I Had to Make This Video

[@DaveFoy]

I sound like a boring old man (which I am - ok, I'm only 52, but still... I must seem like grandad to you). But I *was* there at the dawn of the web, and there's nothing more certain than constant change. I know you're not strictly just talking about WP, but since starting to build websites in 1998 I must have used at least 15 different CMS systems or building methods in that time, maybe a lot more. This stuff changes, very fast, and yeah, with AI it'll be even faster. The key, I think, is to accept that the only sure thing is constant change, and just enjoy it and roll with it. I tell ya, it's an exciting time to be alive. Thanks for making this video, Mark. It really got me thinking too.

[@danielschutzsmith9399]

As long as you keep learning and growing you’ll be fine. Don’t get hung up on the tools. Focus on what you want to achieve and map out how you’ll get there.

[@markjszymanski]

Sound advice there, thanks brother

[@nickarceco]

Yup. Been thinking this way for awhile.

[@markjszymanski]

Glad I'm in good company 💪

[@nickarceco]

@ I think Kevin Geary caught onto this too but I feel this quote really hits right now. “When everybody is digging for gold, it’s good to be in the pick and shovel business” gotta find what that pick and shovel business is

[@mr.matt.eastwood]

I feel privileged to, somewhat at least, be on this journey with you. You've got great potential and lots of time to realize it, so never stop, brother.

[@markjszymanski]

Appreciate it, my German brother 💪

[@NewPulseLabs]

Been having these EXACT thoughts for the past year.

[@markjszymanski]

For real, dude. It's mind-fucking me 😅

[@RobCooper]

As you age, and as your skills progress and tools change... the thing to pay attention to is "what's coming 3 years out" and try and put yourself in front of it when that time comes. Kinda like Etch. I see the value of this. I've been through a text editor, dream weaver, front page 98 and 2000, MS Visual Studio for ASP programming, and blogspot. When Wordpress came around I thought to myself "I'm on blogger... I don't need to switch". Then 2 years later I switched. But... I did not upgrade my skills from Active Server Pages to php. Then I got complacent and my skills lapsed. Especially in CSS. Now I'm re-learning. BUT... I'm always thinking about "what's coming 3 years out". I'm still pissed I didn't see custom bug masks for during the endemic we just went through. I should have saw that and put myself in front of the custom mask designs. Still smacking myself about that. The old guy here appreciates the young guys explaining the new stuff like API. I need YOU GUYS to dive into that and then explain it to me. Like Brendan is doing. And you. You gave me the KZbin LIVE idea. I'mma implement that hard!

[@BrianCoords]

Great advice below from Daniel and Dave already but I would definitely remember that the point of learning is to do something, build something, accomplish something- so focus on that and the tools (whether its a 20 year old CMS or a brand new AI) will come second.

[@satolbo]

The elephant in the room can't be ignored forever - I share your sentiments.

[@markjszymanski]

That's exactly it. I don't know exactly where we're going, but the only thing that is certain is change.

[@SinanWP]

create/work whatever you want, have fun and keep learning thats the secret to enjoy life and growing happy.

[@markjszymanski]

Very true 💯

[@vaughanprint]

Great video. Thought provoking. You do know that my primary vocation is as an artist. Switching back and forth between them both keeps things fresh for me. While my head is mainly in the web space the last few years, I could potentially switch over to my studio next year, if I am suddenly hit by a big shot of inspiration. The two disciplines are similar in some ways and not in others. I only started using a computer at thd age of 29. I’m a little older than Dave Foy but managed to squeeze in a higher diploma in computer science about ten years ago. I’ll say this, while working with computers is very rewarding and exciting, it tends to be limited to the two dimensions of the screen you are looking at. Visualising in a third dimension needs to be abstracted in the mind. In contrast, for me at least, creating a work of art is so much broader in scope and imagination. There isn’t a machine getting in the way. That is a generality because the fine art prints I make are limited to the techniques applied and the vagaries of the printing press involved. Stone carvers would have their own challenges. I think painters get the easier ride here, with only their imagination holding them back. And, funnily enough, computer generated art tends to be my least favourite… so you know where you can stuff your NFTs (Non Functional Tokens). Looking at the long tail of history, we are still at the incunabula stage with computing and I find that in many ways it’s racing ahead of itself before cleaning and and resolving some basic fundamentals. The worst offenders tend to be in thd social media space. I don’t use Facebook but had to set up the integration between Instagram and WooCommerce for a client a number of years ago and this has to be done via Facebook. Logging in and digging around in it was areal eye opener for me. The UI was so crummy. Zuckerberg had been living off the back of this for years without much improvement. In many ways we are seeing the same with WordPress. They got so far and then Mullenweg rested on his laurels. Miraculously though we can still hack on top of it to function and output some great work. I think Kevin Geary had the right attitude to this, no fuss or panic. Slowly introduce the paradigm shift and then move everything sideways at the right time. Wordpress was an offshoot of b2. And something else will be an offshoot of it. I would go so far as to say that Mulllenweg would actually encourage this, with some grace, considering he made Wordpress open source and allows it to be forked. Back on topic. Trying out new things, outside of your main career path, will bring a lot back to the table once you join the path again.

[@vanmarciano]

I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’ve been in the WordPress industry since 2009 and I’m at the point now where I feel there needs to be a next chapter in my life. I know what it is and how to pursue it, but I get scared of the thought of leaving the comfort of what I know.

[@tobisalami]

It's sad that we are getting to that world where the human connection will be less and less. Your thoughts are mine, exactly! And humans are getting less and less valuable. AI will disrupt everything in 2025. And I hope all the time I have invested into my life will be worth something next year. It's coming, anyways!

[@markjszymanski]

Yea, I mean I think humans will have value for a long time, but the way in which will evolve. Time will tell.

[@whatznext28]

You hit the nail on the head. I'm getting serious into web design and setting up marketing systems for small businesses, but I'm sure that is not my end game. It will be what transitions me from depending on my job, to being able to depend on myself. After that I'm focused on the tri-fecta of financial freedom, time freedom, and location independence. Then I'll be able to pursue a bigger purpose in life. Helping local businesses be successful is only the first step in a much larger plan. Thanks again for making this video. It gave me the opportunity to take a breath and see the bigger picture which can easily get lost on us when we're moving from task to task in our daily lives.

[@rebelinc]

There is always gonna be new ways and new tools. Keep doing what you like and use the tools you find usefull for you.

[@markjszymanski]

Great advice 🙌

[@conneryjohnson]

Just spent about $8k on a WP tech stack, to go full bore into Wordpress dev. Yes, it’s all changing (I’m heavily following and using AI atm). Web dev will always be needed, regardless of how far AI goes. People will crave more human created and managed content. That being said, the money is in AI and creating apps and agents using Cursor, Chat, etc.

[@markjszymanski]

Appreciate this! --- "Web dev will always be needed" not being condescending here, genuinely curious, what makes you sure of that?

[@BrendanOConnellWP]

preach!

[@markjszymanski]

🙌🙌🙌

[@tudorcelstan]

AI advancements will make us crave more human interactions. I've felt the same integrating AI into my workflows, it made me ask myself "Why?" a lot more. If it can do a mediocre job a lot quicker than me where I do not excel, and help me research and skip steps where I do excel "Why?" would I still do a lot of what I do? I think it's good that we're all starting to ask more serious questions again, for a while there, maybe during pandemic at a peak, it felt like we were all screen zombies, mindlessly going through our digital day. And I think this journey will lead us all towards the actions that we do have a genuine "Why" for. As for creating content, the era of curated content of a character in front of a screen might just be coming to an end soon. I think all content will need to start bringing more human touch, lifestyle, and natural aspects to it. I keep postponing content creation and community building, although I know for sure it's something I want to do. You've inspired me to start, even if somedays it might just mean rambling thoughts and feelings in order to start a conversation.

[@markjszymanski]

I'm a big "Why" guy haha - love going deep on those types of questions. And I'm glad you're getting into it! Happy I could have even a small impact on it!

[@nickm1049]

Difficult thing for me at the moment is deciding what I should learn next, don't have a lot of time, so don't want to waste time on something that's only a temporary hype

[@markjszymanski]

Totally feel that. There are too many options. Just gotta pick one and do it I guess.

[@0xFF-p2u]

At first, I wasn’t sure about the context of the video, but I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts I’m in a similar place, still learning and figuring things out. WordPress takes up a lot of my time, but honestly, it feels like it’s lagging behind in terms of AI and automation compared to other tools and industries. I don’t want to box myself into just this one area. I want to explore other options, find what works best, and focus on what can really help my business grow and what brings me fun and allow me to learn useful stuff that I can use in other branches. I feel like everyone have doubts and don't know what they are doing and that's👌

[@markjszymanski]

Yea, I can't say I have answers to where everything is going, but I do very much feel like I need to explore and share it more. WordPress is great and will hopefully continue to be, but there is more to explore and the world is changing rapidly.

[@MichaelThomasDev]

Glad you feel better for getting that off your chest : )

[@markjszymanski]

Thanks Michael!

[@jacobwwarner]

Your content is valuable because you're real and your human intuition can't be met by AI. You have the potential for original thought, but you can use these tools to do your best work faster.

[@markjszymanski]

Great way to put it, right there 💯

[@MattReportPodcast]

Bye Felicia.

[@markjszymanski]

You're not getting rid of my voice memos that easy, bucko.

[@maxziebell4013]

Totally just look at the Gemini demos from today… stay open

[@markjszymanski]

You're way ahead of the curve already, my man! Gotta follow your lead.

[@AdoDzeko10]

I think you said you are in your late 20's so am I and at that age a lot of things are changing in our lives and minds lol. Concerning WP and the rest, it's scary as fuck. When I think about all that, I remember one thing: we are in the 1% of computer and digital tool users. The average person don't even know paid fonts exists lol. Offer and demand is what makes economy and websites are part of that. As long as people will need websites, as long as the good ones will outperform the bad ones, we don't have anything to worry about. Skills are transposable and if a pivot is needed better to take it soon than late. The people in our yt feeds that talk about automation are probably in the 1% in their field also, so we can get fooled by that and think to ourselves "omg they are so far ahead". In comparaison to that, I have seen clients doing 1m gross anualy and not using a professionnal email address. Just my 2 cents.

[@RobCooper]

additionally... I have too much work to do to play. I wish I could play with new things and see what they do or the potential, but I've just got too much to do. Pissed me off kinda.

[@mightylotan]

Well, unfortunately with the collapse of the climate, we have about two good decades left of society (optimistic). So I wouldn't worry too much about 6 decades out.

[@markjszymanski]

🫤