What can one say about the popularity of WordPress? It has opened several development opportunities. This Content Management System (CMS) is continually dominating in every aspect and a large number of companies are showing their interest in investing their efforts and resources in generating WordPress oriented content. There is a lot of interest in becoming a full-stack WordPress developer.
Unbelievably, it is powering 36% of all websites with 60.8% of the market share. There are almost 500 websites that are built on the WordPress platform each day. Whereas Squarespace and Shopify are only used for approximately 60 to 80 websites.
WordPress promotes eCommerce solutions, multi-vendor market solutions, ERP solutions, website analysis solutions, SEO solutions, and complements all standard website content management systems with plugins, themes, and core features.
The rapid and stable development of the WordPress ecosystem is now engaging programmers or web developers to start their careers.
Below are the most obvious reasons that help you understand how growing as a dedicated WordPress developer could be fruitful for you.
- You can customize your WordPress website more thoroughly than with the default options.
- The existing themes and plugins don’t provide what is required, so you need to create custom ones.
- You want to make money from WordPress development, by selling websites, plugins, and themes.
- You like to show your contribution to WordPress by promoting a core platform.
- You can also work as a freelancer – that means you are your boss, manage your schedules, and carry out home working.
- You can get a high paying job at a website development agency.
Now, you should understand the benefits of being a full-stack WordPress developer. But, the question is how do you become a WordPress developer.
It starts by knowing how much knowledge you have of the platform and what more you need to learn. Then, decide what area you would like to become an expert in and set your goals.
Our aim here is to give you the tips that you can follow to become a top-notch WordPress developer. Let’s dive in!!
Tips To Become The Best Full-Stack WordPress Developer
Technical Competence
Getting knowledge about the things you don’t know is more beneficial. And, this is truly useful in case of WordPress. It’s better if you outline what you know and where you are lagging so that it becomes easy for you to polish your skills.
Though several languages are essential to grasp to be a WordPress development, the most important are:
- PHP: It is known as the heart of WordPress. PHP is useful in several functions, such as accessing databases, encrypting data, auto-generating files, and many more.
- HTML: It has the markup codes that define how the different page aspects will be shown.
- CSS: It includes the style to the WordPress website content, like, fonts, colors, etc.
- JavaScript: This language is best for developing interactive elements on website pages. With the addition of Gutenberg editors, it has become the most significant part of WordPress.
- MySQL: It is used to store the data from MySQL languages. Vital website administrative features, like, user roles are possible on this CMS with MySQL.
Learn All About WordPress
Like with any other essentials, it is also important to learn as much as you can about WordPress. The best thing is that there are several resources to assist you.
- First and foremost you need to install a WordPress sandbox. It is the same as the dashboard, you can check out all the functions in the protected environment.
- The other thing is to use the WordPress Codex. It is the official wiki of the WordPress platform. It is a priceless asset that enables you to search and discover the officially approved tutorials and explanations. It can also serve as the best reference to code.
- Lastly, it is recommended to get a subscription to as many WordPress youtube channels and blogs as possible. These are the best sources of knowledge and will keep you updated about the latest trends and help you learn more.
Maintain A List Of Necessary Resources
WordPress has given us many resources that you can practice to become a full-stack WordPress developer.
- The WordPress Codex: Get as much information about WordPress as possible here, it will keep you up to date.
- Dedicated WordPress Courses: Mostly, advice from the experts works as the best way to attain knowledge. You can get freemium courses on WordPress related to the basic knowledge and the development criteria.
- WordPress.org Developer Websites: From here, you can get guides on plugins, themes, and other related REST APIs.
- The Make WordPress Website: This is the centralized hub for every contributor; testers, designers, developers, testers, etc.
Determine The Area To Focus On
WordPress is huge, and so is its popularity. You should focus on the area you are interested in. Below, we have mentioned some of the fields that you can choose to start with.
– WordPress Core
Even as a broad area, core development is an outstanding way to get the knowledge that could be used in other areas as well. In case, you are a newbie to website development and do not have a familiarity with WordPress languages, then this is a great place to get started.
– Themes
The themes are known as the graphical front-end styling of the WordPress website. Knowledge of CSS and HTML is essential for theme development because these languages are the mirror of the basic theme elements.
– Plugins
Even though plugin development is usually not as profitable as theme development, the market is not so saturated. After learning the fundamentals, and then creating the plugin, you can sell it on reliable websites.
– Additionally
Surely, there are more WordPress areas that you can choose as per your interest. REST API development is one of them that helps in creating WordPress applications.
Connect With The WordPress Community
To gain progress in the preferred area of development, you should get connected with the WordPress community. With this, you can improve your skills, anticipate WordPress trends, get access to development support, etc. Also, you can make profitable connections by joining this community.
Concluding Remarks
Paving the way towards WordPress is not that hard. You just need to be strategic and smart. We know that the aura of WordPress is attractive, in part due to its supportive and vast community and receptive nature.
It is one of the ideal platforms from where you can learn the development. So, if you have an urge to become a WordPress developer, follow the above-mentioned tips.
Guest Post Author Bio:
Marie Thomas is an IT enthusiast with 7+ years of experience in developing WordPress websites. Currently, she is associated with WordSuccor – a WordPress development company in the USA. She loves to keep abreast of the latest technologies and tools in the corporate market and believes in sharing knowledge gained through experience. Connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
