Summary
AI Elizabeth
In this engaging conversation, Joe Hoyle, CTO and co-founder of Human Made, discusses his work-life balance, emphasizing the importance of managing work hours effectively. Joe shares that he now strives to work only about eight hours a day, having put in grueling 12-hour work days in his earlier career. The conversation touches upon his responsibilities managing a global web agency that specializes in high-level WordPress implementations for large-scale enterprises, emphasizing a more strategic and less hands-on coding role while maintaining a strong technical foundation.
Joe also delves into his personal life, highlighting the joys and challenges of raising young children while balancing professional responsibilities. He mentions that although he now finishes work by mid-afternoon, his free time is largely dominated by family activities. Joe and his wife Daphne have two young children, and they make a conscious effort to ensure quality family time, steering clear of too much television and engaging them in various enriching activities.
The discussion explores Joe’s unique upbringing, characterized by a non-traditional lifestyle with his hippie parents who opted for a nomadic, minimalist way of living. Joe and his siblings were raised in a setting devoid of many modern comforts, traveling and living in tents or vans, which has shaped his present outlook on life and work. The non-conventional upbringing led him to discover computers and self-teach coding, eventually pivoting into a career in web development and enterprise-level WordPress solutions.
Joe and his wife, both avid travelers, prefer staying in different parts of the world for extended periods to soak in local cultures genuinely. This wanderlust has influenced their family decisions significantly, including moves to Berlin, Canada, and annual stays in South Africa. Such long-term stays allow them not just to explore but to build community and deep-rooted connections in various parts of the globe.
Concerning the WordPress community, Joe affirms his continued passion for the platform, participating in events like WordCamp Europe and WordCamp US. He reflects nostalgically on the growth of Human Made, emphasizing the need for adaptability in the fast-evolving tech landscape. The conversation is both reflective and forward-looking, touching upon future technological advancements like AI and their potential to reshape the industry.