Alex Bordei is a senior full-stack developer with over 9 years of experience in software development. He has a solid background in C# and Java and has also stepped into WordPress and Laravel development.
He is a recognized speaker in the IT community and has spoken at over 50 IT conferences. And that’s not all. His life isn’t just around the coding lines; you’ll also find him jamming and playing multiple instruments. Let’s find out more about Alex in this exclusive interview.
Danish: Hi Alex, thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us how you started your career with WordPress? Any insights you’d like to share about your professional career?
Alex: Hello Danish, thank you very much for having me.
Yes, this is a story that I love since WordPress saved my career and gave me the purpose I was looking for as a young developer.
I wanted something that really validates me and my work and also something very flexible in terms of challenges.
Everything started in the community. It was 2013, and I jumped into the second Bucharest WordPress Meetup event because I saw a friend of mine share the group on Facebook.
I met such beautiful and supportive people interested in sharing their knowledge and being part of the community there. These people helped me understand what WordPress really was and is about and how the interest in WordPress will be exploding shortly.
One of them and one of the most inspiring people in my life was Marius Vetrici, which I see you interviewed already.
A good insight for my professional life is to never stop learning regularly. I still have my 30 min. to 1-hour learning morning routine, and this turned out to be so powerful as time goes.
Danish: As a freelance WordPress developer at Codeable, what projects do you usually like to work on? How do you manage those projects?
Alex: At Codeable, I am mostly looking for custom development jobs on WordPress Core API, REST API, WooCommerce, or using WP as a back-end or integrating it with a headless environment or mobile applications.
I like to develop functionalities and integrations that weren’t there before and then make it easy for clients to manage their customizations and settings.
Danish: What challenges did you face working with top WordPress Enterprise Agencies and top clients, and how did you tackle them?
Alex: Well, Enterprise means that you are not allowed to have delays in fixing bugs. Starting with each step back-up also means that my code should be well commented on, and the architecture I am designing should fit right with the implementation requirements.
Also, coding standards are a must, and system versioning with separated branches and CI/CD are, by default, my best friend.
And the cherry on top is the quality we are trained to provide to implement QA for our development. Depending on the project type, I use unit testing, acceptance testing, or even visual regression testing, and I also provide evolution reports for data or changes over time when needed.
But I think the most valuable thing in our relationship with WordPress Enterprise Agencies and top clients is the availability to save the situation and ensure support when emergencies happen.
Danish: Why do you specifically choose WordPress for developing your projects? And would you defend this choice in the age of Flutter, Android, and API?
Alex: This is funny because I started learning Flutter 3 years ago and found it very cool. Also, now I develop apps with Flutter.
I consider Flutter web far away compared to WordPress, so it’ll take some time until Flutter serves the web properly.
And, maybe, this sounds surprising. I use WordPress, especially for its APIs and integrating it with Flutter.
I like it because I can obtain a fast and ready-to-use backend for mobile applications, for example, e-commerce or catalog ones.
What is this called? JSON-in-a-table apps.
But I really have all that I need in the out-of-the-box API WordPress and WooCommerce, and other plugins are providing as it is very easy to extend it fast according to my needs, with custom development.
Danish: Any tips for beginner Codeable developers looking for a career in WordPress development?
Alex: Well, this is kind of impossible as far as I know Codeable. If you are a Codeable beginner, you are qualified enough to work successfully as a WordPress Expert.
I want to let Codeable beginners know that Tomaz Zaman encouraged experts 6 years ago at WCEU, and this is “Don’t be so cheap.” – valuable for your work at the right price because you got into the Codeable expert’s group for a reason.
Danish: You mentioned in your Codeable profile that you loved to speak at events. Could you share some of the topics you covered at different IT conferences? At which WordCamp did you give a talk, and what was the topic?
Alex: Yes, I have also spoken and moderated over 60 events in Romania and Europe. I have covered subjects like Web, Security, IoT, and mobile development, and I have always tried to integrate solutions together.
For example, I developed a GPS tracking system based on Raspberry Pi with GPS support and WordPress REST API for collecting and showing data in real time on Google Maps.
Also, I made Alexa answer WooCommerce-related commands by processing the voice message intents, like printing invoices or modifying order statuses to WooCommerce API.
I think you get the feeling of what my presentations were about.
I was speaking in 2018 at Belgrade and WC Cafe, and my topic was about WP best practices in terms of development tools and also I was confirmed at Bucharest WordCamp with an IoT – WordPress-based topic, but this one got suspended due to the pandemic.
In the past years, I was part of the organizing team at WordCamp thrice and also the volunteering team thrice. Now I am part of the Communications team at WCEU 2023 Athens.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Danish: You are a community guy (as you mentioned), and you love organizing events. How was your experience organizing WordCamp Europe?
Alex: I have been doing this for 3 years, and I am still doing it. I love it so much! It is not as difficult as it sounds, but there is some work to do.
We have already started to know each other from year to year, and this is the most awaited sensation. If you think you want to join the organizing team at WCEU, just apply and do it!
This experience is so valuable, and you will have support from the lead organizers to understand your job and do it properly.
Danish: Why is the WordPress community so much bigger and better than the other communities in the tech industry? Any thoughts on that?
Alex: Because we are diverse and not niched, WordPress is easy to approach, people are supportive, and we have a lot of events in which we can meet. This is the answer to why it is so big.
I don’t think it is better than other communities; I just think it is different because WordPress’s area of interest and approaches is bigger than a single framework or technology.
Danish: How important is the WordPress community for WordPress survival?
Alex: I don’t think WordPress has a chance to exist without the whole community’s support. Also, WordPress is pointing and going forward, 99% because of the community.
The WP community was always so open and supportive, and this helped WP reach over 43% of the web and also created a business, jobs, products, and new work perspectives for all of us.
Danish: Taking on new projects as a developer can be daunting. The most challenging part of a new project is figuring out where to start. How does meditation help at work? Will meditation make you a better Programmer?
Alex: As it is said, meditation is how you get your brain to the Gym.
One of the first reasons we procrastinate or stop working for a wish or an expectation is because our brain is naturally scared of the unknown. Before starting, it wants to be totally safe and understand everything it has to do.
As you said, there are many corner cases you cannot estimate, you can end up in anxiety and find it more challenging to do your job. This is where meditation helps because by growing your mental resilience and training your mind to be more patient and objective; you can get through more easily.
Danish: You’re a music lover. Which music genre do you love to listen to and play? Any particular choice?
Alex: I love jamming sessions. I play drums, guitar, and bass and make scratches on my turn tables. I even tried the Clarinet, but I found it quite difficult to play, and I promised myself that I would dedicate myself in the future.
When I was 16, my first job was moderating and DJing a daily 3 hours show on a local radio station. That was amazing!!!
I still want to retire in radio and do my thing.
I wanted to point this out because usually, DJ-s do not have a problem listening to various genres. Sometimes I am rocking on some old-style hard rock, and sometimes I am trapping on new releases.
Music is music, and my brain likes it.
Danish: We’d love it if you could share an image of your workstation for our readers.
Alex: Sure. This is my garage:
And this is my desktop:
Danish: Thank you!
Alex: Thank you, Danish! It was so nice being interviewed by you! Looking forward to speaking again!
Danish Naseer
Danish Naseer is a WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways. He is passionate about designing, developing, and engaging with people to help them. He also actively participates in the community to share his knowledge. Besides that, he loves to watch documentaries, traveling and spending time with family. You can contact him at [email protected]
