Chris WiegmanLast December I stepped out of writing code for my day job and moved into a new role as an engineering manager helping lead a team that is developing a JavaScript framework to make building with headless WordPress easier.
In most ways it was the right move for me. It lets me focus more on mentorship and lifting up those around me while also helping guide a product from an all new perspecitve. I’ve served as the lead engineer on many projects over the years but never from a place where I didn’t write code myself.
As much as I do enjoy my new role I can’t deny I miss writing code. It’s one of the few things I’ve ever been able to do that is ”mine.” It’s where I’m allowed to be myself and do what I need to do without someone questioning me every step of the way.
While I got my start writing code for WordPress sites, I have no interest at all at doing so again. Instead, if I stay with WordPress, my interest is in developer tools and plugins that help support sites from a solid data and performance stand point. Ideally I would get away from PHP at all but that’s probably not in the cards for me for a while.
For the last few months I’ve been building a WordPress developer tool in GoLang and it has been some of the most fun I’ve had on a computer in at least a decade. It’s still closer to a project, WordPress, that I no longer feel welcome in but at least it’s writing code again.
If I can keep up the balance of managing people during my day job and writing code on my free time I think I can do pretty good for myself. Here’s to hoping I can keep up the pace.