People of WordPress: Aleksandar Savkovic

by Vipe Team in WordPress Society; Published on 05.11.2021

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Welcome to our People of WordPress series, where we interview and share stories of people dedicated to WordPress and its community.

Today our guest is Aleksandar Savkovic, WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways. Aleksandаr is one of those people who passionately follow the idea of contributing to WordPress, its community, and overall helping people find their professional path.

Read Aleksandar’s story about his WordPress journey and how it changed his life!

Tell us about yourself – where do we find you now personally and professionally?

Professionally, you find me happily employed under the Disrupt umbrella, working with Cloudways on improving and promoting products and services I believe in. We are working on building relationships between different companies and product/service providers in the WordPress ecosystem. Using our pioneer status in managed cloud hosting, we are trying to improve all WordPress users.

Personally, you find me still recovering from being hit by a car last year while riding a bike. And you find me really happy with the amount of love and support I’ve gotten from my friends and family during this really challenging time for me. In the future, I’m hoping people will be finding me drifting on a SUP board along the Montenegro coastline.

When did your journey with WordPress start?

My journey with WordPress started 7-8 years ago when I decided to start a WordPress development course. To be perfectly honest with you I was looking for a new career and a well-paid job that will support my family and with WordPress, I found a loving community filled with friends and people ready to help me change my life. My first serious job in WordPress was for ManageWP in the position of Customer Happiness Engineer.

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How did you become a member of the WordPress community?

I was invited to my first meetup by Milan Ivanovic where I found out more about a community I didn’t know existed. I applied as a volunteer at WordPress Serbia to help maintain the official website and organize WP Meetup Belgrade and contribute to the Polyglots Team as Translation Editor and Contributor.

When did you attend a WordCamp for the first time, and what memories do you have of the experience?

Well about that 😀 The very first WordCamp I attended was at the same time the first WordCamp I co-organized and the first WordCamp I gave a talk at. It was WordCamp Belgrade 2016.

What motivates you to contribute to the WordPress community?

Contributing to the WordPress community expands your personal footprint and benefits your professional and personal growth. On the other hand, it motivates me to help other people at the beginning of their careers to find the right path and progress in their careers faster.

You have attended many WordCamps, from what positions did you join them?

You can contribute to WordCamps in many different ways, I believe I’ve covered all except being a global leader for WordCamp Europe. I went from being a volunteer in Vienna 2016, over Community Team in Paris 2017, then 2018 Belgrade in my hometown as a part of the Communications Team, 2019 Berlin the Content Team, then I’ve skipped online 2020 and the last one I’ve participated was WCEU 2021 online where I was leading the Content Team

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Besides that as a Community Deputy at WordPress Foundation, I’m mentoring WordCamp organizers across the world, I’ve been a speaker at probably more than 20 and in Sofia I think for 3 years in a row.

You have been a speaker at many WordPress conferences, what inspires you?

When speaking, you are sharing your knowledge and something you know. Maybe a small piece of the talk can help someone move forward faster, maybe it will motivate and encourage someone to change something in their lives. Besides sharing knowledge it is important to meet new people and grow a network of people you communicate with because in 21st century opportunities are everywhere, you never know why you would need someone or why and when someone would need you.

What do you like most about the WordPress community, and what would you change if you had the opportunity?

I wouldn’t change much or maybe even I wouldn’t change anything as long as the community functions in a way that everyone can change and suggest what should be changed by becoming a member of the WordPress community. As long as there is the freedom to say what you think and be in a position to discuss your arguments and what and why something should be changed, I would stick with this philosophy.

There are also community summits where WordPress.org teams delegate their members to discuss different important topics for two days. It is quite a hectic event where some important decisions are being brought up.

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Looking back at the journey

Our WordPress development agency is thankful for Aleksandar’s contribution to WordPress, as well as his participation in our “People of WordPress” series.

Alexander has proved that people can contribute to WordPress and its community in many different ways. He was a volunteer, a speaker, a member of the Communication team, and lead of the Content team, and last but not least part of the huge WordPress community!

Stay in touch with our People of WordPress series and let us know which WordPress enthusiast’s story you want to read the most.

Till next time, WordPress enthusiasts!