Last week I got to visit Uganda for the first time.

WordPress (in case you didn’t know) is open source software made by a community of thousands of people from across the world. And the members of this community like to come together from time to time at events called WordCamps to connect, network, and learn from one another.

Last week, the Uganda WordPress community hosted the Uganda Website Projects Competition 2024 , a so-called NextGen WordCamp–that is a WordCamp with a twist, not just bringing together people around WordPress, but around a specific topic or use of WordPress–in the capital city, Kampala. This competition is all about equipping young people to use WordPress to solve problems in their communities.

As one of the biggest contributors to the WordPress software, and members of the WordPress community ourselves, Automattic regularly sponsors WordCamps, and this competition was no different. But not only do we sponsor the events. We also try to actually attend, so we can connect with members of the community, learn from them, hear what they need, and chat about our products for WordPress.

I volunteered to help staff this event, and at the last moment the organisers asked if I might be willing to give a talk to the students and other attendees on the day.

Not one to back down from a challenge I said yes. What followed was a hectic week trying to put together a half-hour talk, for a bunch of students ranging from primary school to college-age, from an entirely different cultural background than me, that would hopefully inspire them in some way. I was almost done with the talk when I decided it can be improved by including a puppet (anything is better with a puppet…just compare A Christmas Carol to A Muppet Christmas Carol, for example…and my job title is Puppetmattician, after all).

So Wally went with me to Uganda.

Here’s a live-stream recording of the talk, if you’d like to watch it. I had to trim it a bit for time due to a change in the event schedule, so I’ll post the full version underneath, for posterity and all that.

It’s never too late to start

Lessons learned on my journey to becoming a WordPress developer.

H: I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Wally, and he works with me at Automattic. Say hello to the people, Wally.

W: Hello everyone. (to H) There’s a lot of people here.

H: There sure is. We’re at the Uganda Website Projects Competition, where a bunch of young people, some of them still in school, have been learning about WordPress and presenting projects they’ve built that solve problems using WordPress.

W: Wow! That’s cool!

H: Indeed. But I have a bit of a problem, Wally.

W: What’s that?

H: I’ve been asked to give an inspirational talk to these young people, but I’m not sure I can. Because, in fact, I’m feeling inspired by them. You’ve all been learning about and doing things today that weren’t even possible when I was your age. Whether you receive an award or not a little later, you deserve to celebrate what you’ve accomplished simply by being here today and participating. You already have a headstart on most other youth, including those in my own South Africa, in the WordPress and web space, so be proud of yourselves. Wouldn’t you agree, Wally?

W: Totally. You all are off to an amazing start!

H: So, who here wants to become a web developer or software engineer as your career one day?

Who’s not yet sure yet?

Wally, what career would you like to do one day?

W: Space Cowboy. But I’m told that doesn’t exist, so I’m stuck being a puppet for now.

H: Hold onto that dream, Wally. When I was your age cellphones didn’t even exist yet, and today everyone has one, so you never know what will be possible by the time you’ve grown up.

We all dream about what we want to be when we grow up. But very few of us go on to do that thing we dreamed of as a child.

Adults in the audience, who of you are doing the job today that you dreamed of doing when you were ten years old? Thirteen? What about sixteen? When you finished high school? Who is still doing the job you trained or studied for after school?

Today I’m a developer at Automattic, on the team that maintains the plugin marketplace on WooCommerce.com, but that’s a fairly recent development. In fact, I never dreamed of becoming a software developer when I was still at school—the web as we know it today didn’t exist yet,WordPress hadn’t even been invented yet, and computer studies was my worst subject in high school, so it’s not something I even considered.

W: So what did you want to be?

H: Like, I think, many boys, I wanted to be a fire fighter, then a police officer, then a pastor, and finally a fighter pilot. Then I learned you’re not allowed to be a fighter pilot if you wear glasses, so I switched to optometrist…

W: That sucks…Hey, I see what you did there…

Through high school I considered more proper careers. I really did consider optometry, also chemical engineering, veterinary science, and psychology. I finally ended up studying theology to become a youth pastor.

After doing that for a few years I became a high school teacher, later the school principal, and it wasn’t until I was thirty-two years old that I encountered WordPress for the first time (so you all have a head start on me as well).

I quickly found I had a talent for helping people with their WordPress sites, so I applied to Automattic and got a job as a Happiness Engineer (what we call the customer support team) on WordPress.com.

W: Haha! Happiness Engineer sounds like a cool job.

H: It is! It’s not every job where you can make someone smile simply by telling them what your job title is!

It would be another six years, until, only in 2021, I decided I wanted to switch to a career as a developer. So at forty years old, I started an entirely new career. I’ve only officially been a developer at Automattic for seven months, since December last year.

W: That’s quite the detour you took there!

H: You’re telling me, Wally. Why am I telling you this story?

W: To show us you’re unable to make up your mind?

H: No, Wally. I’m sharing my journey with you all today to share two lessons I learned along the way: 

One: no experience is wasted.

Two: it’s never too late to start.

No experience is wasted

Today I’m a web developer at one of the biggest companies in the WordPress world, but I took a long, winding road to get here. That road included four years studying theology; it included courses in topics as diverse as puppetry and creative writing; it included a training as a teacher; it included learning Geography, a subject I never had at school myself, so I could teach it to others; it included learning how to manage teams of volunteers, and later learning how to manage an entire school when I was appointed acting principal; it even included a failed attempt at a Master’s degree.

It took twenty years of my life, and thousands of dollars spent on training that have nothing to do with software or the web, before I found the career that clicked. So was all that time and money for nothing?

It might look that way, but the reality is that every turn my journey took, taught me skills that I use today. Being a pastor and a teacher honed my communication skills, which was key to my getting a job in tech support to begin with, and which is a crucial skill for a developer. Setting and grading papers gave me practice in paying attention to detail. Both as a youth worker and as school principal I learned management skills, which I now use when I manage projects in my team. The empathy I learned as a counsellor and while working in customer support enables me to much more deliberately keep the end user in mind with everything that I build, and also helps me be kinder when giving feedback to my teammates. My training as a puppeteer enables me to deliver the most memorable WordCamp talks (I hope).

So I don’t consider any of my experiences up until now wasted. On the contrary, they all helped prepare me for the job I do now.

Quite a few of you indicated earlier you might not work on the web later on. That doesn’t mean what you’re doing here is wasted. You’re learning skills, both technical and so-called soft skills, and you’re trying your brain to think in certain ways, that will help equip you for whatever it is you will end up doing one day.

It’s never too late to start

Arnold Schwarzenegger started out as a body-builder, became an actor in his thirties, and governor of California at 56.

Harland Sanders, the guy on the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo, only started that company at 62, working as a lawyer, pumping gas, and working on the railways, among other jobs, during his life.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses) was a housekeeper and farm labourer who started painting at 78 years old. In 2006 one of her paintings sold for $1.2million.

J.K. Rowling was a secretary before publishing the first Harry Potter book at 31.

Peter Roget created the first thesaurus when he was 73-years old. Before that he was a doctor, but he is remembered for enabling everyone who writes in English to find that alternative word they’re looking for to properly express their ideas.

Herman Kok became a WordPress developer at 42.

This is just a small sampling of people who took a risk and tried something different later in life. You are all early in your journey. Those of you who entered today in the Explorers category have likely already chosen a career in web development or IT, while our Rising Stars still have some time left to make that decision.

It’s possible that you’ll choose a career, and stick with it for the rest of your life. There are people who are just that lucky!

Or it’s possible that one day you’ll wake up, like me, and realise that something’s missing. That what you’re doing just isn’t working for you any more. If that day comes, I want you to know it’s never too late to make a fresh start.

Making a change is a risk, and risks don’t always pay off. It also takes a lot of work…the past two years are probably the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life, learning the skills I need for an entirely new career, while still working full time, caring for my family and serving in my church and community.

But I want you to know it is possible. When you finish school or you finish your studies and you choose a career, you’re not stuck with that decision for the rest of your life. One day a new opportunity might appear, something that might not even exist yet today. And if you’re willing to take the risk and put in the work, it’s never too late to make a change that takes you closer to what you’re passionate about, and lets you be more fulfilled and successful in your career.

For my part, the risk paid off, and I’m absolutely loving being able to contribute to making the open web. I’d say I’ll gladly do this for the rest of my life, but who knows what the future holds…

• Kokkiemattic