Don’t worry, the Internet is coming, and you WILL find a job

Filter CTO Paul Halfpenny takes time out to talk about his career, trends in tech, web development and WordPress. Plus the advice he would give to his 16 year old self.

Describe your role in no more than 100 words

My primary role is to define the technical strategy for the agency, in terms of the technologies that we use and how we use them. I spend most of my time with clients, working to create technical solutions to meet their needs and requirements within digital, and concentrating on developing frictionless and impactful customer journeys.

Was there a particular moment which influenced you career path in a meaningful way?

It was the move to an agency called Evolving, in Bedford in 2006. I was employee number 16, and met both Olly and Lech, who I still work with. The agency grew quickly, picked up great clients and provided us all with the need to develop new and innovative digital solutions and systems.

Growing the development and project management teams into double figures, whilst delivering retained income from our SaaS email platform was a great grounding for creating a successful digital agency of our own.

How do you keep current with technology trends? Can you recommend any useful resources?

I read, read, and read. I am constantly intrigued by new technology, platforms and user patterns, and spend a lot of time researching and understanding how our clients can use technology to gain competitive advantage. Prototyping and playing with new tech is also incredibly useful – it allows you to find out the limits and what doesn’t match the marketing material and the hype. Finally, I spend time attending events and conferences, both online and in-person.

In your view, what will the major trend in software development be in the next 12 months?

This is the question that everyone regrets answering when they look back in 12 months time! Over the past few years, we’ve had many false dawns about what the next big thing might be – I’m looking at you, VR (again), and that can come back to haunt you.

But I think that it is clear to see that Javascript, JAMstack and headless platforms are becoming the new normal in the CMS space. The new block editor in WordPress is written in React, and Sitecore have launched their new JSS SDK. Static site generators such as GatsbyJS are becoming ever more popular, and the rollout of 5G will mean that more data can be pushed down the pipe faster.

You went to WordCamp Europe last month, can you share your thoughts on the next developments on WordPress?

WordPress is taking a major leap forward, and it’s being pushed heavily by Automattic, run by Matt Mullenweg, one of the co-founders of WordPress – and the change is a fundamental one, impacting on the core editing experience within WordPress and migrating the underlying technology from PHP to Javascript.

The speed of change has caused problems within the community, and is impacting on established business models, but it’s a necessary step to ensure that WordPress can compete as a platform against both site-builders such as Squarespace and Wix, and API-driven platforms like Drupal and Contentful. Wordcamp Europe was an interesting experience, as now that Gutenberg has been integrated into Core, it feels as though the argument over whether it is a good thing has been done, and everyone can now move on to delivering Gutenberg-based solutions and improvements in the future.

There’s still a (very) long way to go, but the upcoming improvements I saw showed promise and you could see people finally beginning to understand the wider picture, and how it will benefit them, and WordPress.

Is there any advice you would give your 16 year old self?

Don’t worry, the internet is coming, and you will find a job!