The use of WordPress to build efficient websites has become mainstream nowadays. Launched in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, WordPress is an easy to use content management systems (CMS) that expanded widely over the years. Today, around a quarter of all the websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.
Although it is a technical platform but doesn’t require the users to be a complete tech whiz. It is one of those platforms where not only the developers and technical professionals but also the content creators and bloggers are making names for themselves. Simply said, WordPress has become a good career path for many individuals.
Anyone can make a breakthrough in their career using WordPress, without any professional degree or formal training. Whether you are a blogger, developer, designer, marketer, content creator, or even an educator, you can find career opportunities with WordPress.
If you are giving a thought to pursue a career using WordPress, then the following opportunities are for you.
Become a WordPress developer
Becoming a WordPress developer and pursue it as a career path will require time, patience, energy, as well as a good amount of determination and hard work.
Just learning how to install WordPress or modify the themes doesn’t make you a WordPress developer. To pursue a career in WordPress developer requires more than the basics. You should be skilled in analytical thinking, coding with PHP and MySQL, and the ability to develop custom plugins, themes, and modules for WordPress.
For a long-lasting career in WordPress, you need to become one of the best in the business of WordPress development.
What you need to do to become a full-time WordPress developer is to dedicate at least one hour a day to get yourself familiar with the platform. WordPress releases new features and tools on a regular basis. Hence it is important that you spend the time to become good at it. There are no shortcuts; you will have to stick with the routine to learn WordPress.
Find quality reading materials about WordPress that contains excellent tips and suggestions. Few good resources for WordPress learning are WordPress Codex, WordPress blogs, and WordPress books. The WordPress Codex is a repository of WordPress information.
Read books and find quality blogs on the internet that post about WordPress. Learn the PHP and MySQL coding, and practice them as much as you can. Practice developing the custom themes and plugins for WordPress. This is good to start with.
Spend time with people who are expert at WordPress development. Follow them on social media sites like LinkedIn and attend their webinars.
Once you become good at it, approach the clients for small projects. Try your best and keep patience to get everything correct.
WordPress is a leading platform for building websites, hence jobs for WordPress developers are on the rise. Most of the e-commerce and revenue-generating websites are powered by WordPress, and when these sites face some errors, they look for a WordPress developer.
If you are a good WordPress developer, the client will be happy to pay higher rates. Another option for WordPress development career is to start an own business of plugins and themes.
Become a WordPress designer
Although the designers are a little less techie as compared to developers, a top WordPress designer must have enough knowledge of coding and WordPress structure.
The designers are more focused on the aesthetics of a site, like color combinations, fonts, and styling. Again, for a career as a WordPress designer, you need to be good at it. You must have a sense of right color, style and fonts to perfectly meet the demand of a website according to specific industry or niche.
The placements of widgets, menus, and navigation should complement the content of the website so that the website becomes user-friendly, easily readable, and eye-catching.
Along with website designing, WordPress designers can find opportunities in designing the themes for WordPress. A lot of users opt for free themes or premium themes from third-party. Also, there are a lot of platforms available to list your themes there and earn good money. If you get good at theme designing, then you can start your own business as well.
To become a WordPress designer, you must learn the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Practice them every day to become more creative with the designs. Learn the coding and programming languages including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, etc. HTML and CSS are must have languages for a designer.
Become a WordPress writer
If you have good writing skills, then setting up a blog is another option for a career with WordPress. Being a WordPress writer, there are a lot of topics to write about, including WordPress, SEO, marketing, e-commerce, etc. You can monetize your blog using ads, promotional posts, becoming an affiliate to other sites, and more.
Additionally, you can write for other technical websites that write about WordPress or sell WordPress services. For becoming a WordPress writer, you need to have in-depth knowledge about the platform, along with excellent writing skills.
Things can be better if you become a combination of WordPress developers and WordPress writer. It can help you write high-quality content and generate more traffic on your blog.
Become a WordPress educator
When you have learned enough about WordPress, you can start teaching it to the WordPress community. For this, you can create a YouTube channel or conduct webinar sessions to share your knowledge related to development, design, plugins, etc. with an audience.
For teaching WordPress, you need to have comprehensive knowledge about the platform, so that audience feel satisfied with your sessions. With time, you will get better at it, and chances of earning more will increase.
Final words
Once you have decided which career path to follow using WordPress, it is time to start working on it. Make an agenda and stick to it. Like every good career, it will also require you to put your hard work, persistence, and determination.
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Catherrine Garcia is a passionate blogger and a freelance Web Developer currently working for WPCodingDev. She along with her group of freelance developers are experts of creating Websites on WordPress.
