# About Me
My name is Nick Dickinson-Wilde(he/him). I make the internet - seriously I'm a small business owner/software engineer and my code is used by over 1% of websites due to open-source contributions (particularly Drupal). Living in Sooke, BC Canada/T'So-uke lands, father, environmentalist and engaged community member.
I've been a father since 2023 and it is amazing even if exhausting at times and I prioritized it over almost all politics for pretty much a year. Despite decreased involvement in politics temporarily, having a son has if anything made me more determined to make the world better than before.
I'm a web developer by trade. I've lived on/around Vancouver Island my whole life - ranging from Pacheedaht lands (Port Renfrew) to Tsawout/Tseycum lands (Pender Islands) although mostly in the Sooke (T'So-uke lands) area. When not being a computer nerd, I can generally be found hiking, biking, gardening or at community events. I'm a sensei (instructor) with Sooke Shukokai Karate and regular tournament goer/participant - whether as coach, competitor or judge (Karate BC Judge A certified).
I'm an avid cyclist and keen hiker of all our local parks - from Mt Doug to the Matterhorn, and cycle as my primary solo transportation modality. Through multiple federal, provincial and municipal campaigns I only attended events by bike if I was going alone. A lot less biking since becoming a father due to the very unsafe nature of many local roads - like I can be comfortable biking on it but absolutely unwilling to have my son in a trailer on some roads and unfortunately my closest secondary road is unsafe in that way.
Depending on your precise definition of millennial used, I'm either exactly in the middle or to the slightly younger side - born in 1990. My earliest news memories are the War in the Woods (Clayoquot Sound anti-logging protests), and Kim Campbell being Canada's first female prime minister - although I didn't expect her to be our only female prime minister 30 years later.
# Work
Although both palaeontology and veterinary sciences were very appealing as a youth, I instead have pursued another interest of mine - specifically, computer sciences. I've specialized in software engineering and am a Drupal 10 Triple Certified Developer.
During the day, I'm Drupal Development Manager at Taoti Creative.
Working at Taoti since 2018, I'm also head of the dev-ops practice area and was majorly responsible for the shift to composer usage internally. Taoti has been a top 100 Drupal company for contributions for multiple years primarily due to my involvement.
When not "working" with Drupal at Taoti Creative - although lines are sometimes blurred which is what I get for turning a love into a job. Like I contribute quite a bit to Drupal - both core and the contrib ecosystem, often that is directly related to my work but sometimes no connection. Taoti specifically has at sometimes givne me time for DrupalCon so the barriers are quite often vague. Sometimes "yes this is my own time" but also "I'm able to contribute because I learnt about this bug at work and it interested me" and "Taoti's money is what gives me the free time to contribute".
I've helped organize many Drupal events from user groups to cons including most recently on the session review team for DrupalCon 2025 Atlanta. Likewise, I've spoken at many Drupal events, most recently Drupal GovCon 2024.
Most of my Drupal contributions - both core and contrib - can be found through my drupal.org profile. Much of my other open source code contributions can be found on GitHub.
# Politics
I've been politically active from a young age - leading (with my twin) student vote for on the Pender Islands. We were also environmentally active being involved with conservancy association, speaking at the UNEP International Childrens' Conference of the Environment at UVic in 2002 and serving on the Youth Round Table on the Environment (Environment Canada advisory body).
Provincial/National
I have long felt that political parties are a blight on the political landscape as they by nature tend to compress political debate and encourage negative partisan behaviours. Total acceptance of leader's faults is a great example of the negative behaviours. Despite that - or in some ways because of it - I'm a lifelong Green Party of Canada member (since 16) and BC Green Party. Often being involved in campaigning and organizing in various capacities both locally and in other provinces.
As far as platforms go, they align the closest - although not perfectly - but the most important part is that neither the BC Greens nor the GPC are whipped parties which means that unlike every non-independent MLA in BC or MP in Canada they can actually follow their conscience and local issues rather than being forced to vote party lines.
In 2024, I ran for the BC Greens in Delta North - expected to run as a paper candidate but did a bit more. Very much in expected turnout so not seriously disappointed at my election results - although in other ridings I did have disappointment.
Local
Local politics is in almost all cases the most important and easiest to make positive change. I've been involved in local politics most of my life from non-profits such as Pender Island Conservancy Association to governmental committees involved in land use and planning to running for Sooke Council in 2022 (not elected). With being a father, this is the area of politics I expect to be prioritizing in the near future, especially as regards safety and equality.