My name is Aubrey Portwood and most know me for being a WordPress developer. But I’m also a dedicated Stoic, tennis player, computer nerd, and girl-dad.

What drives my passion for coding, particularly in WordPress development?

Back in 2007 I advocated for WordPress at my university. I knew it would be the future and since it has definitly been my future. I have had a passion for building things online since the days when you would write ASP pages and everything was built using <table>‘s and ran in Internet Explorer. I never really built anything interesting, but I really loved building it. I also grew up in an era where web standards was a big thing early in the 2000’s. I think this has lead to me having a real passion for building things and writing beautiful, well-thought-out, standard-compliant code.

Code Is Poetry

How has being a Stoic helped shaped my approach to life?

Over the past decade being a Stoic, the one concept that has helped me the most is the discipline of assent. Withholding judgement until you understand the nature of something for what it really is has lead to a more peaceful life for me as a whole. I’m not a great Stoic, but everything that I have learned shows up in little ways like this and helps make life better.

What’s my favorite vintage computer, and why does it stand out to me?

There’s something about an Apple IIc that really screams nostalgia for me. I used to spend all day during the summer playing around on one of these at the Boys and Girls Club. The day I come across one of these (especially a DOS compatible one) I will be adding it to my collection!

If I could play a tennis match against any historical figure, who would it be and why?

I would love to play Pete Sampras. He was my hero growing up and given how much older he is now (and retired) I feel like he’s the only guy I might get a game or two off of. Maybe ;)…

What’s the most rewarding part of being a father of two girls?

I have spent a life being very mindful of how I have grown as a person, and so getting to watch them grow as people and getting to know their personalities has been the greatest part of being a girl-dad.