Why Are You Still In WordPress?

For today’s post I want to ask you a simple question…

Why are you still in WordPress?

I’ll go first:

I’m still in WordPress because I believe in the community. I’ve made a name for myself denouncing big tech and all the issues with social media and other areas where I could use my skills. WordPress still has parts that are like that.

Going back even further, a big part of why I didn’t mind leaving aviation is that it was a toxic industry. Right from my first semester in college I learned our chief pilot’s favorite saying was “if god wanted women to fly he would’ve painted the sky pink.” It was as disgusting to me then as it is to me now. Over the next 10 years I found this kind of behavior everywhere I went and it wasn’t just the sexism. Toxic attitudes were the norm, not the exception. That’s not to say there weren’t a lot of good people as well but, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to find a path that I was comfortable with.

Tech, as we all know, isn’t always much better. I stick with WordPress because it was always the exception to that rule. It has been the community where I’ve felt at home and the community where I’ve heard so many say is the only place they’ve really been accepted.

Yeah, some of the tech in WordPress has been fun but, let’s face it, it isn’t modern. In addition I could’ve had better pay if I had gone to work for Google or some other company. I didn’t because the fancy tech and pay always seemed to cost more in other ways, than they returned.

So, why do I stay in WordPress?

It’s because of a community of people who are accepted for who they are and aren’t always in it for the “exit.”

It’s because I believe in open source tech and the principles of software that isn’t owned by a giant company out to take over the world.

It’s because it is the one place I’ve found where I can be myself and help others do the same.

Why are you still in WordPress?