A young WordPress Theme developer and entrepreneur, Rajeeb Banstola, has a passion for the internet and wants to make a living through the internet. He currently works with the talented Theme Grill team. In his spare time, he loves to learn and experiment with new things. He was a speaker at this year’s WordCamp Nepal. He took some time off before his presentation to talk with us and share his experiences and insights with WordPress.
How did you get started with WordPress, and where did it take you?
I have been blogging since I was about 13-14 years old, first on the blogger platform. I started to change the design myself and started to write code. I got hooked. Last year, I started my own company. I thought I had the energy to start something as well as the time, and that failure would not matter as much. I realized that I needed more experience and needed to learn about things like the market, and ways to innovate and be different. I had released themes online and ThemeGrill had noticed, so they approached me in 2013. I am working there currently developing themes, and providing support.
Do you think it is a good idea for young people should learn WordPress? Is it something with potential?
Of course it is. There are a lot of companies that are generating good revenue. The main thing is you have to have a new idea or new product. There is definitely potential.
Two pieces of advice for people who want to get started with WordPress?
Even when I started out, the competition was low. Now, the competition has increased drastically. You need to acknowledge that. If you stay constant, it is not going to work anymore. You need to be able to accept change. I think you also need to be persistent. I think if I had been persistent in theme development for my own company, I would have gotten somewhere. But I stopped for a while, I wasn’t very committed to it at that time. You won’t get success until you are committed.
What is your favorite thing about WordCamps?
Networking. I am an introvert but trying. I think attending sessions won’t necessarily make you better in WordPress. The main thing is getting to know other people, and you can ping them later if you need help. That is the main thing.
What are your top 3 WordPress plugins?
- Contact Form 7
- Yoast SEO
- Floating Social Bar
What is your favorite WordPress related resource?
StackOverFlow – It is a Q&A site where people answer other people’s questions, and it is very useful for when you are doing development.
How do you think WordCamps can be made better?
I think the main thing is to separate developers from non-developers, so sessions can be better tailored. For example, my session is for developers, and not just developers, but advanced developers. For someone who is already doing theme development and wants to know how to make it better. If you don’t know anything about it, how can you make it better? So, I think there should be a clear way to separate general sessions from such targeted sessions.