I want to start this post on a personal note. My journey with LightSpeed has always been about evolution, but the past few months have been a whirlwind of growth, change, and reflection. When I was in Berlin earlier this year, I found myself walking the streets of a city that thrives on creativity and reinvention. It was there that I started to piece together the internship curriculum, think seriously about expanding our team, and reflect on how our culture and our mission and vision—rooted in growth, learning, and delivering the best possible solutions for our clients—needed to carry through every single thing we do. That Berlin trip wasn’t just a spark, it was a turning point that set in motion everything I’m about to share here.
Why We Needed New Team Members
My last blog post, AI Workflow, started with a comment about Berlin. I was there when some ideas hit me hard—ideas that sparked the evolution we’ve been on these past six weeks. That’s also where I started looking for new staff. I was drafting an internship curriculum, coding the theme that would become the backbone of the internship, and pulling together a plan that led me to write two very deliberate blog posts:
Both posts were about the same thing: LightSpeed needed new developers. But not just any developers. We wanted people untainted by the wrong skills. The WordPress industry has suffered from too many people calling themselves developers when in reality they’re just moving blocks around with page builders like Elementor. They can make something look good, but it performs badly. For us, building an effective website has never been about making things move with fancy animations—it’s about building something that works, that scales, that lasts.
So I took a different approach. I wrote two blog posts that were about telling people what we don’t want in developers and telling people what you needed to study to get an interview. If you’ve never used GitHub in your life, if you’ve never committed a line of code to version control, you are not a developer—you’re a page builder. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what we need at LightSpeed.
What This Post Covers
In this post I’ll share the full story of how that Berlin spark grew into our current journey: how we shaped the Block Theme Developer Internship, how we welcomed back José Abreu as a Senior Block Developer, how the existing team is levelling up with GitHub and Copilot, and how our culture and mission underpin all of this. It’s a story about people, growth, and the workflows we’re building for the future.
Block Theme Developer Internship
The Job Post and Requirements
The internship role was based on the Block Theme Developer post. I put the ad on LinkedIn. We had 450 applicants. Out of those, only a handful actually read the requirements. The job post made it clear: you must complete a series of GitHub Skills courses before applying. These weren’t hoops to jump through; they were there to prime applicants with version control and Copilot AI knowledge, so we could actually talk at a higher level in the interview.
The Successful Applicants
Two applicants made it to interview. Two out of 450. And they both got the internship.
Why them? Because I saw what makes a LightSpeed developer. A desire to learn. A drive to grow. No baggage, no bad habits, no arrogance. Too often, developers with “experience” come in thinking they know best, unwilling to listen, unwilling to adapt. We’ve been burned by that. I don’t want it again. Brandon and Seren didn’t come with ego—they came with curiosity.
The Internship Structure
This wasn’t some cushy internship. It was a three-month unpaid intensive. That might sound unfair, but here’s the difference: I’m not leaving them to sink or swim. I’m working hand-in-hand with them every step of the way, mentoring, guiding, and holding myself accountable as much as they are.
The LSX Demo Theme Repo
Before the ad even went live, I built the LSX Demo Theme repo. It’s not just a starter block theme—it’s a fully documented training curriculum. Inside you’ll find:
Brandon and Seren forked the repo (Brandon’s fork, Seren’s fork) and are now working exactly as we do: via issues, branches, and pull requests, managed inside a GitHub Project.
The Curriculum and Tools
On top of that, they’re completing the Ollie Block Academy while studying GitHub. They’ve got Copilot Business accounts I pay for, so they can use Copilot fully—including the GitHub Copilot courses on Microsoft Learn (Seren’s profile, Brandon’s profile). They’re logging hours in Harvest, storing passwords in 1Password, and running dev environments through WordPress Studio.
Reflection
When I look back, this whole process actually began during my time in Berlin. I spent nearly six weeks piecing together the internship curriculum, coding the LSX Demo Theme, and mapping out exactly the kind of developers LightSpeed needed. I remember late nights where I was scanning through hundreds of applications, using AI to filter LinkedIn profiles, CVs, and GitHub accounts. Out of 450 applicants, most didn’t even follow the simple instructions—uploading a CV with no cover letter, no GitHub profile, nothing to show they’d even read the job post. I used AI to send feedback to many of them on what they needed to do if they really wanted to get an interview. In the end, only two made it through, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Brandon and Seren have embraced every challenge, collaborated from day one, and shown me the hunger to grow that is so rare.
Honestly, I wish I’d learned this way when I started. The rate they’re levelling up is phenomenal.
Senior Block Developer
Introducing José Abreu
There was another applicant who was a past LightSpeed employee, José Abreu, who already had exactly what it took to become a LightSpeed teammate. José understood our ethos of learning at the core of what we do. Here is his LinkedIn profile. José was applying for the role of a WordPress Block Developer, not simply an internship role. I had many applicants for this role who did exactly what I said they shouldn’t do when applying. We aren’t looking for a full‑stack developer; this doesn’t apply to what we’re doing. What we’re looking for is somebody with the motivation to learn the latest in modern WordPress development techniques and take on the latest in AI development workflow, which I wrote about here: AI Workflow.
Meeting the Requirements
Despite the fact that I already knew José, he had to meet the same requirements as the Block Theme developer interns to get his interview. As I’ve mentioned, José already embodies exactly what I consider the perfect LightSpeed attitude and personality. When I asked him a series of 20 questions that covered everything from salary expectations through to skill requirements, he gave exactly the answers I was looking for. Primarily what I was seeking was a will to learn, which is baked into our mission and vision statement.
(See the attached document about José’s job role to understand what he is doing and what we are discussing.)
His Role and Studies
His role is based on everything the Block Theme interns are doing and what is in this blog post. José is expected to complete everything that the interns are completing plus the Block Academy developer course. He’s taking this on with incredible drive and motivation. It is impressive to see, and it is exactly what I want in a team member.
Existing Skills and Upskilling
I already know that José has the skills needed to work on classic WordPress projects, but he has been working on React and other more full‑stack development projects for the past few years since he was last at LightSpeed. That doesn’t help with the projects we’re working on right now. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the skills, it just means he doesn’t have the right skills to be effective from day one on the projects we’re doing now.
José has been extremely proactive in how he is taking on his studies. He has been doing GitHub Skills courses, the Block Theme Academy, and now the Block Academy. By the time he finishes, he will have covered all of the essential skills areas we need. He already uses Copilot, but that doesn’t mean he is a master of it, so we’ve agreed that he will do all of the Copilot courses available on Microsoft Learn.
Test‑Driven Development and Build Processes
We’ve set the objective to learn about test‑driven development as a team at LightSpeed, so José is in the process of learning about Playwright and how to use Copilot to generate unit tests. We’ve also discussed the need for learning about WordPress build processes using @wordpress/scripts. All in all, I’m really impressed with how he has taken on the responsibility to upskill and prepare himself for his new role as a modern WordPress developer building custom Block themes and custom blocks using Figma Dev Mode to extract values from Figma design systems and Figma Prototypes.
Certification Challenge
I’ve set the challenge for José to write his GitHub certification exams when he is ready. Hopefully, in a follow‑up blog post in a couple of months, we’ll have some successful outcomes to report.
The Existing LightSpeed Development Team
Everyone is Upskilling
Everyone at LightSpeed is upskilling on GitHub and Copilot at the moment, including me. It’s become a non‑negotiable part of our culture—learning is something we all take seriously.
Highlighting the Team
I want to highlight GitHub personal profiles of the current team:
- Warwick Booth – our Lead Developer.
- Zared Rogers – our Figma Designer and one of our Block Theme Developers, who is also working on his Microsoft Learn profile to prepare for GitHub certification.
- Tibi Buzdugan – our Senior Block Theme and Block Developer.
Balancing Work and Study
For the existing teammates, it can be challenging to fit in studies, especially with the current workload. That’s why we’re not putting too much pressure on the team. But every one of them has stated that they see the value in upskilling on these GitHub Skills courses. In my opinion, they have embraced it and done the best job they can of completing as many studies as possible.
Impact of AI Workflow
In my recent AI workflow blog post, I outlined our new process, which we’ve only been using since the beginning of August 2025—around six weeks now. The use of GitHub Copilot Business and our new workflow has helped my team deliver more code, of better quality, in a shorter timeframe, with exceptional satisfaction in what they are doing.
Morale and Culture
All round, I would say that this change in workflow has improved morale, made people happier, and the new skills that everyone is learning have contributed to an overall happiness within the team that is beyond any expectation I could’ve had when I set out to change our workflow.
Reflection on Balance
Balancing study with client delivery isn’t easy. There are deadlines, client expectations, and the reality of day‑to‑day agency life. Yet my team has leaned into the challenge. They’ve carved out hours to work through GitHub courses, experimented with Copilot in their own code, and kept projects moving forward. That’s not simple multitasking—it’s commitment. It’s them believing that their growth directly benefits our clients. Watching them push through that balance makes me proud. It proves that investing in people while still delivering for clients is not only possible, it’s sustainable.
Our New Workflow: Copilot + MCP
As I wrote in AI Workflow, we’ve adopted GitHub Copilot Business, custom YAML instructions, and MCP servers (for GitHub and Figma). We’re using Copilot for PRs, debugging, planning, and even extracting design tokens directly from Figma into block themes. Our Contributing Guidelines keep us aligned.
The result? Better code. Faster delivery. Happier devs.
Culture at LightSpeed
At LightSpeed, our culture is central to everything we do. I give my team freedom—flexible schedules, autonomy in how they work, and accountability for what they deliver. That freedom makes people happier, and happy people do better work. It’s that simple. But it goes deeper than that.
Our mission and vision statement is built around growth and learning, with the goal of providing our clients the best possible solutions. We believe that when our team grows, our clients benefit directly. That’s why we put learning at the heart of our culture, encouraging continuous improvement, curiosity, and collaboration.
This culture is not about rigid processes or micromanagement—it’s about trust, responsibility, and the shared belief that growth for each individual fuels growth for the company as a whole.
Conclusion
Pride in My Team
I am so incredibly proud of my existing team, my new interns, and my new teammate who will be joining our ranks in the next couple of weeks. I truly believe we have a unique culture at LightSpeed. I am not the normal employer—I give my team free reign to decide their schedules, how they work, and how they live, because work impacts every part of life in today’s world. Freedom is something that many employees never experience. The freedom I give my team helps them lead happier lives and ultimately benefits the company because they deliver better work.
Years of Change and Adaptation
It’s taken me a long time, and many years of adaptation and adjustment, to get to the point where we are right now. I believe that right now we have the most optimal workflow and the strongest team we’ve ever had in the 22 years that LightSpeed has been going.
Levelling Up with AI
The team is levelling up week on week at a rate I’ve never seen in my career. Yes, this acceleration is powered by AI, but without a team driven to learn, progress, and grow, none of this would happen. It’s their attitude, their willingness to adapt, and their hunger for knowledge that makes this possible.
Looking Ahead to 2026
In the coming weeks, I will report further on our progress, our workflow, and our strategy moving forward. Things are evolving faster than I’ve ever seen in technology in all of my 25 years in the industry. It’s hard to say what we’ll be doing even six weeks from now. As we learn, things fall into place, our perspectives become clearer, and our use of this new technology matures. By the beginning of 2026 we will be operating with test-driven development, build processes on every project, Copilot and AI planning from step one through to finish, custom instructions and prompts to ensure the most effective outcomes, unit tests to validate all code, thorough code reviews, and processes aligned with our Contributing Guidelines, which we continue to polish and evolve as we go.
This balance between client delivery and continuous study is what will set LightSpeed apart in 2026 and beyond. We are proving that you can deliver for clients today while building the skills for tomorrow—and that combination is rare.
Closing Thoughts
I’m extremely excited about the coming months and the final quarter of 2025. I’m looking forward to seeing what our projects will hold in the months to come before we close out this incredible year.
