As we countdown to WordCamp Asia 2024, each week we’re inviting you to go behind the lineup and get to know the folks who will be taking to the stage. In today’s post, we chat with Jonathan Desrosiers, a credited contributor since 2013, who also loves to cook and has a baseball card, coin, and stamp collection.
Q. Firstly, welcome to the lineup! We’re so glad to have you here. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself? Where will you be joining the event from, and what does your day-to-day look like?
I’ve been a credited contributor since 2013, recently having past my ten year anniversary (https://jonathandesrosiers.com/2023/07/10-years-of-contributing-to-wordpress/). I’m a WordPress Core Committer, and maintainer of several components. I live with my family in New Bedford, Massachusetts in the US, once known as the “city that lit the world” for it’s deep involvement in the whaling industry over the course of two centuries.
My day to day is hard to summarize because everyday is different. During a typical day I can be doing any amount of the following: coding, ticket triaging, reviewing, committing code, researching, mentoring, writing, mediating. I love the variation, though. Every day is a new and unique challenge at scale in one of the largest open source projects in the world.
Q. We’re lucky to be welcoming a diverse range of speakers to our program in 2024. What interested you to apply to WordCamp Asia as a speaker?
As someone that’s sponsored to contribute to WordPress full time, I try not to lose sight of just how hard it can be to keep up with all the moving parts within the project. When I speak, I try to offer insight into the projects I work on that take up the majority of my attention for weeks, months, or sometimes even years. That’s not a privilege everyone has, and sharing approaches, outcomes, learnings, and more is a part of my job to document these small parts of the project’s history.
Q. What can audiences expect to learn from your talk/s? Are there any advance sneak peeks or knowledge bombs you can offer us?
Properly giving attribution in a project as large as WordPress is extremely difficult! We’ll talk about why it’s so hard, how our processes are lacking, and what changes are being made to modernize our practices.
Q. What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Asia 2024? Is there someone you’re looking forward to rubbing shoulder with, or a local delicacy you’d like to sample?
I always do my best to try the food and beverage that is considered unique to the areas I visit. But I’ll admit I haven’t done my research on visiting Taiwan yet, so please do send recommendations my way!
Q. Tell us something about yourself that we might not know. Party tricks? Secret hobbies?
I love to cook! I also have a baseball card, coin, and stamp collection. Though I haven’t put any time into those in recent years!
Q. Lightning Round!
Most-visited website: Probably the Make WordPress Core website, or the GitHub Actions documentation.
Most-have gadget: My phone
Most-read book: I need to do more reading!
Go-to podcast: I’m a bit burnt out on podcasts at the moment.
Find out more about Jonathan’s appearance at WordCamp Asia 2024 here.