1) What do you do for a living (company you work for, official title, daily responsibilities, etc.)
I’m a Technical Product Manager living in Austin, Texas. I currently work at WP Engine, a managed hosting platform for websites and apps built with WordPress. I spend most days working to make the lives of WP Engine customers better. I listen to customer feedback, investigate new features, track down bugs, and help drive our product forward. My current focus is improving the developer tools we offer at WP Engine, making it easier and more efficient to develop WordPress websites on our platform. You can learn more about me and my background on my personal website: taylormccaslin.com, or by following me on Twitter: @Taylor4484.
2) How did you get into WordPress?
WordPress actually paid my way through college. I studied business, digital art & media, theatre, and computer science at UT Austin. That mix of studies provided me with a lot of great opportunities to engage Austin businesses—like local theatres—to help them build websites, powered by WordPress. I started a freelance business during college which ultimately helped me graduate college without any debt, and some extra cash in my pocket to fund my new technology habit. WordPress has always had a special place in my heart for the opportunities it opened up for me during my college years. WordPress has been my platform of choice now for over 5 years. I’ve built websites, mobile apps, ticketing systems, ecommerce sites, and headless backend systems on WordPress. I have yet to find something I couldn’t make WordPress do.
3) What’s a great experience you had at a WordCamp?
This is a tough one. I’ve had so much fun this year traveling to so many WordCamps: Seattle, Las Vegas, Boston, Scranton, Philadelphia, Toronto. I love traveling to new cities, meeting the awesome people in those local WordPress communities, creating new connections, or finally meeting someone I’ve only previously known digitally. My current favorite experience is probably WordCamp Las Vegas’ closing session. It was an awesome open Q&A where speakers, sponsors, and attendees just asked and answered questions. It was a really cool event and open discussion about how people were using WordPress and what struggles they were having. Overall it was just a very unique and special session that I really enjoyed being a part of.
4) What are your non-WordPress, non-Computer related hobbies?
Well if I’m not playing with whatever new technology that’s captivating me at the moment (August Lock, Vessyl, Apple Watch, Nest, etc) I can be found experiencing the rich Austin, Texas art scene. Having studied theatre in college, I always enjoy attending a local theatre production. Anytime I’m traveling to a new city I always check out what’s on stage at the local theatres.