Topic: Maintaining a HEART Healthy WordPress Database
David serves as a Customer Experience Data Analyst and in-house WordPress Database Subject Matter Expert (SME) for WP Engine. He has an MBA from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA majoring in Management Information Systems and Bachelor’s in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. He has worked as a freelance database design consultant and has been supporting WordPress for 5 years.
How did you get involved in WordPress?
I began working with WordPress in 2013 as a support technician for Hostgator. In 2016, I joined the WP Engine team as a Level 1 Support Technician and soon assumed the role of Database Subject Matter Expert. After two years in our Support organization, I’ve progressed to Level 2 Support Technician and Senior Level 2 Support, and I have now assumed the role of Customer Experience Data Analyst.
What do you do with WordPress?
I currently have a professional profile page for myself and develop sites for local non-profits addressing the needs of marginalized populations (i.e, human trafficking awareness, etc).
What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?
I have thoroughly enjoyed learning from other WordPress users and developers and have relished the opportunity to give back to the WordPress community through talks, as well as support development and training.
Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?
I wanted to take the opportunity to give back to the WordPress community in Texas and surrounding areas in a way that provides actionable information to improve site performance with WordPress on an often misunderstood or neglected topic.
Why did you decide to speak on your topic?
The WordPress database is a unique creature in terms of the relational model and is often neglected in regular site maintenance. From my experience and the best data available, approximately 2/3 of slow sites I have worked with have been diagnosed as having significant problems with the database, ranging from data bloat to data fragmentation.
What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?
It is my hope that developers and business managers come away from this talk with a better perspective on the importance of having a regular database maintenance plan and I will be providing a proven framework that can be utilized within their own regular development and maintenance workflows.
Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!