites for clients in the past, but primarily teach now. Also, I blog all about WordPress and have a membership site. Lastly, have spoken at several WordCamps, am an organizer for Seattle WordCamp and Seattle WordPress meetup. And I love this kind of interviews! Cheers!
PS see my site for more info
@Bob, you know I adore you and am a great fan of yours. It’s a mutual love fest. You’ve been on my interview list for a while. Just waiting for a student to bite you…so to speak! Thanks for jumping in. You are the best.
I write for a living, which includes books, pamphlets, and blogging. I use WordPress for my blogging; although I host is myself (via pair Network), rather than having WordPress host it.
I’ll be glad to “sit” for an interview.
Eric Hines
@E Hines: Thanks for the offer. I know my students love talking to people focused on the content side of WordPress and web publishing. Great. Thanks!
Yes I would be interested in sharing my thoughts. As a new wordpress user I have had my fair share of learning experiences.
@Adam: Thanks! I’ll add you to the list.
I build and support WordPress sites, nearly exclusively. I would be happy to contribute my thoughts to your students.
Thanks, Scott. Could you be more specific with your specialty in WordPress? Design only, development, coding, customized WordPress Plugins, or all of the above? Thanks!
Hi,
I’m not sure when you sent this, but I’ll be happy to help out.
Regards,
Dr Hale
@Hale: I published this yesterday. 😀 Could you please describe your WordPress expertise? That would help me connect you with a student with similar interests. Thanks.
hi,
i am a student of ASIA’S BEST COLLEGE SHRI RAM COLLEGE OF COMMERCE. I am blogging from last 8 months. The purpose of my blog is to inform students on various events happening in college so that more participation and student involvement can be there. We also interview the best students of our college and share college experiences with students openly.
@Ashneet: Thanks for the offer. The students in my WordPress college course would only be interested in your WordPress expertise. Can you explain that a more thoroughly? Thanks.
@Gaibocelli: Thanks for volunteering. Is your usage of WordPress content driven, or do you have WordPress Theme and Plugin experience? Content is fine, I just need to be specific when I describe you to the students. Thanks.
@abhumanya: Before I add you to the list, I’d need to have you be specific about your WordPress experience and expertise. Thanks.
I recently began using WordPress for my author-support business, The Author’s Secret. I intend it to help authors learn how to both use our products (premade book covers, eBook conversions, and graphic design), as well as to share information vital to writers. In addition, I created a private wordpress blog which is being used to train authors in how to blog using the system. My second blog is Unstoppable Heroes, which is content-oriented. As a published science fiction romance author, I have used the blog to focus on my books, character, and life. I have a busy blog for writers on Blogspot as well (Romance Lives Forever), so can offer good comparisons on style, use, and suitability of purpose.
I have been using WordPress for multiple years for my own personal business sites, as well as for creating my client’s websites. I would be more than willing to help out.
I have a specialized cloud computing firm, and also work for a web hosting company, both of which leverage the WordPress product extensively. I’m a 23-year veteran systems administrator, founder of one of Texas’ first internet companies, and a devout WordPress user for about 8 years; so happy to help as needed!
I would be glad to help your students. Fire Chief Steven Moody
chiefmoody55@gmail.com
I am a CS and Math professor at a small college in CO.
My WordPress connection is that I’ve started to write a WP blog ‘Politicians Are Scum’. It’s a pretty non-partisan (I’m a moderate Libertarian) blog about political corruption.
I’m happy to be interviewed over the net.
Dan
@Dan: Thanks. Could you be more specific about your WordPress experience? That will help the students choose.
If there’s still spots open, I’d be willing to be an interviewee for a Clark College student. I live in the Seattle Area, and have been running my own blog for the past ~5 years. I’ve had experience both with WordPress.com shared hosting, and WordPress.org self-hosting (since 3.5). In addition, I also do some web dev from time to time on my blog.
@Geoggrey: Have you been to WordCamp Seattle. It is always great fun. Could you be more specific with your WordPress experience? Thanks.
Hi,
This sounds like a great initiative.
I have been working with WordPress for one and a half years now. As an entrepreneur doing many different things WP offers a really quick and easy way to get a business online. I have a tutoring website, a website that sells hand knit laptop sleeves that I run with my girlfriend and currently building my 3rd online business with WP called Homistro not yet fully functional.
I’d be happy to answer some questions about WordPress.
@Matri: Thanks for the offer. Could you be more specific with what WordPress features and functions you’ve worked with on those sites? That would help the students decide. There are people using WordPress on dozens of sites that have no idea about how to use WordPress, so the more specific you are, the better the students can choose you to interview from the list. Thanks!
Hi all,
I am interested in participating in an interview if you need my help! My WP site launched just over a month ago and I am using it to blog and sell Holistic Home & Lifestyle Design services and training to the world at Interior Musings. I purchased a template on Themeforest and basically taught myself how to build this site using a book from amazon.com called “WordPress for Beginners” by Andy WIlliams.
Let me know if you need more info,
Xine
@Xine: Thanks for the offer. The students are looking for people in the WordPress Community with a little more extensive experience. Can you check in later to update me on your WordPress experience and maybe I can add you to the list then. The students have interviewed many people new to WordPress and now we are looking for more experienced programmers, designers, developers, and users.
Good luck with your site, and I recommend George Plumely’s book – it’s much better. Also, just because you purchased a WordPress Theme (not template), don’t feel like you have to stay with it or have it “own” your site. It is a common mistake beginners make. Like buying a Hummer before you know how to ride a bike. I recommend to students and clients to start with the fabulous free WordPress Themes until they get their drivers license in WordPress, so to speak, then they will make wiser purchases when it comes to buying WordPress Themes or having them designed and developed by professionals.
Thanks!
I am using WordPress to archive audio stories about the town I live in, things that happened, people, etc.
Pro
Worpress allows me to upload without FTP.
It gives a better view on smaller platforms like Tablets & smart phones. ie responsive
It formalises the process top down which makes for a cleaner website.
It is easier to understand than other CMS systems like (eg) Joomla (which I do not like).
The plethora of add-ons makes handling specific requirements easier. Usually !
Con
handling JavaScript – is not straigthforward and experienced programmers with a lot of code have to learn the ideosynchracies that WordPress throws up. Or they give up and do it outside WordPress. Which is what I am about to do. My solution is to create an IFRAME on a WordPress page that references an external webpage that will do exactly what I program.
tables – the alternate rows’ colours follow WordPress syntax. Not always what is wanted.
The rest is a learning process as with any other new toy.
Thanks for the information. Sorry you are using iframes. JavaScript works great in WordPress, in face much of WordPress core uses JavaScript. On the content side, there are tricks to adding JavaScript to posts and Pages everyone has to learn. The iframe is a nasty solution and hurts you in so many ways. Designing tables is a CSS issue, thus dependent upon the Theme not WordPress core. So many ways to do so many things.
Are you using PodPress or Blubrry for managing your audio material?
Thanks!
Greetings Lorelle,
I have been using WordPress for over a year, first as a novice, now as a paid professional. My experience spans from producing promotional videos to web design and writing articles about Cracker Creek topics (www.crackercreek.com). I am also working with a startup where I installed Joomla and WordPress to build prototype content for their new products.
I use WordPress.com for my personal blog and WordPress.org for our business website. My personal blog contains my work portfolio, news articles, movie reviews, and technical writing about our home aquaponic endeavors. My professional writing includes short event stories, content marketing, and epic content features.
My opinion of WordPress is generally positive; however, there are improvements needed in the multimedia areas when trying to add pictures and words lined up and sized correctly. Sometimes I have to hack the system to make it work.
Regardless, WordPress is a great web-site companion that helps draw inbound traffic and engagement. I enjoy viewing the statistics both in WordPress and Google Analytics.
I don’t see any “form fields” to input my contact information but assume once I submit, it will automatically include that info. If not, you can probably find me on the crackercreek.com website. 😉
Frank Gould
The form fields are the contact form. You are a WordPress.com member, so that information prepopulated. If it is correct, then that’s good enough for me. Thanks!
I am a pastured pig farmer. I have been doing a blog about our farm since 2005 and using a custom install of WordPress on a web host for my blog since 2007. I have a programming, engineering, computing, chemistry and scientific background but that is not the topic of my blog. The blog is primarily about our family farm. We raise pastured pigs as well as chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, etc. I do posts roughly daily. My WordPress setup uses a customized them and widgets. Most of it is off the shelf with just a little tweaking.
I’m happy to help with email interviews.
Fascinating! Who cares about the student, I’m curious to know how you use WordPress in general with your business! Thanks for volunteering.
I’d be happy to talk with some of your students. I’m a marketing consultant and work almost exclusively with WordPress. I tend to focus on inbound marketing (i.e. blogging, social media, copywriting and ppc advertising) but I’ve worked on a number of projects that include development and design as part of the project. I’m an active member of the Baltimore WordPress community and spoke about content marketing at WordCamp Baltimore in 2013.
Great, however the students need to see your site and name before you can go on the list. Could you please add that information in the comment form when you respond? Thanks!
I use two WordPress installations for a marketing site and company blog for our student support service. Will be glad to discuss my experiences with it, especially in combatting spammers and hackers, dealing with setup and installations, db, etc., and SEO. It’s been a learning curve for me, a non-programmer, but dedicated WP user.
Thanks, however students need a name and a site link. Could you please reply and place that information in the appropriate comment fields. Thanks!
I have been building my site using lots of plugins and creating it mostly from scratch I used a theme but have done extensive amounts of changing it. I would be happy to be interviewed by your students. And help in anyway I can. I am a editor and publisher of weekly blog/electronic newspaper, and historian, but do all my own work on my web page,
Thank you for asking.
Thank you for volunteering. Doing it all yourself is hard work, cook and bottle washer. Thanks!
I’m game. The front door is open.
Thank you, but I need you to be more specific so the students can read a little about your expertise in WordPress and the student interested in that aspect of WordPress could contact you. Thanks.
I am a WordPress developer. I use WP at my full time job as Web Manager at UNC Greensboro’s University Relations department and I also use WordPress almost exclusively in my private personal business as a freelance WordPress trainer/developer. I started learning and using WordPress 9 yrs/almost 10 years ago so I was working with it almost from the very beginning. I founded WordCampRDU in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area in 2009 and I have had several opportunities over the past 4-6 years to present on various aspects of WordPress and national and regional conferences. I have multiple WP instances/URLs I can provide for reference, headshot image, and time to be interviewed. Thanks.
Fantastic. Having someone with WordCamp experience would be idea. Thanks for jumping in! I just love the WordPress Community!
Hi,
I am a college art instructor who uses WordPress for content management for my classes. I’d be happy to participate in your class interviews!
Jenn
I am an independent blogger. We have thousands of followers in 30 countries. I would be pleased to participate in your interviews. I am available nearly all the time.
Could you be more specific about your WordPress experience to help the students decide? Thanks.
I’m one of the core developers of the Jigoshop ecommerce cart (which was forked to make WooCommerce) and the Easy Digital Downloads ecommerce system. I’ve developed several dozen free open source plugins, and a couple dozen premium WordPress extensions. I’ve attended about half a dozen WordCamps in the last 6 months (elected to speak at one of them as well). I’m a full time student at the University of Florida.
A student and you’ve done all that already! Excellent. I’ll add you to the list. When do you graduate and what is your degree?
Hi
I am happy to be a subject, if that helps the students in their learning process… Let me know if I am selected.
Thanks
Talha
CEO
Could you be more specific as to your experience with WordPress? It will help the students choose. Thanks.
Hi Clark College Students!
My name is Cody Murphy with Stearns 208 Marketing, a marketing agency serving small businesses in Minnesota. WordPress is a core part of our business; it’s the primary CMS used for our client’s websites. We also utilize WordPress for a good portion of our own needs at Stearns 208. While we also use WordPress to power our agency’s website, we have recently taken it a step further with the development of our new Client Access portal. Each of our client’s are able to log in to their Client Access account to view service updates, browse a variety of resources pertaining to their services, view & download past or current invoices (and pay them online as well), request support, and order new services. The use of plugins for this system was minimal due to the customized functions needed so the majority of the Client Access features were developed in house. Overall, WordPress is a vital part to our business; we work with it on a daily basis! If you have any questions about the business side of WordPress, feel free to ask! I would be more than happy to help you with your class project.
– Cody
Thanks, Cody. Is there a WordCamp in your area yet? If not, consider starting or sponsoring one. I bet there are a lot of people interested in WordPress in that area.
Hello. I am a lawyer in Atlanta and I use WordPress extensively to market my practice. Currently I publish over 30 different WordPress websites and blogs, with my oldest dating back to 2005. I am entirely self taught and I have a couple of traditional blogs, but most of my sites are set up as static or hybrid sites. I incorporate a lot of video into my sites, and I use both the Genesis and Thesis frameworks along with a couple of other themes. While I am not a coder, I am comfortable modifying wp-config and .htaccess files and I will occasionally make a foray into a .css file to resize a header or add a button. I’d be happy to answer any questions.
Thanks for the great description. Hopefully one of the students will choose you soon from the list.
Reblogged this on Bruce Elgort and commented:
I know a lot of you in the ICS world use WordPress for your blog and business. Please consider volunteering for this student project.
I’d be happy to speak to one of your students, if they’re interested. I run Code Diva, which specializes in WordPress theme development, customizations, and coaching. I’ve taught introduction to WordPress at our local college, and I love to speak at WordCamps (I’ll be at WordCamp Ottawa in a few weeks.)
thanks!
Excellent. Thank you, and have fun at WordCamp Ottawa. Say hey to my friends there, especially those coming up from Toronto. Love them!
Do they need to meet the subjects in person or the interview can be done via email/skype etc in case meeting in person would not be possible? I have a few friends who are wordpress users in Oregon but I don’t know if they will be interested with this but ill ask them anyway 🙂
– wordpress user for 9 years
As stated in the article, students have the option to interview people through a variety of online methods. I’d also need to know your name and more information about your WordPress-specific expertise before I could submit you for consideration. Thanks.
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