Introduction
Half of the world’s population is using the internet for a variety of reasons. This opens new and exciting opportunities for businesses. Regardless of your profession or interest, knowing the key elements of website development is crucial in today’s technology-driven world. It’s important for businesses to stay connected and to communicate with their customers because this web development has been one of the most searched for services on the online marketplace.
Developing a website is an overwhelming process. Fortunately, there is a software tool that you can use to create your personalized website without having any coding skills. By using WordPress, you can create any type of website that you want and customize it to your own preferences.
Learning how to customize your own website might seem easy to process at first glance, but you might face some challenges along the way. The best way to overcome this problem is to hire a WordPress developer.
Before we go into detail on how to become a WordPress web developer, we first need to define what WordPress is and how does it function.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free, easily accessible open-source CMS (content-management-system) based on PHP and MySQL. According to W3Techs, it powers 43% of all the websites on the internet. In fact, WordPress’s market share is exponentially growing, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. WordPress is a popular tool among individuals that are interested in designing their own website without any coding experience. In the beginning, WordPress was a tool for creating mainly blogs, but now due to a large number of WordPress plug-ins and themes, you can create a variety of e-commerce stores, business websites, portfolios, social networks, etc. However, configuring a WordPress site and installing plugins does not make you a web developer. If you are interested in continuously updating and personalizing your site, it’s best to hire an expert who knows the entire WP platform.
Defining what a WordPress developer is?
A WordPress developer actually knows how to write programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and is able to create his own modules for WordPress. Understanding the WordPress core and having PHP knowledge is required to be a successful developer.
The term WordPress developer is really broad, but in general, it can be defined as an individual that specializes in the front-end or back-end development of a website, and usually includes creating additional resources like themes and plugins. Additional activities include website redesign, migrating sites to the WordPress platform, or building site maps or wireframes for future sites. They can review the code
How to become a WordPress developer?
If you want to become a WP developer, you should first start by learning the fundamentals of coding. True, you don’t need to write code to design a website with WP, but to analyze and solve problems that your website might encounter in the future.
Start by learning the basics of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP to learn to use this platform with its primary functionalities. Each of these languages can be used for a variety of reasons. For example, for creating custom themes you need to know HTML and CSS which are more straightforward languages and appropriate for beginners.
You will have to learn JavaScript to make links open in a new tab etc. There are a variety of errors that can occur on a WP site that you might have problems solving without any PHP coding knowledge. All in all, its crucial to master the fundamentals of coding to be classified as a successful WP developer.
There is an unlimited amount of online resources that can help you in your learning journey, from online courses to different guides that can help you learn how to develop plugins. As mentioned before, WordPress can be used in a variety of different ways so it’s important to choose in what way you are going to use this platform.
There are several development areas that you can focus on when becoming a WP developer. You can choose to create the core WP software that you can download on the official WP site. Developing themes or plugins for third-party websites or for personal use is another widely popular focus area. WP themes are a collection of template files that are not part of the WP core and do not modify it. Creating and setting up an environment where you can store your themes or plugins will allow you to view and test the changes that you are making in a browser. This will contribute not only to better products but will also speed up the development process.
Final Thoughts
Learning the building blocks of WordPress can be a complex and intimidating process but investing time and energy in becoming a developer pays off in the end. It is safe to say that WordPress is the best place to learn web design because it’s user-friendly and has available resources and materials online. There is no right way to start off your WP web development journey. We have provided several steps that will guide you along the way.
1. Get to know the basics of the web development languages like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
2. Do your research on WP resources, courses, and materials so you can be easily entering into the WP world.
3. Choose your desired field area that you want to exceed.
4. Invest your time in searching for jobs and open positions in that specific field where you can broaden your knowledge.
