About Me

Rachel Carden

I have A LOT of hair.

While [a part of me] always knew I wanted to be a programmer, I had no clue I would land in higher ed. After graduating from The University of Alabama, with a degree in graphic design, I landed my first job as the graphic designer for Mississippi University for Women (yes, “the”, as in “the only one”) and never looked back. I was hooked. I knew right away that higher ed was the place for me. What I wasn’t so sure of was designing print work. I had been designing/programming web sites as a freelancer for a few years and my passion for programming was slowly taking over.

I got my first full-time job as a web developer for Samford University, moving up to a slightly larger, private university (Samford has about 3,200 students). I got to expand my programming skills and meet some amazing people, not to mention roam a beautiful campus. Working for a university is like living in a small community and Samford is one amazing community. But there’s nothing quite like the call of your alma mater and, in January 2011, I took a job for The University of Alabama as a Web Communications Specialist for the Office of Web Communications/The College of Engineering. To say I moved to a larger campus is an understatement (UA has close to 30,000 students) but I am home. While my community is larger, it is no less supportive and challenging. Let’s just say there’s nothing quite like getting paid to do something you love.

The rest of my time is spent reading books, relaxing and spending time with family and friends, and solving puzzles like Suduku and iPacross, and I’m a HUGE nerd for all things Disney and Crimson Tide football. Quick Disney trivia question: What is Sleeping Beauty’s real name? “I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…”

WordPress

I started using WordPress in January 2011 (when I started working for The University of Alabama) and was quickly taken over by its charms. On top of a complete re-design, I was charged with re-structuring an entire college’s web presence, migrating everything to WordPress, and creating a (pretty vast) multisite network. The never-ending, and always improving, result? UA College of Engineering: a growing network (31 sites as of June 2012) powered by 7 custom post types, my CPT-onomies plugin, 1 parent theme, and 7 child themes.

But that was only the beginning. I’m constantly trying to expand my know-how and push the WordPress boundaries. In January 2012, I created my first repository plugin, CPT-onomies, attended my first WordCamp, WordCamp Birmingham, and started this blog in hopes that sharing my work, thoughts and ideas will help others to learn and solve their problems right along with me. And, because there’s always been a teacher inside me wanting to run loose, I hope to, one day, start giving presentations and teaching classes.

In the meantime, I LOVE helping and teaching others. If you have a WordPress problem, and need some help, just ask!

My WordPress specialties (for now) include: