{"id":2591,"date":"2026-08-09T08:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/?post_type=wcb_speaker&#038;p=2591"},"modified":"2026-08-09T10:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T17:33:17","slug":"ryan-welcher","status":"publish","type":"wcb_speaker","link":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/speaker\/ryan-welcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Welcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ryan is a Developer Advocate at Automattic. He focuses on removing barriers to adoption for developers working with Gutenberg and WordPress. He is a seasoned WordPress developer and regular contributor to WordPress and the Gutenberg project. He also streams on Twitch as RyanWelcherCodes were he focuses on custom block development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q&amp;A with Ryan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;autoclose&quot;: false, &quot;accordionItems&quot;: [] }\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/accordion\" role=\"group\" class=\"wp-block-accordion is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-is-layout-flow\">\n<div data-wp-class--is-open=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;id&quot;: &quot;accordion-item-1&quot;, &quot;openByDefault&quot;: false }\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initAccordionItems\" data-wp-on-window--hashchange=\"callbacks.hashChange\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-item is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-item-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading\"><button aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"accordion-item-1-panel\" data-wp-bind--aria-expanded=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.toggle\" id=\"accordion-item-1\" type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle\"><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-title\">Connection<\/span><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">+<\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div inert aria-labelledby=\"accordion-item-1\" data-wp-bind--inert=\"!state.isOpen\" id=\"accordion-item-1-panel\" role=\"region\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Who or what helped you find your footing in WordPress, and how do you try to pay that forward today?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have to thank Adam Silverstein and Helen Hou-Sandi for helping me find my way into contributing to WordPress. They encouraged me and shared their experience freely. Without them, I would never have been able to get my first props in 4.2. I try to offer&nbsp;the same to anyone wanting to get involved in WordPress. Just come up to me and ask!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>If you could engineer one connection at WCEH 2026 \u2014 a conversation, an intro, a collaboration \u2014 what would it be?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I really want to hang out with Troy Chaplin, I hear he&#8217;s a pretty cool guy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-class--is-open=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;id&quot;: &quot;accordion-item-2&quot;, &quot;openByDefault&quot;: false }\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initAccordionItems\" data-wp-on-window--hashchange=\"callbacks.hashChange\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-item is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-item-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading\"><button aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"accordion-item-2-panel\" data-wp-bind--aria-expanded=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.toggle\" id=\"accordion-item-2\" type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle\"><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-title\"><strong>Community<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">+<\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div inert aria-labelledby=\"accordion-item-2\" data-wp-bind--inert=\"!state.isOpen\" id=\"accordion-item-2-panel\" role=\"region\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>WordPress powers 43% of the web, but it&#8217;s the people who keep it alive. What&#8217;s a moment in this community that reminded you why you stay?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was lucky enough to attend the first WordCamp Asia in Bangkok in 2023 and Contributor Day was amazing. I vividly remember three people working on an issue where one person lent their laptop to someone who&#8217;s own computer had died. So they worked together on the patch while a third person was updating the trac ticket using their mobile phone! What a great example of how this community works together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>What does the WordPress community get right that other tech communities don&#8217;t. What could we still do better?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think we&#8217;re very good at welcoming new people into the fold. I think that we can do better at stepping outside of community to see what is working in other ones to try and bring that back to WordPress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-class--is-open=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;id&quot;: &quot;accordion-item-3&quot;, &quot;openByDefault&quot;: false }\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initAccordionItems\" data-wp-on-window--hashchange=\"callbacks.hashChange\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-item is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-item-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading\"><button aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"accordion-item-3-panel\" data-wp-bind--aria-expanded=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.toggle\" id=\"accordion-item-3\" type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle\"><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-title\"><strong>Contribution<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">+<\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div inert aria-labelledby=\"accordion-item-3\" data-wp-bind--inert=\"!state.isOpen\" id=\"accordion-item-3-panel\" role=\"region\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>What&#8217;s a form of contribution you think is undervalued, and why does it matter?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Testing, Documentation, and Translations. They are so important and don&#8217;t always get the praise they&nbsp;deserve. Without these teams and the people doing the work, things would fall apart. We&#8217;d have buggy software that no one would know how to use and could only be used in English<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>A lot of people want to contribute but feel they&#8217;re not technical enough. What would you say to them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unless you want to write code for WordPress, you don&#8217;t need to be technical at all. Take a look at my answer from the previous question for a great place to get started. Any team you join will help you get up and running and offer any help you need along the way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Developer Advocate at Automattic focused on Gutenberg adoption, active WordPress contributor, and Twitch streamer building custom blocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3657560,"featured_media":2593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_wcpt_user_name":"welcher","footnotes":""},"speaker_group":[61],"class_list":["post-2591","wcb_speaker","type-wcb_speaker","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wcb_speaker_group-first-round"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=24&d=mm&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=48&d=mm&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=96&d=mm&r=g","128":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=128&d=mm&r=g","256":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=256&d=mm&r=g","512":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f34958374f72e0e576454ecbbd477b56e86534f8777fd306fbf165e94d9f8d38?s=512&d=mm&r=g"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wcb_speaker"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3657560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/2591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2795,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speakers\/2591\/revisions\/2795"}],"sessions":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sessions\/2595?_embed=1&context=view"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wcb_speaker_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada.wordcamp.org\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker_group?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}