Get To Know Alex Christensen
I’m a originally a midwestern at heart who moved out to the great big city of trees to pursue my passion of working on the web. I graduated from The Art Institute of California — Sacramento with my B.S. in Web Design and Interactive Media. I first started off in web design then quickly came over to dark side and started working as a web developer. Since moving to Sacramento I’ve interned at Digital Gear, was the lead marketing director and web developer at a Psychiatry firm and currently I’m the lead web developer for the Clinical Translational Science Center at UC Davis Medical Center. I’m very passionate about UI, UX, and ecommerce design and development. Some non-web related hobbies of mine include long exposure night photography, backpacking through beautiful northern California, cooking, and rough housing with my two dogs.
We’re thrilled Alex will be speaking about commerce and WordPress at WordCamp Sacramento 2015.
Speaker Q&A With Alex
Why do you think learning about commerce and WordPress is important?
I think learning ecommerce is so important in today’s world is because it is so involved in our day to day lives. Most of think of ecommerce as buying a product on Amazon but maybe some of us don’t realize the versatility of ecommerce. Some great companies such as Groupon, Handy, Uber, Ebay, Code School, Amazon are all great examples of the different types of ecommerce sites out there. It’s not only buying physical goods but also services, consultations, making appointments, ordering groceries, ordering pizza, etc.
If you are a freelance web designer or developer then your portfolio site is essentially an ecommerce site trying to sell yourself. You are selling your unique skills and talents that took blood, sweat, tears, and coffee to learn and accomplish. The great thing about WordPress is that it is adaptable to all these types of ecommerce sites, so no matter your level of knowledge you can start an ecommerce site and it will grow with you as you learn.
What is your history or experience with commerce?
I’ve designed and developed numerous ecommerce sites over the years with several new ones about to be launched in the next upcoming months. I’m currently a partner to three individual apparel companies and lead web developer to two of them. When I was in high school I started a ecommerce site selling video games using dropshippers to handle the merchandise.
How did you get started with WordPress? Why WordPress?
It was 10 years ago I first started working with WordPress. My friends and I were looking for a solution to blog about our Xbox Live tournaments that we hosted in my basement (real professional stuff here… lol). As I have grown as a professional I have worked on projects big, small, easy, and more complex than you could imagine but I have always found WordPress to be the best solution. It’s adapted to all my needs, continues to be the most supported content management system available, and is easy enough for my clients to manage their content.
What is your favorite thing about WordPress?
WordPress is one of the most versatile content management systems with a HUGE community of support backing behind it all at the access of your fingertips.
Can you share a couple WordPress plugins that you love or recommend?
WP Retina 2x — No more headaches making sure your photos look good on retina screens.
Resources or recommendations?
Practice makes perfect, I can’t stress enough in this industry that if you stop practicing and stop learning new things you will fall behind very quickly. Some of my personal favorite sites to help me keep my skills up to date and sharp are Codecademy, Code School, and Codrops. These sites are really great at introducing new topics in fun exciting ways to keep you interested and wanting to learn more.
Check Out The Speakers
WordCamp Sacramento 2015 is bringing you an awesome line up of speakers from not only our greater Sacramento region, but throughout California and beyond. Check out our speakers page to see the 2015 WordCamp Sacramento Speakers, and be sure to follow them on Twitter.