Speaking at WordCamp Kolkata 2019

It was in 2013 when I started working with WordPress. Into the WordPress industry through WordCamp Kolkata this is the first time experience as a WordCamp Speaker at WordCamp Kolkata. It was a great session and I have enjoyed each and every moment of the entire event. From day 1 to the end of the trip was really good.

From last few months I was thinking to do something into the community and for the WordPress lovers. There are many new comers into the industry and they are not really sure what can be their career with the WordPress. Most of them are not a professional developer but really passionate about WordPress.

I wanted to inspire people to work with WordPress because WordPress is one of the best platforms where you can contribute by translating a string

So, I decided to choose WordCamp as a platform where I can speak and inspire people to work with WordPress.

Suddenly, I got information about the WordCamp Kolkata and I became interested to be a part of it and applied as a Speaker. After a few months, I got the confirmation by the Organizer of WordCamp Kolkata. A big thanks to the Organizer. Also, a big thanks to my wife because she inspired me a lot.

I started my Journey to Kolkata before a day of the main event and it was 2nd March 2019. I had Visa and just planned to journey by train as Kolkata is really near from my country.

Day-1: Journey By Train

I started my Journey at 6:30 AM as the train schedule was 8 AM. I reached the station at 6:45 and started my immigration process. All the process of immigration was done within half an hour. It was a really comfortable and long journey and it took almost 9 hours to reach Kolkata. I reached Kolkata at 5:15 PM.

After reaching Kolkata, I took a Taxi and reached to the hotel. At 7 PM I went out from the hotel for Dinner. I had an invitation for Dinner with all other Speakers and sponsors.

So, basically the event started from Day 1 with the Dinner. I met with all the organiser and speakers and had chat with them about the event next day.

This was my first WordCamp and this time attending the event that also being a speaker, to be honest, it made me a bit anxious.

Day-2: Main Event

When I reached the location, the registrations were being done and the kit was being handed out to all the attendees, speakers and sponsors by the volunteers. I must say, from the beginning and until the end, I found the volunteers to be the most hardworking people throughout the event. The energy, enthusiasm, support, and motivation with which they move along, defines the strength and power of the WordPress community in itself.

After completing the registration, I got the coupon for breakfast/lunch/swag. Then I had some traditional breakfast and the food was amazing. I was excited to hear about WordPress and the community from experience people and I joined the session. There were lots of senior people and they were amazing. Here is the full speaker list.

My schedule was after lunch and till my session, I was discussing with many visitor about some plugins. I met with some friend of mine and they are from India.

My Session

My session was about Career as a Customer Support engineer. I wrote the title of my slide like “Why should I Choose Customer Support As My Career” and I got 15 minutes for my presentation.

In my presentation, I pointed a few major points which can inspire people to choose customer support as their career. I have discussed why customer support is challenging and the benefits and also the future position for a Support Engineer.

What was in my slide?

I tried to describe below points through my slide –

1. Why Customer Support
2. Importance of Customer Support
3. The daily task of a Support Engineer
   1. Troubleshooting
   2. Investigation/debugging
   3. Providing support tickets/live chat
   4. Create a detailed bug report
   5. Help the developer when there is a critical issue
   6. The major part of Software Marketing
4. Benefits of being a Support Engineer
   1. Improving Emotional Intelligence
   2. Product Knowledge
   3. Strong Networking within the Organization and community
   4. Gather transferable Skill
5. Future Position of a Support Engineer

It was my first attempt and I got some positive feedback from the audience. I am preparing my self and gathering more skill to attend more WordCamp in the near future.

Day-3: Roaming Around Kolkata

I got a free day because my flight was on 5th March while the event finished on 3rd March. So, the entire 4th March, I moved here and there of the city and went for some shopping for my wife and family. Kolakata is a city of joy ( Also a city of panipuri). I passed a good day with amazing food 😀

Day-4: Had to say Good Bye

On the 4th day, I prepared to leave Kolkata. My flight was at 12:45 and I left the hotel at 10:30. I took Uber to reach at the Airport with my friend. It took only 40 minutes to come back to my City from Kolkata Airport.