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WordPress developer skills you should master

WordPress developer skills you should master

WordPress can easily boast a bright and sustainable future, with more than 43 percent of all websites on the internet and consistent growth.

It’s worth noting that WordPress has an even higher market share of 66% when only looking at websites built on CMS solutions. With WordPress, you can add various functionalities such as e-commerce, multivendor marketplaces, ERP, website analytics, SEO, and more through plugins, themes, and core features.

The rapidly evolving WordPress ecosystem is attracting web developers and programmers to pursue amazing careers. However, possessing a remarkable set of skills is essential for success.

Here, in this article, we are going to show you those must-have skills to be a full-stack WordPress developer.

Why you should develop WordPress skills

WordPress developer skills

Do you think that WordPress developers are underpaid? No, not at all. Give a read to these data to learn about the highly paid hourly rates for WordPress developers at CodementorX.

At CodementorX, the average and median WordPress developer hourly rate is $61 to $80 per hour globally.

More importantly, if you limit the search to just North America, the mean becomes $81 to $100 per hour (you can see an uptick in people charging $141+, which brings the average up):

WordPress Developer Hourly Rate

You should be learning WordPress development because:

  • More and more websites are adopting it as their CMS. This increased number of WordPress websites will require more WordPress developers.
  • Now, desktop applications are also becoming online-based. This means more people will try to solve their problems using online tools, which are surging in popularity nowadays. And WordPress is a great tool to create a full-fledged website or application into an online application.
  • WordPress is open source. So, you do not have to buy it to see its code structure.
  • The WordPress community is enormous. You will never feel stranded if you need any assistance while writing codes to develop a theme or plugin

Must-have WordPress developer skills

If you are a singer, dancer, painter, or photographer, you must know the basics. Otherwise, you can not take your work to the next level, which is called “art.” The same thing goes for WordPress too! In WordPress’s atmosphere, you can develop either themes or plugins.

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Whether you are a theme or plugin developer you should have the following series of skills.

1. Technical competence

To become a WordPress developer, you should have solid know-how in some particular languages and tools. Otherwise, you’ll not be a skilled WordPress developer.

Here are those:

Text editor

WordPress developer skills

If you want to learn how to code, you must first select a text editor that meets your requirements. But for beginner-level learners, it is recommended to use Notepad ++ which is very simple to use.

In order to speed up your coding skills, you can use an extension called “zen-coding” for Notepad++, which will help you write repetitive codes with a single click!

After becoming an advanced code writer, you can use more advanced tools like VS Code editor, Sublime, Atom, Brackets.io, and so on. Choose an editor that fits your taste.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)

WordPress developer skills

If you are new to WordPress development, you must know how to play around with the elements of a webpage. HTML is not a programming language, but it displays the contents of a webpage.

If you want to be an HTML expert, it will take about 15–25 days and 7 hours per day to excel. You can learn HTML either from the Khan Academy from the W3School on YouTube, or anywhere on the internet.

Knowing HTML is mandatory for WordPress front-end developers.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

WordPress developer skills

Next up is CSS, which is inevitable for becoming a WordPress developer. The CSS properties are aimed at controlling the way an element looks on a webpage. Knowing CSS is mandatory for WordPress frontend developers, and it will take up to 25 days to learn it.

You can also learn CSS from the same resources that I mentioned in the HTML section.

Basic Photoshop

WordPress developer skills

If you are designing a WordPress theme or any webpage, you may need to convert PSD files to HTML. To do so, you will have to know the use of the Move tool in Photoshop. You will need to know how to enable the autoselect and layer option, select a layer, and trim a photo.

WordPress developer skills

To learn how to convert PSD to HTML, you can watch YouTube tutorials.

JavaScript

WordPress developer skills

If you want to be a front-end developer and make your WordPress products interactive, you must know JavaScript. It’s a programming language for the web that is often called a scripting language. Because the browser renders it, it is also known as the client-side language.

In WordPress development, you not only have to know this programming language but will also have to know one or two JavaScript libraries like Angolia Places, Anime.JS, Chart.JS, Bideo.JS, CHOREOGRAPHER-JS, Cleave.JS, React, and frameworks like Angular, VUE.JS, Next.JS, etc.

Typically, it takes up to 2 or 3 months for a person who doesn’t know a programming language but wants to learn it. You may also have to take 3 or 4 months to get accustomed to using libraries and frameworks.

Bootstrap

WordPress developer skills

Who likes to code everything from scratch? If you code from scratch every time, you won’t be able to complete your project in time. To meet the deadline, you should be learning Bootstrap, a framework that includes common HTML components like Navigation Bar, Carousel, Breadcrumbs, Forms, Progress Bar, Modals, Accordions and so many more.

All of the components are actually built-in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means that you just need to copy and paste the code from their documentation and do a little customization as per your client’s needs!

This is a very important framework for WordPress front-end developers. An alternative to Bootstrap is w3.css.

PHP (Hyper Text Preprocessor)

WordPress developer skills

This is a server-side programming language. You must be familiar with this language because it powers WordPress’s backend. If you are developing a website outside of WordPress, you can also develop it using programming languages like Python, Rubi, Pearl, etc.

You will need to spend approximately 3 months learning PHP if you are completely new to the programming language. To carry out your projects quickly, it’s recommended that you learn a framework like Laravel so that you can complete as many projects as you can and earn a handsome salary.

Please note that you may need to set up a local server to learn PHP or the backend of WordPress. If you are using a Mac, then you can try out MAMP. For Windows, you can give it a shot at XAMPP. You can also try Flywheel and AMPPS as your local servers.

MySQL (Database)

WordPress developer skills

If you want to be an expert in WordPress, then you have to know a bit about MySQL. You don’t have to be an expert in this field. This is for people who want to work on the backend areas of a website.

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Usage of Github & BitBucket

WordPress developer skills

If you want to be a WordPress developer, you must have a growth-hacking mindset. meaning that you will always have to think outside the box. For example, you should not always code from scratch. You can save your projects in the form of snippets online and later use them to boost your speed on another project.

You should learn how to use the online services GitHub and Bitbucket so that you don’t lose your work progress and can resume the last changes that you made to your codes.

2. Business skills

All of your hard work will go in vain unless you develop a product that has no demand in the market. For instance, you need to conduct a proper market analysis to know whether your product is a market fit or not. Getting to know about it is also a vital part of WordPress developer skills.

Suppose, if you want to sell drinking water where everyone has plenty of it, you cannot sell it there. You must sell drinking water to customers where they cannot avail themselves of it.

This is where business acumen and a growth-hacking mindset come into play. You must research the market with questions like, “What if I solve your problem with my tool?”

Then, after developing and beginning to solve your customers’ problems, you must ask them, “What if they do if you stop developing your tool further?” to check product-market fit.

Wrapping up

Keep learning new things about WordPress. Free and paid tutorials are available online. Remember, knowledge is power, and staying up-to-date will benefit your website.

Always strive for progress and never settle for comfort. In the dynamic world of WordPress, staying on top of the latest trends is key. Embrace a growth mindset and continuously seek out new knowledge to elevate your skills and stay ahead of the game.

Finally, you have to hone your WordPress developer skills regularly and, above all, communicate with the WordPress community as much as you can so that you can cherish your love for WordPress in your soul.

23 thoughts on “WordPress developer skills you should master”

  1. Pingback: WordPress News Hub – WordPress Development Skills You Must Master in 2019
  2. As we wrap up another year of web design it’s important to slow down and take a look at what trends will stick around. keep it up

    Reply
  3. Hiii,
    I start with WordPress. I learn WordPress and some page builders and others things related to it. after this I start learning development languages, so far I have learnt HTML, CSS , and bootstrap(still learning)…
    I have made a sketch about what to learn and how to learn, after bootstrap, I will go to javascript then vuejs then javascript ES6, then for back end node.js and then postage SQL. after this I have planed to learn Python.. so I just want a help from you as you are a pro and experienced. is this good or is there any changes you recommend..
    thanks ….

    Reply
    • Hi, you seem to be going in the right direction for the moment, but if you ask me, I would suggest you to concentrate on learning one language that you enjoy the most and learn others as a supplementary second. Learning too many programming languages at the same and then not being able to practice it on regular basis would only waste your skill in the future. So give your time on learning the language you love the most and then try to work on real life projects based on that language that would keep you focused & sharpen your skill in the long run.

      All the very best for your future and keep visiting our site regularly for more exclusive content like this. Subscribe now to our newsletters if you do not want to miss out on your regular posts or updates.

      Reply
  4. Pingback: Best WordPress Localhost Services in 2020 (Why to Use?)
  5. Thanks for such an informative article!!
    Since 2003, WordPress has kept on updating and transforming its features to provide a great user experience. All the necessary skills and programming languages that are required to build WordPress are mentioned clearly. Apart from these, showcased facts and figures clearly state how necessary WordPress skills are for developers. The developer must know the WordPress development Trends of 2021 to build a successful career as a developer.

    Reply
    • I totally agree with your observation on developers needing to understand and know the latest WordPress development trends in order to stay ahead in their careers.

      So, thank you for sharing your valuable feedback. Do visit our site regularly for more exclusive content. And feel free to subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about all our future posts and updates.

      Reply
  6. The article is very interesting and very understood to be read, may be useful for the developer. I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it.

    Reply
    • Thank you for all those kind words. I am glad to know you have found our post interesting and helpful to understand the skills that you should master as a WordPress developer.

      Do visit our site regularly and subscribe now to our newsletters to get notified about all our exclusive content.

      Reply
  7. I am not impressed with your judgment of time which people needs to master languages like PHP && JS at all.3 months sounds isnt seriosly,i know also than my comment will not be published but i m telling only a truth.

    Reply
  8. Pingback: Master The Skills Of Wordpress Web Development And Be Successful - Inv Biz News
  9. Github and Bitbucket are something every coder needs to put their time on as it helps you to what to do next and plan before doing any task. But do you think Github and Bitbucket help only coders to develop their skills?

    Reply
  10. Great article. While browsing the web I got stumbled through the blog and found more attractive. I am a Data analyst with the content as I got all the stuff I was looking for. The way you have covered the stuff is great. Keep up doing a great job.

    Reply

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