Hi, I’m Aubrey Portwood (better known online as @aubreypwd). I’m a senior WordPress developer by trade, but that title alone doesn’t capture the whole story. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I juggle many roles: I’m a dedicated father of two, a student of Stoic philosophy, a competitive tennis player, and a lifelong computer nerd. My journey has taken me from small-town beginnings to leading roles in the WordPress world, all while trying to grow a little each day in work and life.

Early Inspiration and Tech Beginnings

I grew up in Roswell, New Mexico, far from any tech hub, but my passion for computers sparked early. One of my earliest memories of computing is spending long summer days at the local Boys & Girls Club, tinkering with an Apple IIe computer. That humble green-screen machine captivated me. I learned to play and experiment on it, igniting a fascination with technology that would shape my future. To this day, I have a soft spot for vintage computers thanks to that Apple IIe experience – I actually have a working Apple IIe in my collection now, and it still brings me joy to power it up. Those early moments taught me the joy of creation through code and gadgets, a joy that never really left me.

Discovering WordPress at New Mexico State

My love for the web really took off in college. I attended New Mexico State University (NMSU), and around 2007 I discovered an up-and-coming platform called WordPress. Back then, WordPress was primarily known as blogging software, but I saw potential in it far beyond personal blogs. In fact, I became something of a WordPress evangelist on campus. I built NMSU’s very first WordPress theme and pushed for the entire university to adopt WordPress as its primary content management system. It was a bold move at the time, but I believed in WordPress’s future, and it paid off – within a few years WordPress became the official CMS for the whole university’s web presence. Being a college work-study web developer who introduced a new CMS to a large institution was a thrill. That decision to champion WordPress so early shaped the course of my career, setting me on a path I’m still following today.

From Agency Work to Leadership Lessons

In 2015, I joined a well-known WordPress agency WebDevStudios (WDS). I started as a Frontend Engineer, slicing up designs and crafting interactive features, but within a year I transitioned into a full-time Backend Engineer role. Server-side coding and architecture were calling to me, and I dove in headfirst. Eventually, I was offered a Lead Engineer role—but I knew management wasn’t the path I wanted. I missed the hands-on work and the satisfaction that comes from solving real code problems directly. Instead of losing me to a track I wasn’t excited about, WDS created the Senior Engineer position specifically so I could stay deep in the code and still grow professionally.

That move turned out to be one of the most validating moments of my career. In one of my blogs for the company, I even wrote that I wanted to “keep my hands dirty” as a developer. And it was true – once I stepped into the Senior Engineer role, I felt I was exactly where I belonged. That experience taught me that career growth isn’t always about climbing upward—it can also mean digging deeper into what you do best. For me, being a top-notch builder and project tech lead was far more fulfilling than any title with “Manager” in it.

Embracing Stoicism and Personal Growth

Around this time in my life, I also began delving into Stoic philosophy, which has since become a quiet guiding force for me. Over the past decade, practicing traditional Stoicism has genuinely helped me build a better, calmer life. I was initially drawn to Stoic ideas as a way to manage stress and maintain perspective amid the fast-paced world of tech. I won’t claim to be a perfect Stoic (far from it), but the teachings of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus have definitely made a positive difference in how I handle challenges. Stoicism shows up in my day-to-day life in subtle ways: whether it’s staying calm during a work crisis or being patient with my kids, it’s about focusing on what I can control and not wasting energy on what I can’t. Embracing this philosophy has made me not only a better developer, but I think a better father and friend as well – or at least a more level-headed one!

A New Chapter: Product Development at Awesome Motive

After seven years at WebDevStudios, I began to feel the itch for a new kind of challenge. The agency life taught me a lot, yet I was curious what it would be like to focus on building a single product over the long term, rather than moving from project to project. In early 2022, I took a leap and joined Awesome Motive, Inc. as a Senior WordPress Developer, specifically to work on their AffiliateWP product team. (AffiliateWP is a popular WordPress plugin that helps site owners manage affiliate programs.) This move was a big shift: I went from a services/agency environment to a product company. The idea of owning and improving one product every day, of iterating and making it better for users release after release, really appealed to me. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be. At Awesome Motive, I got to pour my energy into a single codebase and watch it grow. I’ve been part of a team that literally takes the product from concept to completion on each feature, which is deeply satisfying in a different way than client work.

Coming Home to New Mexico

Interestingly, the same period that brought professional changes also brought major personal ones. After living in Phoenix, Arizona for about ten years, my wife and I made a big decision: we moved our family back to New Mexico to be closer to family. I was actually born and raised in New Mexico, and most of our extended family is here. We wanted our daughters to grow up knowing their grandparents and even their great-grandparents, not just seeing them on holidays. So in 2020, we packed up our life in Phoenix and relocated to Albuquerque. We treated it as an experiment at first, but it has turned out better than we could have hoped. Albuquerque quickly felt like home. We have the support of family nearby, our kids get to spend sunny afternoons with their grandma, and we’ve all gained a stronger sense of community. From weekend Balloon Fiesta events in the fall to green chile on everything, we’ve embraced life here fully. The move back home has been a blessing – it gave us the family connections we craved and a wonderful environment to watch our kids grow up. We plan to stick around for the long haul.

Life Beyond Work

Settling in Albuquerque has also allowed me to nurture parts of my life outside of work. One big passion of mine is tennis – I’ve been a tennis player for years, and getting involved in the local tennis scene here has been a highlight. The community in ABQ is fantastic. I play in competitive leagues and tournaments, and I’ve even managed to win a couple of local tournaments since moving here. Most weeks I’m on the court three or four times, usually in the evenings after work, hitting with friends or in a doubles match. I’m an aggressive baseline player by nature, always looking for that big forehand, but over time I’ve learned to appreciate the chess match of a long rally just as much as the power shots. Tennis keeps me physically active and mentally sharp – there’s a strategy and focus in tennis that complements my work as a developer.

Another huge part of my life is being a dad. My wife and I have two amazing daughters, and they truly are the center of our world. Becoming a parent has been the most profound, perspective-shifting experience of my life. I’ve always been intentional about my own personal growth, but now I get to apply that to helping my girls grow up, too. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them discover the world and develop their own personalities. Honestly, getting to know who they are as they grow is the best part of being a dad. Parenthood has taught me as much about myself as any professional endeavor – it’s taught me patience, unconditional love, and the importance of being present. It’s also redefined success for me: a successful day might be squashing a tricky software bug, sure, but it might just as well be teaching my oldest how to ride her bike or having a deep conversation with my youngest. Those moments matter more than anything.

The Road Ahead

In 2024, I made the difficult decision to leave Awesome Motive. I wrote about this in detail here, but in short, I felt a growing misalignment with the direction the company—and the industry at large—was heading. The increasing focus on AI-first approaches didn’t align with the way I find meaning in my work. I believe deeply in the joy and craftsmanship of building software, and I’m not interested in replacing that process with something artificial just because it’s efficient. So I stepped away.

Today, I’m reflecting on what comes next. I know I want to continue building things that matter, with care and intention. I want to work alongside people who value clean code, thoughtful design, and products that serve real human needs. I want to keep being the kind of developer who shows up with curiosity, care, and clarity. And more than anything, I want to stay true to the principles—both technical and personal—that have guided me this far.

Wherever the path leads, I’ll keep writing code, playing tennis, showing up for my kids, and trying to do all of it with heart.