Speaker Announcement: Kurt Payne and Josh Hansen

Developers rejoice, we have some great people leading the 301 class this year. Like who?

Kurt Payne, senior php developer at Go Daddy. Starting his tenure there as an internal hosting tools developer, Kurt moved up to lead developer, and eventually became the team’s Software Development Manager. Kurt has also worked on internal tools for the productivity apps team. In June 2011, Kurt started contributing to the WordPress core.

Josh Hansen also work at Go Daddy and specializes in WordPress security. Kurt and Josh will be helping with the 301 class as well as presenting a session for developers on Saturday.

Here’s what they had to say about the upcoming WordCamp:

What will you be speaking about?
Local Environment and Security & Hackers

Who is your target audience?
Developers – Plugin authors

What do you hope attendees will get out of your session?
We will show several of the most common vulnerabilities found in plugins and themes. We will exploit these vulnerabilities live and then show how they can be prevented with correct coding.

Tell us about yourself and how you use WordPress.
Kurt contributes to core and unit tests. He works on the P3 Plugin and helps out with WordPress projects in Go Daddy’s hosting department.

Josh is the Manager of the Customer Security Products team at Go Daddy and specializes in WordPress security.

What is your favorite WordPress plugin and why?
Kurt: My favorite plugin is Core Control. I need to see what HTTP requests are going in and out and to spy on cron!

Josh: Google Authenticator – because two factor authentication should be everywhere.

Do you have a WordPress hero or a person that has made an impact on you?
Josh: All of the security experts who responsibly report to the WordPress security list. Everyone listed on releases like this: https://wordpress.org/news/2012/01/wordpress-3-3-1/

Kurt: I lose plenty of technical discussions to Andy Nacin. I am not even ashamed about it anymore; he’s just right. A lot.

Tell us your favorite WordCamp Story.
Kurt: At my first WordCamp, in Philly 2011, I met Aaron Jorbin — a core contributor to WordPress. He graduated from my Alma Mater, and knew my brother’s girlfriend, and one of my coworkers. I just ran into him by chance 1,000 miles away from home at a WordCamp during a hack day. It just reinforced how small the world really is.

Josh – I hope to get a good story out of my first WordCamp in Phoenix 2013!

Connect with Kurt: @k_payne

About Carol Stambaugh

A small business owner, WordPress Evangelist, WordCamp Addict, Serial Volunteer and busy mother of 2. Additional titles include "swim mom", "basketball mom", "baseball mom", and even "AZ WordPress mom".
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