How to Become a WordPress Developer in 2023

WordPress development is a lucrative industry that draws businesses as well as independent freelancers due to the significant market share WordPress has in the CMS market as well as the enormous user base it draws. The majority of WordPress developers, according to a study by Delicious Brains, earn between $45,000 and $150,000 annually from their development job.

We’re going to provide you with all the knowledge you need to become a WordPress developer in order to help you break into this market, including insights from Paul Bearne’s session “Finding your WordPress lifestyle – intimate insights from a veteran coder” at WordCamp Europe 2022.

What is a WordPress developer?

A professional in the ecology and infrastructure of the WordPress platform is known as a “WordPress developer.” They might concentrate on developing new plugins and themes or enhancing the WordPress software itself. Additionally, they could assist clients in designing, modifying, and maintaining a WordPress site.

A complete lack of technical knowledge, however, can result in issues later. Some users encounter difficulties with website security, data backup, and fully customizing the theme, by the Website Development Company. These are only a few of the motives behind users’ requests for WordPress developers.

In other words, WordPress developers can handle the more complex aspects of building and maintaining a WordPress site that the average user simply lacks the knowledge or time to handle themselves.

What does a WordPress developer do?

Typically, a WordPress developer is in charge of front-end or back-end development for WordPress websites (or both). This frequently includes but is not limited to, developing original WordPress plugins and themes. WordPress developers can be engaged to generate these resources as well as sitemaps and wireframes for new websites, transfer existing websites to the WordPress platform, or rebuild websites to improve their SEO and conversion rates.

Or, WordPress engineers might examine and fix bugs in the official WordPress core rather than work with clients on their websites to improve the platform overall.

The range of work that WordPress developers accomplish is much wider than what is covered here. Let’s have a look at a real job description for a WordPress developer to better comprehend this position. The following job description is available on Indeed.com.

How to Become a WordPress Developer

1. Master the fundamentals of coding.
2. Read up on WordPress specifically.
3. Choose a focus area.
4. Create a development environment for testing.
5. Become an active member of the WordPress community.
6. Build a portfolio.
7. Create your technical resume.
8. Consider your ideal work environment.

WordPress is well-known for being a content management system that doesn’t require users to know how to code or even to write any code, as was already noted. But for developers, being familiar with the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP is crucial for troubleshooting, debugging, and extending the platform’s functionality.

Master the fundamentals of coding.

To put up WordPress error logs on a client’s website, for instance, you’ll need to have a working knowledge of PHP. The same applies if you wish to have a list of random posts in your WordPress site’s sidebar. If you want external links on a WordPress site to open in a new tab automatically, JavaScript will be necessary. You’ll need to be familiar with HTML and CSS to modify a WordPress starter theme if you or a client wants a truly distinctive design for their website.

Read up on WordPress specifically.

Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of coding, you should read up on WordPress-specific resources to learn what makes this content management system special. Here are just a few tools that can be useful to you as you progress toward becoming a WordPress developer.

Must Read: Best Security Plugin for WordPress

Plugins for WordPress are programs that you may “plug into” your website to increase its capabilities. Ideally, plugins shouldn’t alter the WordPress core, as themes do. The code would be lost while updating your software if you made changes to core WordPress files to add functionality to your website. That’s because every time WordPress is updated, essential files are overwritten.

Therefore, using WordPress plugins to add features to a WordPress website is excellent. With more than 55,000 free plugins available in the official WordPress directory alone, the plugin ecosystem is tremendously strong. Not to mention the tens of thousands of expensive plugins that are accessible on outside websites.

These plugins may make minor adjustments or significant modifications to your website, depending on their intended use. For instance, you might build a fully multilingual website or use a plugin to add a WhatsApp share button to your posts and pages. You can use plugins to check your website for broken links, conduct A/B testing, improve your contact forms, create eye-catching sliders, back up your website, gather email addresses, and do a lot more.