Giving back to the WordPress community is something really important to me

Iakovos Frountas

Today we are going to list the interview of Iakovos Frountas from Athens, Greece. He is a web developer and has been using WordPress for the last 10 years.

In the interview, Iakovos mentioned that he tried to create a website was he was just a teenager. Also, he mentioned that he is a WordCamp Europe 2022 organizing team member.

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Introduction

Hello, I am Iakovos Frountas. I am a web developer based in Greece. I have been using WordPress for almost a decade now. My first attempt to build a website was in my teenage years (yes those years with the dial-up internet access) and as you can imagine, it was a BIG BIG failure.

I used MS Frontpage to build my site. It was a static HTML and I thought that it was accessible by everyone in the world, just because I had established an internet connection. Fortunately, throughout my studies, I learned a lot about web development, design, and servers ??

Q. How did you get to know about WordPress? Share if there is an interesting story.

Ans: The journey of WordPress started back in 2012 for me and I can’t quite believe it that is almost 10 years from then. All started from a friend’s requirement for a small blog which opened this whole new world for me.

Up to now, I have contributed to many areas of this ecosystem, organizing local WordCamps also I am member of the WordCamp Europe 2022 organizing team. Giving back to the community is something really important to me! You can find me in WordPress.org and in the Making WordPress slack channel as @ifrountas.

Q. What’s the most interesting project you have done to date in WordPress? What were your responsibilities?

Ans: The most interesting project so far for me was the development of the Greek Institute of Small Businesses. During this project I was responsible for the whole development cycle of the new WordPress Theme.

The theme had many custom post types, a lot of meta queries and custom filtering functions based on these post types. This project was interesting because we had to deliver it in a specific timeline and we had to migrate all the existing content from the old site to the new one.

At the end we make it happen and the client was more than happy with the look and feel of their new website.

Q. Have you ever been to any WordPress meetups or WordCamps? Share your thoughts on WordPress Community.

Ans: First of all, I am an organizer of Athens WordPress meetups along with many other great fellow workers of WordPress Greek Community! In 2016, we organized our first WordCamp in Athens.

It was fantastic! I gained a lot of experience from being a part of such a big organizing team. My contribution was the development of the site and during the days of WordCamp I was leading the inner communication channel in slack.

Below you can see a small recap of our event. Since then we have organized many WordCamps in Athens and Thessaloniki. This year our WordCamp Athens will be held on 09-10 of April in Athinais Cultural Center.

Q. How does your workstation look like? Can you send us a picture?

Ans: Picture attached

Q. What interesting feature do you think you would like to see in WordPress and is currently missing?

Ans: I have a personal interest on performance and this is something that WordPress should take care of its core.

I already know that WordPress has a new dedicated team for performance and we all can expect to see some major improvements on this area in the very next releases of the platform. I am really waiting for this!

Q. Out of the current plugins and themes which one do you like the most and why?

Ans: I am really impressed from the quality themes of CSSIgniter team and the GeneratePress. All the above themes are speedy, secure and developer friendly.

I can say that Perfmatters is one of my best plugins so far because it allows an entry user to tweak the performance settings of a WordPress installation with ease.

Q. Any awesome technology you want to share other than WordPress?

Ans: I am currently learning React and I am excited about this!

Q. Do you like/love what you currently do in WordPress?

Ans: Of course its community. WordPress couldn’t be the same without the people behind it.

Q. Where do you find yourself after 5 years

Ans: I still be will be part of the WordPress Community and I will be evolving with it.

Q. Share something about your life other than work

Ans: In my free time I enjoy taking photos of nature and traveling with friends and my girlfriend Celia. Our last trip to Zagorochoria a group of small villages near to Ioannina, was incredible and we were amazed by the nature and the river Voidomatis. We had a great time by doing rafting and horseback riding .

Q. To whom you give credit for your success?

Ans: To every single member of the WordPress Greek Community.

Q. Can you give us some reference for whom we should conduct an interview next and why?

Ans: You should interview Evangelia Pappa which is also an active member of the Greek WordPress Community and a founder member of the Balkan Woman WordPress Meetup.

Q. How do you reward yourself?

Ans: Long breaks and vacations. This is the answer of almost every problem in our life.

Q. Any suggestion for WordPress beginners?

Ans: You have to know that every single person is more than welcome to the global WordPress Community. Dare to join us in this great family and I can assure you that you will make new friends for life, learn new things and stay on the top of the changes around the WordPress ecosystem. WordPress all the way.