?? ??? ????? ???????? ???????????.

“Listen… the birds are already singing,” said Danylo — a Ukrainian I’d met at a previous WordCamp — as we were wrapping up the last hour of the WCEU afterparty in Krakow. “It’s time for us to go.” He started singing “Hei! Hei! Hei, sokoly! Omynaite hory, lisy, doly.” I started singing with him. The Polish guys next to us continued singing in Polish “Dzwo?, dzwo?, dzwo? dzwoneczku, Mój stepowy skowroneczku.” Some people behind us joined the choir. That was “Hey Sokoly” — a Ukrainian-Polish folk song — carrying us out of Bastion III, a 19th-century Austrian fortress on the edge of Krakow’s Old Town, as the night turned to morning.

But to explain how I ended up there, I need to go back to where it all began.

Mykolaiv

It all started in Mykolaiv, the city of shipbuilders and brides, where I spent my childhood. I graduated from two universities I had been attending simultaneously and started looking for a job during a gap year. I planned to find work to earn some money for further education while preparing for the entrance exams to one of the Finnish universities. Mykolaiv didn’t provide good opportunities for graduates unless you had very good connections, but I managed to find a job at an “IT” company. In 2011, the term “IT” didn’t mean much to me, but they required English, which was my major, so I thought — why not. The work wasn’t particularly difficult: I had to pretend to be “Bob” from the United States, helping customers who had purchased physical products by tracking their orders and walking them through setup instructions. I was fired after a month and a half. Maybe I underperformed, or maybe somebody just didn’t like me — either way, it’s water under the bridge.

The first job I’d gotten entirely on my own, the first paycheck that proved I could be independent, and the first time being fired — all of it hit me at once. The last part was devastating, made worse by comments like “it was too good to be true,” “we told you they’d trick you,” and “look at so-and-so, doing such-and-such and earning properly.” It was hard to sit with feeling like a failure. But somewhere in that difficulty, I got tougher — and more determined to prove everyone wrong.

TemplateMonster

The first job was a failure, but it gave me one clear answer: I needed to stay in IT. The next job was TemplateMonster.com — well known in certain circles. It was the complete opposite of what I’d experienced before. In 2012 they were selling templates for the most popular CMS platforms of the time: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and various e-commerce solutions. The onboarding alone took two months, which tells you something about how seriously they took their people — staff rarely left, and when they did, it was for personal reasons, not because they were pushed out.

My job was to help customers with their templates: installation, editing, customization. Difficult, but genuinely interesting — I liked it. This was the first time I encountered WordPress. I worked six nights a week, and Sundays were the strangest — your day off, but your body had adjusted to night shifts and refused to cooperate. None of that bothered me much. Being able to build sites and make things look exactly right was addictive. I overworked, learned constantly, pestered developers with questions, all just to quench my thirst for knowledge. It ended quickly: I got accepted into three master’s programs in Finland, chose one, and left for Central Finland.

Helsinki

Studying in Finland was genuinely different from anything I’d known in Ukraine — in the best possible way. Once the mandatory courses were done, I started looking for work. It was harder than I expected: a year of passive searching, then six months of applying every day. Eventually, I landed at a Helsinki-based agency building WordPress websites — which is still what I do today. A friendly team, around ten people — I’m still close with many of them. We built sites of varying complexity during the day and spent evenings playing board games, swapping stories, and throwing the occasional party.

That’s also where I attended my first WordPress event: WordCamp Helsinki 2017, a two-day conference. It didn’t blow me away, but it opened something. When you work in a small agency, you live inside your own bubble — and then suddenly a whole other world appears. You see the other side of WordPress: the community, the people pushing it forward, the people wrestling with the same problems you are and finding creative ways through.

That first local WordCamp was enough to make us want to go further. In 2019 the team went to Berlin for WCEU — my first trip abroad outside of the Finland-Ukraine route I knew well. We spent a few days exploring the city and attending the event. WordCamp Europe is a different scale entirely: thousands of attendees, hundreds of volunteers making it happen. Standing in that crowd, I knew I wanted to be part of it — not just as a visitor. And then corona happened.

Porto

WCEU 2020 and 2021 were online, and I felt they were missing the whole point — thousands of people in one place, feeding off each other’s energy. So when Porto was announced for 2022, I started packing. This time, I joined as a volunteer, to see WordCamp from the inside. It was the right call. It was also a difficult time for Ukrainians — the full-scale invasion was by then well into its second year, and everyone was finding their own way to cope. For me, this event became a source of strength. I connected with the Ukrainian community, had real conversations with speakers, and came away feeling like I’d experienced what WCEU is actually for.

That trip also clarified something I’d been circling around for a while. I’ve always loved traveling, but there was a barrier that had nothing to do with visas or money — though those were factors too. It was a justification problem. Coming from a culture where time should be spent purposefully, traveling for its own sake felt hard to defend. A work conference, though? Completely justifiable. Nobody asks how much fun you had. I’ve been to Germany, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and Poland this way. Spain is next.

Attending WordCamps is one thing. Building a similar event is another.

WP Suomi

In 2025 I became the lead organizer of WP Suomi — the first independent Finnish WordPress event, held in Helsinki. The months before October 10th were intensive in ways I hadn’t anticipated: budgets, logistics, gifts, merch, catering, venue coordination, a hundred small details that needed to be right simultaneously. I remember waking up at midnight worrying that I hadn’t ordered something in time and it wouldn’t arrive before the event. Most of the work that goes into an event like this is invisible to the people attending. They see the schedule, the food, the afterparty. They don’t see the half a year of pieces being polished before the puzzle comes together.

On the day of the event, there was nothing left to worry about. Whatever needed doing had been done — if something had been missed in the preparation, it would show up now and there would be little we could do about it. So why worry? The time for that was the preparation, not the day itself. The team — experienced, reliable, no hand-holding required — knew exactly what they were there for.

Around 300 people attended WP Suomi. Forty filled out our feedback form afterward, giving an overall score of 4.47 out of 5. But the number mattered less than what people wrote: networking, atmosphere, meeting old friends and new ones, a community that welcomes everyone openly. Reading that, I recognized the same feeling I’d had at WordCamp Helsinki 2017 — something new, interesting, and full of possibility.

Organizing WP Suomi gave me a clearer understanding of what goes into making these events happen. Having been a volunteer at WCEU and then a lead organizer at WP Suomi, I arrived in Krakow with a slightly different perspective — a better sense of what the people around me were going through. This year I’m back on the WP Suomi organizing team as speakers coordinator — a different role, another angle.

Krakow

WordCamps have changed for me over the years — less about the sessions on stage, more about what happens between them. As an organizer, you miss most of the talks anyway, pulled in ten directions at once. But real life happens in the corridors, and at the parties in the evenings.

This matters especially for the Ukrainian community. The war has scattered us across Europe — different countries, different companies, different lives. WordCamp Europe has become one of the few places where we reassemble in person: to share what the year brought, to meet people we only knew online, to see the community still growing despite everything. Many couldn’t make it to Krakow, some would not be able to visit these events anymore. For those of us who could, the room carried extra weight.

That’s what Danylo and I were singing about at dawn outside Bastion III, even if neither of us said it out loud. I hope to do that someday in the afterparties in Helsinki and Kyiv — whenever that becomes possible again.

Volodymyr’s Work Environment

We asked Volodymyr for a view into his development life and this is what he sent!

HeroPress would like to thank Draw Attention for their donation of the plugin to make this interactive image!

“????????… ?????? ?????????”

«????????… ?????? ?????????», — ?????? ??????, ?????????, ? ???? ? ???????????? ?? ???????????? WordCamp — ?? ????? ????????????? ??????? ?????? afterparty WCEU ? ???????. «??????? ??? ??? ??? ???». ? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??????? «???, ???, ???, ??????, ???????? ????, ????, ????». ? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ???. ??????, ?? ???? ????? ?????????? ?????????: «Dzwo?, dzwo?, dzwo? dzwoneczku, mój stepowy skowroneczku». ????? ?????? ??? ?????????? ?? ????. ?? ???? «???, ??????» — ??????????-???????? ??????? ????? — ??? ???????????? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ???????? III, ???????????? ??????? XIX ???????? ?? ??????? ???????????? ??????? ?????, ???? ????, ???? ??? ??? ?????????? ? ?????.

??? ????????, ?? ? ??? ????????, ?????????? ??????????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ???????.

????????

?? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ? ????????? – ????? ?????????????????? ? ?????????, ?? ? ?????. ?????? ?????? ? ???? ?????????????, ?? ???????? ????????? ? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ???????????? ????????. ? ???????? ?????? ???? ??????, ??? ???????? ???????? ??? ??????????? ????????, ????????? ?? ?????? ? ???? ?? ???????? ?????????????. ? ????????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ???????? ??????????? ??? ??????????, ???? ?? ? ???? ? ??’????, ??? ? ??????????? ?????? ?????? ? “IT” ????????. ? 2011 ?????? “????” ?????? ???? ?? ???????, ??? ??? ???????? ???? ??????????, ??? ???? ???? ???????? ????????? ? ????????????, ???? ? ???????, ? ??? ?? ? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ??????: ????? ???? ??????, ?? ? “???” ?? ??? ? ?????????? ????????, ??? ???????? ??????? ????????, ??????????????? ?? ?????????? ? ?????? ??????????, ?? ??????????????? ???, ?? ???? ?????????????. ???? ????????? ????? ??????? ??????. ???????, ? ???? ?? ??? ?????, ???????, ?????? ?? ?????? ???????? — ? ????-????? ???????, ?? ????, ?? ??????.

?? ?? ?????? ? ??????????? ??????????, ??? ????-???? ?????????, ????? ????????? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ????????????, ? ????? ?????????? — ?? ??? ????????? ??? ??????. ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?-??? ???? ???, ????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?? ??????: “?? ???? ??????? ?????, ??? ???? ???????”, “?? ?? ???? ??????, ?? ??? ????????”, ? “???????? ?? ????? — ??? ?????? ?? ?? ? ??, ?? ? ????? ????????”. ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ? ????????? ???? ????????. ??? ?? ???????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??? ????-??? ???????? ????????? — ???? ???? ??????????? ? ????????? ????? ??????? ???????, ?? ??? ?????????? ???? ????.

TemplateMonster

??? ????? ?????? ????????? ????????, ???? ???? ???? ????? ?????????, ?? ????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ? IT. ???????? ?????? ? ??????? ? TemplateMonster.com — ????? ?????? ? ?????? ?????. ???? ???? ?????? ????????????? ????? ???????? ???????. ? 2012 ???? ???? ????????? ??????? ??? ????????? ?????????? CMS-?? ???? ????: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, ? ??? ?????? ?????? ??????????? ????????. ???? ???????????? ? ??????? ? ???????? ??????? ??? ??????, ?? ?????????? ???????? ??? ??, ????????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ????? ????? — ????? ?????? ?? ?????????, ? ???? ???? ? ???? ? ??????, ?? ? ??????? ??????.

???? ????????? ???? ?????????? ???????? ?? ?????????, ??? ???? ????????: ????????????, ????????????, ???????????. ???? ?????? ???????, ??? ???? ?????? — ???? ??????????. ???? ? ?????? ???????????? ?? WordPress. ? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ???????, ? ?????? ???? ??????????, ?? ???? ??????? ?? ?????????? ????? ? ???????????? ?????. ???? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????????. ?????????? ?????????? ????-??? ????? ? ????????????? ?? ???? ??? ???? — ??? ???? ?? ?????? ?????????. ? ?????? ???????????????, ?????? ???? ????, ??????????? ??????????? ?????????, ??? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ?? ?????. ??? ??? ??????????? ??????????? ??????: ? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ??????????? ?? ???????????? ? ?????????, ?????? ???? ??????????? ? ?????? ?? ??????????? ?????????.

?????????

??????? ???????? ? ????????? ?????????? ?????? ??-?????? — ?, ?? ??? ?????, ?? ?????. ???? ? ???????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????????????, ? ????? ?????? ??????. ???????? ???? ?? ? ??????: ??? ? ????? ???????, ??-??-?? ??????? ?????? ?? ??????, ? ?? ??? ???? ? ???????? ??? ???????, ???????????? ?? ???????? ???????? ?????. ???????, ???? ??????? ???? ? ??????????? ?????????, ?? ?????????? ????? ?? WordPress — ??? ? ???????? ? ????????. ? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ???????, ????????? ? ?????? ?????, ? ????????? ? ??? ? ???? ?????. ?? ???????? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ??????????, ?????, ???????? ????? ? ????????, ???????? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ? ???????????? ?????????? ???????.

? ???? ???????? ? ?????? ???????? ????? WordPress: WordCamp Helsinki 2017 — ???????? ???????????. ? ?? ??? ???????? ???????, ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ????. ???? ?? ??????? ? ?????????? ?????????, ? ????? ? ????? ?????????, ? ??? ??????????? ????????????? ????? ???????. ?? ????? ???? ??????? WordPress — ?????????, ?????, ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????, ?????, ??? ?????????? ? ???? ?????? ??????????, ??? ????????? ?????? ??????? ?? ???????? ????????.

???? ??????? ????????? WordCamp’? ???? ?????????, ??? ??? ?????????? ???????? ????. ? 2019 ???? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? WordCamp Europe — ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????????? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ?????????? ?? ????????. ?? ??????? ?????? ????, ??????????? ????? ? ?????????? ???????????. ??????? ?????????? ?????? ??-??????: ?????? ????????? ? ????? ??????????, ??? ??? ?????????????. ?????? ????? ????? ???????, ? ????????, ?? ???? ???? ???????? ?????, ? ?? ?????? ?? ??????????.

? ????? ???????? ???????? ????????????.

?????

WordCamp Europe 2020 ? 2021 ????? ????????? ??????, ? ???? ?????????, ?? ???? ???????? ???????????? — ?????? ?????, ???????? ? ?????? ?????, ??? ?????????? ???? ?????? ????? ????????. ??? ???? ?????????, ?? WCEU 2022 ??????????? ? ?????, ? ????? ??????? ??????. ????? ???? ? ?????????? ?? ??????? ??????????, ??? ???????? WordCamp ?????????. ? ?? ???? ????????? ???????. ??? ????????? ?? ??? ????????? ??? — ?????????????? ?????????? ??? ???????, ? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ????????? ? ????? ??????????. ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ????. ? ?????? ???????????? ? ??????????? ??????????, ????? ?????????? ?? ????????? ? ?????????? ? ?????????, ?? ??????? ????????, ???? ??? WordCamp.

?? ??????? ????? ????????? ???? ?????????? ????, ??? ??? ? ????? ?????????????. ? ?????? ????? ????????????, ??? ??????? ???’??, ???? ?? ??? ???????? ?? ?? ???, ?? ?? ?????? — ???? ? ???? ??? ??????????? ???? ????. ???????? ???? ? ????, ?? ?????????? ???? ???????. ? ????? ? ????????, ?? ??? ???????? ????????? ? ???????, ???? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ????????? ??????, ?? ????? ????????. ? ??? ?????? ??????????? — ?????? ???? ??????. ?? ?????? ?????????? ???????. ????? ?? ?????, ??????? ??????????? ?? ?? ??? ???????. ???? ??? ? ??????? ? ?????????, ??????????, ??????, ????????? ?? ??????. ???????? — ???????.

??????????? WordCamp — ?? ????. ?????????? ???????? ????? — ?????? ????.

WP Suomi

? 2025 ???? ? ???? ???????? ????????????? WP Suomi — ??????? ??????????? ????????? ??????, ???????????? WordPress, ?? ???????? ? ?????????. ??????, ??? ?????????? 10 ??????, ????????? ???????? ?????????????, ??? ? ????????. ??????, ?????????, ?????????, ????, ?????????, ??????????? ??????? — ? ????? ????????, ??? ???? ??????? ? ????????? ??????. ???’????, ?? ?????????? ??????? ???? ? ??????, ?? ?? ????? ???????? ???? ?????? ? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????. ????????? ??????, ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????, ??????????? ?????????? ??? ?????????. ???? ?????? ????????, ???, ????????. ??? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ????, ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????????? ? ????? ???????.

WP Suomi ????????? ??????? 300 ?????. ????? ?????? ????? ????????? ????????? ????? ?????????? ??’????, ???????? ???? ? ?????????? ?? 4,47 ?? 5. ??? ??? ???? ?????????? ???? ?? ???? ??????, ? ??, ?? ???? ??????: ??????????, ?????????, ???????? ?? ??????? ??????? ? ???? ??????????, ?????????, ??? ???????? ??????? ???????. ??????? ?? ???????, ? ?????? ???? ? ?? ???? ????????, ??? ??????? ?? WordCamp Helsinki 2017, — ?? ???? ????, ????????? ? ???????? ???????????.

??????????? WP Suomi ????????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????????, ?? ?????? ?? ??????????? ????? ???????. ????? ??????? ????????? ?? WCEU, ? ?????? ? ????????? ???????????? WP Suomi, ? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ? ????? ???????? — ???????? ????? ?????????, ????? ?? ????????? ????, ??? ???????? ?????. ????? ???? ? ????? ? ??????? ????????????? WP Suomi, ??? ??? ? ???? ???????????? ????????. ???? ????????????????, ????? ??????.

??????

?? ?? ???? WordCamp ??? ???? ????????. ????? ??? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ????? ? ?????? ??? ??, ?? ???????????? ??? ????. ?? ???????????, ?? ??? ???? ?????????? ????????? ????????, ???? ???? ????????? ??????? ? ?????? ?????? ?????. ??? ???????? ????? ????? ? ????????? ? ?? ???????? ????? ?????????? ???????? ?????.

???????? ??????? ?? ??? ??????????? ?????????. ????? ????????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? — ????? ??????, ????? ????????, ????? ?????. WordCamp Europe ???? ????? ?? ?????????? ?????, ?? ?? ?????? ????? ?????????? ??????: ?????????? ???, ?? ?????? ??? ???, ?????????? ? ??????, ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????, ? ????????????, ?? ???? ????????? ????????? ???????? ????? ???. ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ???????, ?? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????. ??? ??? ?? ???, ???? ?? ???????, ?? ???????? ????? ???????? ????????.

???? ??? ?? ?? ? ??????? ??????? ?? ???????? ???? Bastion III, ???? ????? ? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ??????. ??????????, ?????? ???? ?? ?????????? ?????? ?? ?? ???????? ? ????????? ?? ????? — ????? ?? ????? ????? ????????.

The post “Listen… the birds are already singing” – “????????… ?????? ?????????” appeared first on HeroPress.