If you’ve been following along with A ____ of REST, then you’ll want to pay attention to updates and changes for both A Week of REST (being held in the UK) and A Day of REST (being held in Boston).
First thing first, A Day of REST, the conference I am co-organizing with Human Made, has had a date change, and will now be March 8-10th, 2017. We got word from our venue right before we put ticket sales up, so fortunately nobody should be impacted by the change. Hopefully, the new date will even make the event more accessible for some of you!
Next, A Week of REST has two new announcements: their program itinerary is live, and they have two scholarships to give away!
Ryan McCue, Joe Hoyle, and Zac Gordon will teach attendees to build a React application with WordPress, from scratch. It’s going to be a great course, and has already had a lot of preparation done to make it worth everyone’s time. It’s being held September 5th-9th and tickets are still available.
For the scholarships, Human Made is seeking less privileged or less well represented folks to apply, with a generous offer that includes full accommodation, meals, and workshops. Check the page to see if you qualify, and I hope some of you are able to apply.
Why are these events important?
A friend asked me the point of these events, and considering an API can be pretty platform-agnostic, and not all WordPressers need to interface with this one in particular, I thought it a good question.
So, here’s my pitch for who I think should look to go to these events:
A Day/Week of REST is largely for showing WordPress folks what it’s like working through the REST API (and yes, they could just as well be at some other API-centric conference), and for non-WordPress folks it’s to see the built-in prowess of WordPress and working around some idiosyncrasies of this particular API.
I wouldn’t have partnered up with Human Made for A Day of REST unless I thought this particular feature would have a big impact on the future of WordPress. I think it’s important for those of us that make our living understanding and working with the platform, to fully grasp all that is possible with this new tool.