A sofa chat with senior developer Marius Jensen

Our newest employee at Dekode, senior developer Marius Jensen, has two framed jazz records hanging on his wall at home in Stavanger. They were a gift from Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, as a thank you for Marius' work with WordPress support.

- "Let's start with education and such," I say as we sit on one of Dekode's comfortable leather sofas. Marius is visiting from Stavanger to work at our head office for a week, so that he can quickly get to grips with his duties and get to know his new colleagues. He is clearly enthusiastic about being here and has already managed to get to know several of them. 

- Marius hesitates, scratching his long red beard, "I don't really have any education. I actually dropped out of high school and took some various courses and such afterwards, but nothing formal. 

I, who had prepared my classic questions for our new employee, was a little put out. The rumors that Marius is a WordPress veteran with solid and sought-after expertise have preceded him.

Self-taught senior developer

- But, can you tell us a bit about how you went from dropping out of high school to having a reputation as one of the WordPress community's most talented senior developers?

Marius laughs a little before explaining: "I got my first PC when I was four or five years old and probably started programming when I was around ten. It was everything from websites and online games to small, fun things for my friends. After I left school, I started working at the ice rink in Stavanger. First as a guard on the ice, then running the kiosk. One day, a company came to set up a network in the ice rink, and right then I was sitting with Linux open and coding a bit. That wasn't very common at the time, so the manager of Hjelseth Computers - who looked over my shoulder and saw what I was doing - asked me straight out if I wanted to start working for them. I was the first developer they hired, so it was a steep learning curve," says Marius. He stayed with Hjelseth for 10 years.  

A great contributor to the WordPress Community

- And what about the road to WordPress? 

- "It probably started in the ice rink, really. They needed a booking system and a slightly fresher website. I took on that task. I was tired of inventing everything from scratch when I created websites. WordPress was therefore the natural choice. WordPress offered flexibility and many ready-made modules. Eventually, I realized that I was stuck and needed help. I found the pages of the WordPress community and was greeted by a really nice group who were available on chat. They helped me further. I wanted to share my knowledge back and became part of the community. It's a good feeling to be able to help with support and to give back.

For the past two years, Marius has been a representative and head of the support department of WordPress. org - for the whole world. Last year, his projects were, among other things, included in the wp site health module, allowing you to check the site health of your website in the admin interface. 

- But then there were these jazz records of yours from Matt Mullenweg? 

Marius chuckles modestly and tells us that he attended WordCamp Europe in Belgrade, Serbia in 2018. It was just before the Gutenberg editor was to be launched and Marius had the foresight to know that this would lead to increased pressure on support. 

- I reached out to Matt Mullenweg and told him I wanted help with support when Gutenberg launched. I know how few volunteers there are for support, but also that Mullenweg's company, Automattic, had previously donated employee time to help with such things. Mullenweg gave me access to two teams that helped with support, for a month - two weeks each. 

As a thank you for helping to run the support, Mullenweg sent two jazz records, framed and ready to hang on the wall. 

An important addition to Dekode

- And now you've become part of the management team at Dekode. What do you think about that? 

- I think it's going to be really good! I've done nothing but look forward to the last few weeks. I didn't work much with WordPress where I was before. Back then, WordPress was "just a hobby" that I spent about 2 hours a day on - 7 days a week, as a volunteer. Now I can work with WordPress full time as a senior developer. I needed to get to a place where someone needed the specific knowledge I have, and it's a very good match with Dekode.  

Marius will be part of the operations and management team. In addition, he will also be involved in other projects in Dekode , with a technical WordPress focus. Marius has good experience with automated testing and quality control. One of the most important focus areas for Dekode's operational product for 2020 is to automate manual processes. We want our services to always have the latest software versions and that we can carry out tests automatically following upgrades. Ours clients must have confidence that their solutions are secure and that we prevent downtime and errors. Marius will have a central role in this work. 

- You've started up a home office in Stavanger and have managed to get off to a good start. What does your gut feeling say so far? 

- "I think working at Dekode will be balanced and structured, while at the same time focusing on personal development and health - it's very refreshing and good to feel. I think this is going to be good," concludes the Stavanger boy, who is looking forward to starting his job as a senior developer at Dekode.