Summary
AI Jake
Matt Graham, a longtime resident of Ontario, Canada, joined the show from Whitby, just east of Toronto. Despite being Canadian, Matt playfully claims he doesn’t have much of an accent—likely due to watching American TV. Unlike many Canadians, he doesn’t closely follow hockey, though he enjoys watching it socially. His real sports passion lies with baseball, especially the Toronto Blue Jays. Matt joked about needing to give up his citizenship for not being a hockey fan, a common theme among some of his Canadian WordPress peers.
In addition to working in web development, Matt is also an educator and a lifelong learner. He teaches at his local community college, offering courses in JavaScript, PHP, HTML/CSS, and more. After some career reflection and guidance, he decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence with the goal of eventually earning a master’s in applied AI. He sees AI as both a practical tool in his daily coding work and a critical part of tech’s future, noting that tools like ChatGPT have become integral to how he thinks, creates, and solves problems.
Family life is important to Matt, who shares a home with his wife—an elementary school teacher—and their two sons. His youngest son is completely blind and on the autism spectrum. Matt discussed the challenges and remarkable technologies his son uses in school, including Braille Note devices and screen readers like JAWS and NVDA. He praised how much more accessible education has become in recent years thanks to digital tools and emphasized how far things have come since even five years ago.
When he’s not teaching or coding, Matt is passionate about cooking – especially low-and-slow barbecue. He shared his love for smoking meats like pulled pork, brisket, turkey, and chicken, often using a pellet grill that feeds compressed wood chips automatically. While he avoids sugary sauces, he does season with salt, pepper, and herbs and sometimes adds butter under poultry skin for extra flavor. He even taught Bud about “spatchcocking,” which involves removing the bird’s spine to cook it evenly and faster.
As a WordPress veteran of over 20 years, Matt is currently exploring new professional opportunities. His ideal role would be as a solutions architect, helping businesses figure out what’s possible with WordPress and other web technologies. He emphasized that while AI is rapidly advancing, it still needs experienced humans to guide and implement it effectively. Matt also gave a shout-out to potential future guests, including Shanta Nathwani and Kira Howe, and promised Bud some poutine and a beaver tail if he returns to Ottawa.
What’s Matt Up To? Find Out At The WP World.