Write/Speak/Code

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Generating Blog Topics

This entry is in the series 2015 Scholarship Recipients

Blog topic generation is often an Achilles’ heel for me. The options are endless, but what do they mean to me? Will I make a point, a difference? Educate, humor, share a useful experience? WSC2015’s “Topic Generation” talk covered the variety of talking points to inspire useful, engaging content.

The topic types offered run the gamut, and can give structure to even the vaguest ideas:

  • How to do this, fix this. Sharing how you fixed a nagging issue or work through a task is great for SEO.
  • Quick hit. Whether a photo or simply a bit of wisdom, your blog post doesn’t have to be an epic tale.
  • You should do this, because… Opinions on how to approach a problem.
  • We do this and it works. Case studies are a lot of work, but great examples of your expertise in action.
  • Success story. I love to share successes, and they’re great SEO fodder.
  • Hero’s journey. The typical story structure: This is how it is, and this is how it should be. Often a call to action, there’s a stated problem, the vision, and the proposed path to get to the vision.
  • Intro to technology. Invariably, there’s someone who can learn from where you’ve been, no matter how simplistic.
  • Process. Your best practices can inspire others: How a team works together, how to build an app, how to fix an issue.
  • Philosophy. Your way of working, and the reasoning, is also enlightening.

From the “Find Your Expertise” talk, I also found helping others to be a great way to frame a blog topic:

  • Teach things you know.
  • Make things easier to learn than they were for you.
  • Ask the first question so someone else doesn’t have to.
  • Teaching teaches you; break it down into pieces.

Expressing one’s expertise so it aids others can be a great exercise and lead to blog topics, speaking topics and more. And from this list, I have more than a few thoughts to inspire a slew of new blog posts.

Sponsored by

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America’s most successful premium television company, Home Box Office delivers two 24-hour pay television services—HBO® and Cinemax®.

HBO continues to take advantage of the latest technological innovations with advancements that include the availability of HBO programming online though HBO GO and MAX GO, as well as HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand® in HD.

Just as HBO is a company noted for its commitment to excellence in the products and services it delivers to consumers, it makes the extra effort to create a work environment in which fairness, equity, trust, and individual responsibility are valued.

HBO is committed to retaining and recruiting skilled and motivated employees, placing a priority on qualified team players who contribute to the diversity of their workforce.

HBO offers competitive benefits to include medical, dental, vision, a matched 401(k) plan, flexible spending, a commuter benefit program and tuition reimbursement.

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Contributing to open source made easy

This entry is in the series 2015 Scholarship Recipients

Owning one’s expertise, especially in the developer space, can seem daunting. Open source software provides almost everyone the chance to share your knowledge and feel the accomplishments of contributing.

As a designer first and a WordPress developer secondly, I’ve shied from helping to work on WordPress’ uber-organized core. There are opportunities to get in on team calls and at Wordcamps, but it always seemed a bit “beyond” me.

At WSC2015, I was happy to find open source an interesting and challenging way even for non-devs to contribute.

One of the easiest ways to get started is to create an account on Github. The great thing about Github is it gives a quick bootcamp on how Git works, how projects are organized, and finding projects and friends. For developers this is old hat, but it’s still useful to get the basics down. Beyond this there are guides to CSS, JavaScript and much more for best practices.

You can search out projects depending on your interest, but often well-organized repositories label different issues and programming languages, making it easier to find what you want. Offering fixes and ideas is a great way to pitch in, but  design and copywriting are areas requiring an expert hand too.

Some other open source project resources include:

Down the road, WSC2015 had attendees put together a three-month plan of what we planned to contribute, on speaking, writing and coding. I know I’ll be more confidently checking out WordPress’ core, to see where I can add my touch.

Sponsored by

wp-content/uploads/2016/05/hbo-logo-1.png

America’s most successful premium television company, Home Box Office delivers two 24-hour pay television services—HBO® and Cinemax®.

HBO continues to take advantage of the latest technological innovations with advancements that include the availability of HBO programming online though HBO GO and MAX GO, as well as HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand® in HD.

Just as HBO is a company noted for its commitment to excellence in the products and services it delivers to consumers, it makes the extra effort to create a work environment in which fairness, equity, trust, and individual responsibility are valued.

HBO is committed to retaining and recruiting skilled and motivated employees, placing a priority on qualified team players who contribute to the diversity of their workforce.

HBO offers competitive benefits to include medical, dental, vision, a matched 401(k) plan, flexible spending, a commuter benefit program and tuition reimbursement.

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Post WSC2015: What now?

This entry is in the series 2015 Scholarship Recipients

It’s hard to walk away from a conference like WSC2015 without being inspired: From the women with whom I attended, to the draining work I put in to writing, speaking and coding, inspiration was everywhere.

Of course, it’s easy to walk away with a notebook full of notes and a swag bag and file it all away.

Luckily, I can’t fathom forgetting any of it.

More women than ever are joining tech, yet we often only see men, even at the lowest levels. Imposter syndrome and downplaying our accomplishments is common to many women, so we rarely step up. Yet, our voices need to be heard more than ever, to inspire and lead today’s girls to be tomorrow’s tech leaders.

One of the biggest takeaways I had from the conference, is that no matter how basic one’s knowledge, there’s always someone looking to learn it. To make it easier for that person than we had it, to break down barriers and demystify tech is an important mission: We all have something to share.

It doesn’t only benefit others: I know I’ve become a better teacher over the years, running classes and workshops. And when one of my students can keep their website in great shape and get excited about it, I know I’ve made a difference.

But beyond that, I’ve shared something I’ve mastered, and am building my own reputation and expertise. On my worst days at work, it’s what keeps me going for more great ones.

For me, this means applying to more WordPress WordCamps to speak, and so far I’ve been accepted to Denver. I’m reviewing other conferences to see where I might fit, and I’ve been blogging more frequently across several outlets. I’ve also joined an open source nonprofit to help rebrand their efforts, pro bono.

Where has your inspiration taken you since WSC2015?

Sponsored by

wp-content/uploads/2016/05/hbo-logo-1.png

America’s most successful premium television company, Home Box Office delivers two 24-hour pay television services—HBO® and Cinemax®.

HBO continues to take advantage of the latest technological innovations with advancements that include the availability of HBO programming online though HBO GO and MAX GO, as well as HBO On Demand® and Cinemax On Demand® in HD.

Just as HBO is a company noted for its commitment to excellence in the products and services it delivers to consumers, it makes the extra effort to create a work environment in which fairness, equity, trust, and individual responsibility are valued.

HBO is committed to retaining and recruiting skilled and motivated employees, placing a priority on qualified team players who contribute to the diversity of their workforce.

HBO offers competitive benefits to include medical, dental, vision, a matched 401(k) plan, flexible spending, a commuter benefit program and tuition reimbursement.