{"id":4115,"date":"2016-12-21T12:53:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T10:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=4115"},"modified":"2023-05-08T16:30:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T13:30:46","slug":"andrey-rarst-savchenko-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/andrey-rarst-savchenko-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko Interview – “Let WordPress be what it wants to be!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we started this interview series<\/a> a little while back, I never expected to see such a high level of involvement. Most of the people that we reached out to agreed to do the interview straight away.<\/p>\n

I was expecting weeks to go by before we get their answers back. However, the WordPress community keeps surprising me all the time (in a good way).<\/p>\n

The same thing happened with @Rarst<\/a>, aka Andrey Savchenko, whom I first met on Twitter. Actually, I met him in Berlin, volunteering for my first WordCamp, but we never really talked. I was busy volunteering, and he kept his distance. I didn’t really know what to make of Rarst. Plus he’s one of those people who doesn’t follow you back. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

One year later, we met again in his hometown. This time Rarst was a first-time (and last-time, as he claims) organizer at the first WordCamp Kiev. I was the only Romanian there, so I couldn’t swing by unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Turns our Rarst is one of the people that I spent the best time talking with at a WordCamp. A cynical being, yet with the right amount of irony, it was a pleasure to discover a kindred spirit.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Andrey<\/div><\/div>\n
For those who don’t know Rarst, he is a community elected moderator at WordPress Stack Exchange, a 6-time WordCamp speaker, he blogs at Rarst.net<\/a>, and he takes THE best portrait photos of WordPressers (see his Flickr<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here are Rarst’s answers about his affair with WordPress. You can find them too perky or even too blunt, but surely you won’t find them boring!<\/p>\n

Enjoy the read:<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko Interview<\/h2>\n

When and how did you start working with WordPress? Is there an interesting story here?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
I started to use WordPress for my site in 2008. I got into development side of things and later got active on WordPress Stack Exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2011, I quit my day job and switched to WordPress development working remotely.<\/p>\n

The most dramatic version of this story I could muster had been an opening essay of HeroPress project<\/a>.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What’s your technique for staying productive throughout the day?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
When I hear “productive” I think these days people often mean “busy” and that is not something I like to be.<\/p>\n

I look for engaging tasks, which make time fly and things happen. When I need some help to get focused I use Pomodoro timer.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

How do you define “being successful”?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
I started to weave a definition of incredible wit and eloquence but realized I have no idea.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you like to do when you’re not WordPress-ing?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
I read science fiction. Alternate between cleaning and messing up my place. Play a bit of board games with friends and too much Hearthstone by myself.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you wish more people knew about WordPress?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
That query_posts()<\/code> is bad for you.<\/p>\n

Oh, and how GPL actually works<\/a>.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Who’s doing things that are just cutting-edge and incredible in the WordPress space right now?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
It is hard to tell. Much of public WordPress conversations revolve around mass market solutions. The advanced things happen in custom projects.<\/p>\n

If I have to name names, Giuseppe Mazzapica and Alain Schlesser<\/a>. They had been producing incredible code and content on advanced topics lately.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Describe the WordPress community in one word.<\/h4>\n
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Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
Quixotic.<\/strong><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What’s the one thing you’d like to change about WordPress?<\/h4>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\n
\n

I have no interest to change WordPress left. I learned to let it be what it wants to be and not worry about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Andrey<\/div><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What’s the main threat to WordPress these days? Other platforms like Ghost, or maybe things like Squarespace?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
WordPress is a main threat to itself.<\/p>\n

It chose to focus on users and pay for that with awful experience for developers. It is now the second most dreaded technology<\/a>, according to annual StackOverflow survey.<\/p>\n

WordPress moves higher and higher, but high is not always the same as forward.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What are your recommendations for a WordPress novice?<\/h4>\n
\n
Andrey Savchenko:<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n
Everyone can use things. Learn deeply how things work and how to use them well – be it code, business, or community.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That concludes our Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko interview. If you have any questions, please submit them in the comments, and we’ll somehow convince Rarst to come back and answer them. \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n