WP Engine’s mission to energy confidence on-line depends on the dedication and experience of greater than 1,000 world staff.
The mixed effort of our whole crew—from the WordPress help specialists troubleshooting technical challenges to the engineers driving innovation throughout our instruments and applied sciences to the passionate professionals pouring their skills into our Company Associate Program—ensures the continued development and success of WP Engine and our prospects alike.
Our Meet the Consultants collection shines a light-weight on the people who deliver this mission to life via their work on daily basis.
On this function, we’re excited to introduce Liam Gladdy, a Senior Software program Engineer dwelling in Bristol whose work is pivotal to enhancing the Superior Customized Fields (ACF) plugin and sustaining our inner APIs and providers.
Say hiya to Liam!
Meet Liam Gladdy, a seasoned developer with a ardour for WordPress who’s been utilizing WP Engine for a few years—even earlier than changing into a part of our crew.
He’s a self-professed “open-source nerd” who spends simply as a lot time engaged on open-source tasks exterior work as he does when he’s clocked in. When he’s not coding, yow will discover Liam…effectively, at residence, at present.
“I not too long ago purchased my first home, so I’m in a crash course for all of the family upkeep duties I’ve by no means needed to fear about earlier than,” he jokes.
“I can inform I’m going to change into obsessive over how good my garden seems to be!”
Liam’s profession journey
Liam’s profession began at an company the place he was first launched to WP Engine, as the corporate selected us as the inspiration for a lot of of their shoppers’ WordPress websites.
He joined Scrumptious Brains in 2021 as one of many two lead builders constructing Superior Customized Fields, one in all WordPress’s hottest plugins. When WP Engine acquired Scrumptious Brains in 2022, he discovered himself at residence with an organization that values deep technical experience and group contribution.
As a Senior Software program Engineer, Liam brings greater than 12 years of hands-on expertise with ACF to his position. Most of his each day obligations concentrate on enhancing ACF—a colossal challenge spanning greater than 150,000 traces of code—and he has taken on extra work optimizing our inner APIs and providers to make sure WP Engine websites keep up-to-date and safe.
All through his profession, Liam has realized that constructing software program for others requires extra than simply technical know-how; it calls for a holistic view of how customers work together with expertise.
“It’s simple to construct one thing in isolation and suppose it’s excellent,” he says, “however whereas your code may match precisely as you need, customers will virtually actually need to use it in numerous methods you’ve not thought of.”
Working carefully with the distinctive user-experience consultants and product designers on the ACF crew has helped him embrace a collaborative strategy that elements each performance and value into each new replace.
When requested what he loves most about working at WP Engine, Liam is fast to level to the folks. He remembers that transitioning from the small crew at Scrumptious Brains to a bigger group was initially daunting, however that the real respect and belief he felt—from the colleagues he collaborates with each day all the best way as much as CEO Heather Brunner—rapidly put him comfortable.
“The help and open dialogue right here make me assured to share my views on any challenge,” he says,
“Regardless of working remotely, our tradition of help and communication helps preserve everybody linked.”
Phrases of knowledge: Choose your battles
Probably the greatest items of recommendation Liam ever acquired was to “decide his battles” by practising the artwork of collaboration.
He spent a lot of his early profession working solo, which meant he received used to doing issues his personal means. Transitioning to a collaborative setting taught him the worth of trusting others’ strategies and interesting in constructive debate—important classes that information his work to at the present time.
“Once I joined Scrumptious Brains, I used to be abruptly surrounded by consultants within the area who all had their very own means of working. I rapidly realized that to work to be a crew, I needed to put belief within the crew,” he says.
“Then, on the events whenever you do have to push again on one thing, your crew trusts that you simply’re coming from a spot of bettering the product—not simply pushing to get your individual means.”
For aspiring consultants in any form of expertise, and particularly for these with a ardour for open-source tasks, Liam has some recommendation. Particularly, he recommends taking the time to look to the longer term and discover trendy applied sciences.
“Observe the tendencies and keep forward of what’s coming subsequent,” says Liam.
“Headless is changing into extra necessary to many enterprises, and WordPress is a superb CMS to make use of as a backend for a headless challenge. So, should you’re serious about future-proofing your expertise, it’s price understanding instruments like Subsequent.js and Faust.js.”
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Liam’s intensive experience and dedication to steady studying make him a useful asset to WP Engine and his work on ACF contributes to a richer expertise for all WordPress customers. For those who’re contemplating a profession at WP Engine, Liam has encouragement for anybody to take the leap!
“We have now such a variety of engineering roles at WP Engine due to the breadth of the programs and providers we work with, so there’s actually a task for everybody,” he says.
Need to discover out extra about what it’s prefer to work at WP Engine? Go to our careers website to discover present openings and take a look at our weblog for extra inspiring tales from WP Engine’s consultants!
