Aaron Holbrook joins 10up

Aaron Holbrook on June 13, 2013

I’m Aaron Holbrook, and I’m incredibly excited to be 10up’s newest Web Engineer, claiming the mantle as the first Chicago 10upper!

I’ve crafted websites since 1998, when I was convinced my GeoCities site would light the world on fire. Since resetting my expectations, I found a passion for HTML, CSS and PHP and even built my own content management system in 2004, only to stumble upon WordPress shortly thereafter.

After earning a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Augustana College, I became the full-time “webmaster” for a hospital. After spending 5 years managing content, I realized that my passion was building, not just managing, websites. Before leaving in 2011, I rebuilt the entire hospital website on WordPress.

In the two years since leaving the hospital, I built websites and WordPress plug-ins for clients around the world, spoke at WordPress events around the country, and made a few WordPress core contributions. I even found time to organize the upcoming WordCamp Chicago 2013.

After spending two years as a full-time freelancer, I came to a crossroads, not unlike my epiphany at the hospital: I could focus on operating a company or I could focus on becoming a legendary developer. I chose the latter, and I can’t think of a better team to work with and learn from than the amazing crew here at 10up.