Women in WordPress: Featuring Monika Rao
WordPress is growing every day, both in usability and the people who choose to work in this space. And naturally, the participation of women is also increasing rapidly. So this Women’s Month, we decided to interview some amazing women and hear their stories.
Monika Rao is among the many amazing women in WordPress who have been working relentlessly over the years. We interviewed her a few days back, and let’s hear what she had to say.
Meet Monika Rao
Monika Rao is a QA manager at Brainstorm Force, and she recently contributed to WordPress 5.7, making her a regular core contributor.
Monika has been working with WordPress since 2015, and in the long years since that, she has worked as a translator, theme reviewer, core contributor. She has also spoken and organized WordCamp.
Why did you opt for WordPress?
After my graduation, I got an opportunity to build my career in WordPress as a Quality Analyst. Therefore, I started exploring WordPress to intensify my skills to develop and test the website.
From that moment, I decided to make it part of my life. WordPress is not just a tool that can be used to simplify website building but also a platform where you can meet new people, share your thoughts, and learn from them.
WordPress gave me a chance to do something different in my life. Then, I decided to contribute to WordPress in 2015 via Theme Review. As I was very much interested in Testing from the beginning, I did the same in WordPress and contributing to Core.
Now I am delighted to be a part of the Core Release of WordPress 5.6 & 5.7 as a Test lead. WordPress has given me so much, and I will always try to give back as much as I can to the community. And therefore, I can say I also feel proud to be a part of this community.
What is the one career lesson you’d want to share with everyone?
After my graduation, I did get an offer from MNC. But I left it to be with my family. My parents have supported and sacrificed so much for my education. I come from a city in India where a girl’s education and professional career isn’t given much importance, to be honest. But, my parents helped me to get through college.
Time was tough, but I was ambitious to start and build my career. I was lucky enough to get a chance to work in a startup company as a Quality Analyst. And my journey with WordPress began with it.
At the beginning of my career, I was just testing the website built in WordPress, but I never limit my knowledge with the Testing only. I started exploring other areas in WordPress. From that way, I got to know more about the Development, Theme Review, and Translation.
I have started exploring all areas and got a chance to contribute to it. Contributing to the open-source project was a blessing for me. This is the only platform where I can learn too many things and improve my skills.
This is how I improve my skills and get a chance to work in a core release of WordPress 5.6 & WordPress 5.7.
So don’t underestimate the value of any skill that will help you somehow in your career.
Believe in Yourself and achieve Success.
If you don’t really believe that you can do something, you are not going to give your full effort and, without effort, your chances of achieving your goals are greatly reduced.
Would you want to say something to your fellow women in WordPress?
I would love to see equal participation of Women in WordPress. There are various areas in WordPress where women can contribute. As we know, WordPress 5.6 was led by Women.
It’s not difficult to manage the personal & Professional life if you have dedication towards the work and I am really enjoying my work with personal life.
Women are always welcome and encouraged in WordPress.
Other amazing women in WordPress
Key takeaways
- “After my graduation, I got an opportunity to build my career in WordPress as a Quality Analyst…..WordPress is not just a tool that can be used to simplify website building, but also a platform where you can meet new people, share your thoughts, and learn from them.”
- At the beginning of my career, I was just testing the website built in WordPress, but I never limit my knowledge with the Testing only. I started exploring other areas in WordPress. From that way, I got to know more about the Development, Theme Review, and Translation.
- So don’t underestimate the value of any skill that will help you somehow in your career.
- If you don’t really believe that you can do something, you are not going to give your full effort and, without effort, your chances of achieving your goals are greatly reduced.
- I would love to see equal participation of Women in WordPress….It’s not difficult to manage the personal & Professional life if you have dedication towards the work and I am really enjoying my work with personal life.
- Women are always welcome and encouraged in WordPress.
Mahiyath is a digital marketer for Fluent Forms. She likes to explore through the alleys of WordPress and learn about the themes and plugins, currently specializing in WordPress forms. When she’s not doing that, she’s planning her next adventure.
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