Leaving London, the UK WordPress Community and LBDesign
Posted on: 16 Oct 2014
Written by: Ngaire Ackerley
Farewelling the WordPress London Meetup Group, Photo taken by Jenny Wong
In a few days time I’ll be flying to Namibia where I’ll start volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary to kick off my travels around the world back to New Zealand, after almost 5 years of living in London.
It is with great sadness that I leave behind many great friends in the UK and my colleagues and clients at LBDesign, where I’ve worked for over 4 years. A great deal has changed for me during my time in the UK. I’ve grown from a designer and HTML/CSS coder, to a WordPress front-end developer who codes themes and plugins. Not only that but I still design, illustrate, do the odd bit of video editing and photography when I can. My skill set has grown a great deal thanks to working with Liam at LBDesign, where I was given many opportunities to grow and progress my skills while working on varied client projects in the UK, Africa and the USA.
Since being in London I have also had the opportunity to present to many different people about design, web development and WordPress. These include small charities, at UK WordCamps and the local London WordPress Meetups. Earlier this year I started helping the London WordPress Meetup organiser with venue organising and then about 6 months ago I took over in organising the meetups as a co-organiser. I never really imagined how much work was involved in organising a successful meetup, but in the months I was involved it went from strength to strength growing and sharing knowledge about WordPress, continuing the hard work Keith had put as the prior organiser. I am sad to leave the group, but I wish Dan, the other organiser, the best for continuing the group.
I’ve had some amazing opportunities volunteering and taking photography for the New Zealand Business Women’s Network, getting published in Lonely Planet Traveller Magazine, writing for the New Zealand Times and other companies and being involved with the London Bloggers Communities. I’ve made some amazing friends and will miss all the people I’ve met during my time in London and the UK.
So, for now I’m taking some time away from developing WordPress sites for a few months and focusing on my travels, volunteering, photography and blogging at http://kiwifootprints.com. Next June, 2015 I’ll be refreshed with a new perspective and ready to get back into WordPress projects. If you’re in need of a designer or front-end developer, please feel free to get in touch from June 2015 onwards. Otherwise if you’re in need of a travel writer or photography please get in touch at ngaire@designack.com and I’ll do my best to respond to emails when I have internet connection during my travels.
For now, farewell London and the UK. New Zealand and Australia – you may be seeing me soon! Thank you to everyone who has made my time in London and my work life such an enjoyable experience.
For more details about my travel plans check out the blog post I wrote a few weeks ago here: kiwifootprints.com/2014/09/30/crossing-the-globe-back-to-new-zealand-the-travel-plan/
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