Why and How to Become a WordPress Developer in 2023

Over 40 % of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. Resultantly, WordPress has become the world’s best and sought-after content management system (CMS).

This means that if you are a WordPress developer, you will likely be in demand and you can have a thriving business.

WordPress’ popularity is a result of the platform’s easy-to-use resources. From themes to plugins, every WordPress feature adds to its immense popularity among internet users and consumers.

Being a WordPress developer is a sound business opportunity. If you can learn to develop for WordPress, and make your offering a fine art, you can earn substantial amounts of money from using your skill.

Let’s explore some of the ways in which you can be an efficient and profitable WordPress developer.

Understanding who is a WordPress developer

A WordPress developer is one who specializes in the ecosystem and architecture of WordPress. Importantly, a WordPress developer is distinctly different from a WordPress website designer.

A WordPress developer is a specialist. They go beyond just building and maintaining websites. They design themes and develop plugins that add value to WordPress’ core environment and architecture. Their development focus leads them to be expert creators: They create new things for WordPress.

Their work involves creating new versions of these features and elements for WordPress:

•   Themes.
•   Plugins.
•   Wireframes.
•   Resources.
•   Migrating frames.
•   Redesigning.
•   SEO.
•   Marketing.

How to become a WordPress developer

There are several ways to skill yourself to be a WordPress developer. There is no single cookie-cutter approach.

One of the first aspects of becoming a WordPress developer is for you to hone your skills at writing code. While WordPress is a robust CMS, that does not require users writing code, as a WordPress developer you will do well to know the fundamentals of code and know how to write code.

This means you must know HTML, JavaScript, CSS and PHP. This knowledge will be required for building themes and plugins. It will also be needed for debugging the platform and for working on it.

Each of the languages listed here are crucial to making a good website. Plus, the interplay among these coding languages makes learning them important and easy.

Mastering WordPress as a CMS

WordPress is known globally as the best CMS. Learning to work with WordPress is easy, but to leverage your knowledge of WordPress you need complete mastery.

This is where knowledge of writing code comes in handy. Also, you must know everything about the WordPress architecture to make it work for you.

To be a master you must know how to use Gutenberg, WordPress’ built-in editor. This block-based editor is being continuously updated. So, you must keep learning a new thing every day to stay informed and relevant. You must also know how to make a page in HTML. And, at the same time, you must know how to use Elementor, a remarkable page-making plugin.

Plenty of resources that can help you along the way

For every WordPress feature there are plenty of resources that can help you learn them and master them. These are important resources to follow in order to become a good WordPress developer.

Look to learn from the official online manual made by WordPress developers, WordPress Codex. Envato’s tutorials are a great resource too: They cover a wide range of subjects and offer their modules at attractive prices. Further, WordPress itself offers a lot of learning modules for its developers on a dedicated part of their site. The modules include those on the Gutenberg editor, APIs, access code references and lots and lots of developer-related material. Reddit has 166,000 members in its WordPress community. These members are always available for any advice that WordPress’ developers may need. Also, look around and make time to attend a WordPress development course. This gives you a guided, hands-on, experience to become a WordPress developer. Additionally, those attending the course get a certificate too.

Choose one key area to focus on

WordPress is an ocean. It offers limitless possibilities. It is not realistic to expect that you gain mastery of the entire ecosystem overnight. So, choose one key area to focus on and work hard to become a master in it.

WordPress’ universe breaks down in three parts:

•   Core development.
•   Theme development.
•   Plugin development.

You can choose one part to begin with. But as you proceed, as you gain experience and expertise, you will find that there is a lot of interplay among the parts. Developers often find that when they have learnt to design new themes, they are soon able to build plugins for those themes.

Be visible and active in the WordPress community

The WordPress community is large and spread all over the internet. You could connect with the community via discussion groups, message boards, blogs or even join chat forums like the one on Slack.

Pre-pandemic members of the WordPress community would meet at WordCamps. These WordCamps are now active again. Sign up for the next WordCamp and attend it. Find a way to constantly network, be visible and stay active in the WordPress community.

Use Meetup.com to find local WordPress events in your area.

Nurture and develop your portfolio

The development space lends itself to a lot of visual presentation opportunities. So, build a good portfolio of all that you have developed for WordPress – and, importantly, showcase it.

Make sure your portfolio presents all your projects, your development skills, development service information and personal information. Include everything that potential customers may want to know or find useful. Let your portfolio talk about what you do, what you have created and what you are looking to create.

Make sure you display your portfolio on freelance websites like Upwork.

Summary

Enjoy the process of skilling yourself to become a WordPress developer simply because WordPress is a constantly evolving, happening, space. Being on it will mean you are having to upgrade and upskill yourself continuously. This non-stop learning will give your career an unbeatable edge.

People Also Ask

1. How do I become a WordPress developer 2023?

In order to become a WordPress developer in 2023, you can learn about plugins, themes and what to develop and create in the platform, spread your work through WordPress repositories and monetize work. 

2. Is it worth becoming a web developer in 2023?

Demand for web developers is huge and the industry is only expected to grow. So, the prospects are very good.

3.  What does a WordPress developer do?

A WordPress developer does the front-end and/or back-end development of WordPress sites including creation of custom themes and plugins.