Plesk Official Podcast

Women in Tech: Forging Your Own Development Path with Tracy Apps

Episode Summary

A common story among WordPress developers of a certain age is that they are self-taught. Tracy Apps has a similar story – but the similarities end there. See, Tracy has forged her own path. A path that skillfully combined art and engineering in a way that allows her to use all of her best skills to deliver fantastic results for her clients. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this month’s Women in Tech

Episode Notes

In this Episode: Using Your Skills to Forge Your Own Path

Tracy got into websites in the mid-90s, when everyone had a “home page.” In college she was really into engineering…but she was also really into art. Because of that, her teachers wrote her off for not being focused enough. 

That trend seemed to continue through her agency work. She enjoyed the work, but wanted variety. And the thing that gave her that variety was WordPress. Learning, and committing, to WordPress allowed her to combine all of her skills into what she does today: a mix of UX Design and Frontend Development to deliver really killer results for her clients. 

Key Takeaways

• Know your worth. Don’t be cheap just because people think you should be. 
• As Tracy says, “I know I’m not cheap, because I don’t do cheap work.”
• WordPress is a great networking tool. Use it to meet new people, agencies, and potential clients. 
• As you’re developing a solution, answer this question: “Does this solve the problem for your user?”
• Working for yourself has its challenges. One could be distractions. Tracy turns off all of her notifications…a benefit of working for yourself.
• If you want to level up, learn the “Soft skills” of working with people. Learning body language, negotiating – they are soft.  They are really crucial to working with clients.
• A great book on learning negotiation is Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss