It took me six long years to come back in public.
I attended my first WordCamp back in 2019 in Pune. WordCamp Bengaluru 2025 was my second WordCamp.
Between then and now, a lot changed. Work has shifted, routines changed during the pandemic, and life pulled focus in other directions. Networking and contributing to the WordPress community is one of the core reasons I moved to Bengaluru, so skipping it didn’t feel like a choice.
It was on Sunday, August 31, 2025, at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School (Museum Road).
It was a full-day event. I realised pretty quickly that the best parts weren’t only on the schedule.
Unlike Pune, I walked in more relaxed, as I was aware of how WordCamp functions.
The day started with morning registration, followed by chatting with one of the organizers, Venkatesh, over breakfast. That one conversation set the tone for the day and made it easier to talk to people instead of overthinking it.
Everything went pretty smoothly, from attending sessions and doing quick laps around the sponsor booths to the “hallway conversations” with speakers and other community members.
The Sessions That Grabbed My Attention
1. No More Pending Payments: Makarand Mane
This one was pretty relatable.
If you are working as a freelancer or contractor, you know the pain of the follow-up loop.
Invoice sent → silence → reminder → “next week” → repeat.
Makarand shared practical systems that not only reduce payment delays but also tighten the overall process. During the session, I already started listing a few things I wanted to fix the moment I get back to my desk.
2. Building AI Agents with Self-Managing Memory: Nikhilesh Tayal
This was the most technical session I attended, and it’s natural to enjoy it as a developer when you are already playing around with AI.
Nikhilesh explained how to build agent-style systems that don’t just respond, but also manage context more deliberately. The best part for me was the conversation we had after his session. We discussed multi-agent setups and how agents coordinate with each other.
This conversation made me realise what I miss when I only attend online sessions or watch recordings. I love how side discussions change the way I think.
3. Think Like a Tester: V Gautham Navada
During this session, I realised how easy it is for developers to assume things work because they worked once.
The core idea behind it was pretty simple. Try to break what you build before someone else does, especially the client.
When you are juggling with the client work and product work, testing is the first thing that gets rushed.
It was a great reminder that you pay either way. Either you pay up front with discipline and effort, or later in support and stress.
4. Search in the World of AI: Sandeep Kelvadi
Sandeep’s session is the one that I needed without knowing I needed it.
As a site owner, I know the hurdles that come with optimizing SEO for both users and search engines. And with AI coming into the picture, we are still in an unknown territory. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, and we don’t know what search will look like in the coming years.
Sandeep explained how search isn’t dying, but shifting into different ways. His points were valid and backed by data.
I connected with his session because I work on WordPress sites all the time, and I’m also building tools like UnmaskWP.
Meeting The Urumi.AI Team
One of the highlights was meeting Vedanshu Jain, founder of Urumi.AI, and other team members. I’m the one in the yellow tee in the photo we took.
Urumi.ai is a managed WooCommerce hosting platform with an AI layer built into the workflow.
Here’s a quick overview of how it works:
- Once your site is hosted on Urumi, you get a chat assistant inside the website.
- You can ask for changes like adding a banner, tweaking sections, or adding/removing small features.
- It scans the site files, pulls the relevant hooks, figures out what needs to change, and applies only those edits.
For a business owner, on one side, it is pretty handy, but also risky if accuracy isn’t handled well.
I met Vedanshu after a couple of days of WordCamp. He mentioned that they’ve built an engine that ensures the accuracy and safety of the AI-generated code, so it doesn’t end up breaking the site.
With AI built into the hosting ecosystem, agencies can spend less time on tiny changes, and store owners can deploy small updates faster without needing a developer for every tweak.
Either way, it’s a clear signal of where WordPress and WooCommerce workflows are going.
The Real Value: The People in The Community
Even though the sessions were great, the day felt more valuable because of the people I met around them.
Big shoutout to the organizers: Venkatesh Kumar S. R., Yogesh Londhe, Suresha N, and other awesome organizers and volunteers. Running a full-day event is already a lot, and they still made time to speak with attendees and keep things moving smoothly.
I also met Leo James, Kalparaj Biswal, and Pramodh Sp. We had great conversations and explored new contexts and ideas to explore. Chats with Makarand and Nikhilesh beyond their sessions were the cherry on top.
I had that “I haven’t done this in a while” feeling because it had been six years since I attended a social event like this. But the WordPress community made it disappear pretty quickly. One conversation in the morning, and I was back in it.
Lessons I Learned
AI is Not Ending Anything
AI is not ending anything, and not everyone is going out of work. It is only changing the way we work, whether it’s development, research, support, repetitive agency tasks, or even how tools understand the context.
The shift is already happening whether we like it or not. In fact, the bigger question is whether we are ready enough to adapt to AI early and shape it in the right direction.
Don’t Overthink and Overcomplicate
The biggest thing I learned wasn’t a technical lesson. It was how quickly I settled in once I stopped overthinking. I planned to focus on sessions, but the day really opened up in the in-between conversations.
It’s Never Too Late
I am a hard-core believer in “It’s never too late”. That’s what brought me back to a WordCamp in six years. It took one decision to show up, one conversation to settle in, and everything else came naturally.
What I’m Doing Next
Here are a few things I will be doing:
- Incorporating AI in my day-to-day workflow, mainly to reduce unnecessary friction.
- Automating the boring operation stuff that comes with freelancing.
- Paying closer attention to where the WordPress ecosystem is heading, because the community usually takes the early steps.
I’ll stay plugged into Bengaluru meetups, and if things line up, I’ll be attending WordCamp Asia 2026.
If you are still hesitating about attending your local WordPress meetup or WordCamp, don’t wait for years as I did. Just take the step and attend it once.
Either you will have a day of learning, or you will meet amazing people who change the way you think about your work.
I’d love to know: what AI tools you are using in your WordPress workflow right now? Let me know in the comments below.
