Foxinni – WordPress Developer
I’d like to introduce you to a very hard to get an interview person Foxinni, Malan Joubert (birth name) a WordPress developer of themes and plugins, and from Cape Town.
Now before I get in to the whole introduction, recruiters please note that this dev is already “taken” by the company he works for, WooThemes, and does not take on any private work.
Malan started with web design in 2004 by mostly working on static HTML websites for clients. After the need to create a music site for himself arose, he was persuaded to use WordPress and hasn’t looked back since. He very quickly had to teach himself to use WordPress, PHP, CSS and MySQL.
In 2006 he worked at a company that used .NET but still he continued to progress in CSS and WordPress by taking on WordPress related work at a private capacity.
He joined WooThemes in early 2009 as the business’s growth, demanded a greater capacity for WordPress developers. Malan described the firm as the place where his knowledge really improved to what it is today.
When developing, he uses only Javascript and PHP. He does however take an interest in Python and Action Script but hasn’t had the opportunity to develop a production level site using these languages yet.
He has coded “countless number of themes” but says his best work on WordPress themes would be the themes he done at WooThemes; his best theme there at WooThemes was CityGuide which features a lot of Google Maps integration.
And the achievements list continues…
Malan not only develops themes, he also released two plugins to date.
http://themesmith.com. It’s a multi media shortcodes plugin that gives you more control with content you upload to your site, i.e. video players, mp3 players and galleries.
The other is a simple WordPress admin Pop Menus script. Developed for better menu access and usability.
Malan’s interests besides all the lines of code include music production, gaming and skateboarding – he’s known to ollie (skateboarding trick) up a pavement on a good day.
His homepage is at http://foxinni.com where you can find some of his basic social profiles – He’s not taking on private work due to his own web mastering outlook. “I’m more interested in my own projects and generating passive income than doing jobs once off”
His most satisfying and rewarding experience while working as a WordPress developer:
“Any developer gets a kick out of knowing their code is out there, being put to the test by users you’ll never meet. The WooFramework is another big accomplishment for me. I initiated the concept from the start and it seems to have been accepted very well and has remained extend-able as we are adding and contributing to it all the time. All the WooThemes are now using it as their backbone and making themes several times more powerful and functional.”
Advice to someone looking to enter the world of WordPress development:
“Go for it. The market is huge and the better you become at one CMS the better for you. Get to know your plugins as they will save you lots of time in the short run. More important is to conquer HTML and CSS, then jQuery. After that you can create a presentable project and not just some typical code monkey work.
Don’t be afraid to get a credit card to be able to purchase a server. When you start managing your own online real-estate, ie. domain names and servers, you will become empowered to try something new whenever inspiration strikes; instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you, not to mention the money you will save not making use of hosting companies charging you THEIR rates and them being in control of your domains.”
What drives your ideas and what inspires you most?
“Doing stuff really late at night is the best… when i have no one bothering me or when I have no one to bother. Inspiration comes from seeing a project being a success even before it’s built, even after taking a dose of reality. Some people tend to forget the reality pills before taking on a website.”