Speaker Interview: Cameron Barrett

In the run up to WordCamp Lancaster, we will be featuring some of our speakers here on the website.

  • Cameron Barrett

    How and when did you get started with WordPress?

    I was an early MovableType user and before that I was hand-rolling HTML archives for my pioneering blog called CamWorld (circa late 1990s). Around 2003-2004 I started working in Drupal and built some fairly large community-driven sites.

    At the Open Source Convention in Portland in July 2004, I met a young Matt Muellenweg, who had just launched WordPress. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but remember how eager, honest and smart he was.

    Several years passed and I noticed that a lot of the blogs I read and follow were moving to WordPress, so I started taking another look and saw how good of a platform it was, not just for blogs but as a robust CMS.

    I stopped doing Drupal development work around 2011 and moved almost all of my professional work, clients and web sites to WordPress and haven’t looked back.

    If you’ve attended WordCamp Lancaster before, what’s your fondest memory of it? If not, what do you like most about WordCamps?

    WordCamps allow me to connect with other WordPress users, developers and business owners. It also gives me a stage to explain how I’m using WordPress to save taxpayer money, which is a very important issue for me.

    What are you currently learning?

    I’m mostly a front-end designer working in HTML, CSS and Photoshop. I’ve learned a little bit of PHP and Javascript over the years but I’m trying to become better at it so I don’t have to rely on PHP rockstars all the time.

    Do you know what a stroopie is? No googling.

    No idea.

    What did you do during the blizzard?

    Shoveled snow and dug out the cars (twice!) and then built a snow fort with my daughter and her cousins.  I hail from Northern Michigan (so am very used to lots of snow), but grew up internationally, and currently live in Northern NJ with my family. I love to go biking, hiking and travel. About 15 years ago I came very close to starting an adventure travel company in Siberia but the funding fell through and the local Russian mafia advised me against it.

    Where can we find you online?

    Twitter: @camworld
    About.Me: http://about.me/cam
    WordPress: https://profiles.wordpress.org/cameronbarrett/
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camworld
    Medium: https://medium.com/@camworld

Cameron Barrett‘s session is titled WordPress for Non-Profits. View the full schedule.

WordCamp Lancaster will be held on March 5th with Contributor Day on March 6th. Get your ticket today.