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What does a WordPress Developer do? What don’t they do?
A WordPress Developer can do what you need for your WordPress site whether it is creating a new theme, plugin, or fixing bugs. Here’s a list of some of the major things a WordPress developer does:
- Responsible for the back-end or front-end development of WordPress sites (many time both).
- Designs and builds websites for companies using the WordPress CMS.
- Site planning.
- Develops custom themes.
- Creates custom plugins.
- Installs or modifying plugins.
- Builds custom pages.
- Manages front and back-end WordPress websites.
- Implements and manages WordPress website safety and security measures.
- Writes and customizes code.
- Troubleshoots and fixes WordPress related issues.
But WordPress developers can do much more!
WordPress Developers are highly skilled in both programming and security.
Some of the tasks that they might take on are what make up their job duties.
In this post, we are going to go over the rough strokes of what a WordPress Developer does, so that you not only have a good idea of what to expect from one, but maybe you might even want to become a WordPress Developer yourself!
Programming Tasks.
WordPress Developers are in charge of creating plugins or themes for their clients. They can develop customizations for any kind of website with whatever feature the client needs.
WordPress Developers are also responsible for any programming aspects when building new WordPress sites.
When a client is looking to build a blog, ecommerce website, corporate site they need all the basics that every other website needs. WordPress Developers need to be able to handle all aspects including security, SEO, and site speed issues.
SEO.
WordPress Developers are in charge of creating websites that for whatever reason, it may be required to have good search engine optimization (SEO). This requires the Developer to use any tools or approach they need to use to ensure that their coding and website structure is optimized for SEO.
Security.
WordPress Developers need to be able to keep up with all the latest security issues that arise in WordPress and anything else that is running on a site.
They also need to know what best practices they should follow to make sure that the website they build is as secure as possible and safe from Hackers, DDoS attacks, and other Nefarious actors on the web.
WordPress Developers also need to know what best practices they should follow for whatever security concerns arise with their client’s site or tools that are running on the site.
Speed.
WordPress Developers need to be able to keep up with any new development going on in the WordPress world and what kind of impact it will have on-site speed.
This can be anything from what kind of caching approach they should use or what version of WordPress their client is using which may make a difference in what plugins they should be using.
Client Support/Troubleshooting.
WordPress Developers are the go-to people when a client’s site is having problems.
They can not only fix whatever issues arise, but they often need to know what kind of approach has worked in the past for other clients so that they have a starting point from what to try first.
WordPress Developers are also the go-to people for whichever problems arise with their themes, plugins or anything else running on a site.
They need to be able to find solutions quickly and teach their client what they did so that they can fix it themselves next time.
Client Communication.
WordPress Developers are in charge of communicating what their clients want in whatever situation that may arise.
It could be which version of WordPress they are running to what plugins or any other issues that may arise. They need to know what to tell their clients in which situation and what kind of approach would work best for the client.
WordPress Developers also use whatever communication tools work best when working with whatever tools or development platforms their client is using.
Whiteboard/Slack/Skype/Video Chat/.
WordPress Developers are also responsible for all communications their client uses to communicate what they want.
Whether it be Skype, Slack, whiteboard drawings or any other tool the client wants to use they need to know what works best for what they are trying to do.
All in all, whichever approach works best for the client, it is their responsibility to be able to take that input and turn it into whatever output you need.
In whatever situation they solve, it is their responsibility to be able to communicate what the client wants and turn that into the output required.
What is the role of a WordPress Developer?
WordPress is the most widely used Content Management System in the world. Many people use it to build their blogs or websites using its official website, WordPress.org.
To make this process efficient and easy, many Developers have created web applications for making WordPress easier to use.
Most of these applications are free, but some paid ones are also available depending upon the features these apps offer to users.
A WordPress Developer is a person who creates these applications for WordPress and most of the time they can be found on freelance websites.
What are the specific skills required for a WordPress Developer?
WordPress is a platform that has been used to make websites. It has the best features and SEO options for its SEO-friendly website.
In this, there are different types of people who can design a website using WordPress such as Web Designers, Developers, etc. So, if anyone wants to create a well-coded site then they should be well-versed in HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, etc.
Knowledge of PHP is also the number one skill required for WordPress Developers. This software makes it easy to build everything from a simple blogging site to an ecommerce store or community portal with much ease.
WordPress was built on PHP and it is WordPress’s core programming language. Without PHP, there is no WordPress!
WordPress uses different elements which are separated into various files and stored in various folders.
A WordPress Template Hierarchy is also important to understand how the structure functions such as singular.php (which controls the output of all single posts), archive.php (controls the output for an archive page like your blogroll), and index.php (contains rules that apply to both single and archive pages), etc.
Is being a WordPress Developer a good career?
Ruby on Rails, Django, and Laravel are some of the new frameworks getting popular with PHP Developers.
But for many programmers sticking to WordPress is a good career option. As these guys love working on WordPress they can build their blog or make money out of it by blogging on other people’s blogs (ghost blogging).
They can also develop themes, plugins and publish them on WordPress.org.
While it’s not necessary to know all these programming languages to be a good WordPress Developer, knowing some of these can help you earn more.
When you build your blog with the latest design and features it will look better than other WordPress blogs which are built by amateur Developers.
This is a very small price to pay when you consider what’s in store for the future.
As WordPress grows, PHP programmers who know these 5 programming languages will have a better career path than other PHP programmers.
So even if you are an amateur Developer wanting to explore your options, it makes sense to learn at least some of them.
No wonder there has been a marked increase in the number of people trying to learn these programming languages over the past few years.
Well, in the end, there is no easy answer to the question “Is a WordPress Developer a good career?“. It depends on your needs, interests, preferences and aptitude.
However, it may be best for you to at least start out with PHP as WordPress runs on this. See how you like it, then try JavaScript, then Laravel.
As you go up the ladder, try to learn more and newer languages so that you can always be on top of your game.
What does a WordPress Developer do? Conclusion.
WordPress Developers are in-demand right now, and for good reason.
The platform is free to download, easy to use, customizable with themes or plugins, secure, you name it!
If you need help building a site on the popular CMS software, you should definitely shop around though. Great WordPress Developers are at a Premium since there are so many amateurs calling themselves WordPress Developers, but don’t know a single line of PHP code.
Or you can start learning WordPress yourself from the bottom up. You never know.
As they say, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions“.
You may need to build and customize your own WordPress website which may then, in turn, open up a valuable and worthwhile career!
