WordPress Developer Skills [Be Polished In 2021]

WordPress rules the web world since its inception. WordPress enjoys around 61.8% of market share as a preferred CMS, which is more than combining any other systems like Drupal and Joomla. So, before going on board you should have WordPress developer skills to do well in the domain.

As per the survey conducted by Netcraft, around 455,000,000 websites are powered by WordPress to date.

One of the biggest reasons for the growing popularity of WordPress is the users can edit or modify their websites without having any technical knowledge.

WordPress has extended its reach in eCommerce solutions, ERP solutions, and website analytics solutions through WordPress themes and customized plugins. However, website owners must hire WordPress specialists to make the most of this thriving platform. On the other hand, developers should also learn some of the top skills to meet diverse requirements and ever-changing challenges of website owners or WordPress users.

Here we mention top WordPress developer skills to build and customize enterprise-grade apps. Whether you want to become a skilled developer or want to stay ahead of other developers, these skills are always useful for you.

Let’s go through them one by one.

Top WordPress Developer Skills You Should Master In 2021

1. PHP Or HyperText Preprocessor

It is the most preferred server-side scripting language for developing websites worldwide. As per the statistics, almost 78% of websites are based on the PHP programming language. PHP is an excellent choice for WordPress. The reason is- PHP was designed by keeping the website requirements in mind. PHP is dedicated to website development though it has become a general-purpose language recently. Ruby or Python are general-purpose scripting languages that were created by keeping other applications in mind, and web development is one of the uses.

PHP can easily manage the content and communicate with the database while controlling plugins, third-party integrations, etc. Good insight into PHP is one of the most important WordPress developer skills because it enables you to enable fundamental features on your client’s website. You can easily select and apply any theme with the help of PHP. In other words, PHP powers the backend of the WordPress website. But, when it comes to customizing the theme, you need to know HTML and CSS.

2. CSS And HTML

As a web developer, you must be aware of HTML and CSS. One is the backbone or framework of the website, and the other is the paint or design of the website. Even if you are just interested in web development, you have certainly got the basic information about HTML and CSS. HTML is a markup language that displays all the content on the webpage. It takes around 15 to 25 days to become an HTML expert providing you can spend 7 hours a day. YouTube and other online sources are available to make you master HTML. This is the most essential skill for front-end developers.

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is important to become an expert WordPress developer. CSS controls the way all the design elements and other web-related elements appear on the webpage. It is mandatory to learn for WordPress developers and takes up to 25 days with 7 hours a day time.

Useful Read: How Do I Become A WordPress Developer?

3. JavaScript

JavaScript comes into the picture when you want to make a theme or plugin interactive. One of the most common programming languages JavaScript is also known as the client-side scripting language. It is also the most important WordPress developer skill. Apart from this language, it is better to know one or two JS libraries and frameworks like Angular and Vue.JS. JavaScript takes at least 2 to 3 months to learn, whereas libraries and frameworks learning can take the other 2 to 3 months.

4. Basic Photoshop

Photoshop can help you convert PSD files to HTML. Photoshop has a Move tool that is used to convert the PSD file. What’s more, as a WordPress web developer, you need to know various aspects of Photoshop like auto select, trim a photo, and layer option. YouTube tutorials are available to learn Photoshop and utilize its various aspects of web development. The knowledge of Photoshop is an essential WordPress developer skill to learn in the year 2021.

5. BootStrap And MySQL

Coding is the lifeblood for a successful WordPress website. However, it takes a lot of time to code every website from scratch, and you may miss the deadline. Therefore, it is necessary for you to learn Bootstrap, a framework that has a collection of common HTML components including Navigation Bar, Breadcrumbs, Forms, Modals, Carousel, and the like. Now, all these components are ready-to-use, and you can easily copy and paste the code. However, little customization may be necessary to address the client’s needs effectively. W3.css is an alternative to Bootstrap for WordPress developers.

As you know, MySQL is a database. A bit of MySQL knowledge can give you fame as an expert backend WordPress developer. It is better if you have the ability to customize the MySQL database and fixing bugs between PHP and MySQL. Every senior WordPress developer should have at least a basic knowledge of MySQL like how to customize it and what are its limitations.

Another necessary skill is to learn RESTful APIs. It can help you create a black box for your website. The website can communicate with other websites through this black box. RESTful architecture can serve many other objectives of modern web development. Developers can easily integrate various third-party services with the help of RESTful architecture.

Apart from these technical skills, the developers can not skip the basic business skills to stay ahead of the curve.

6. Business Skills

As a WordPress developer, you need to have adequate knowledge of market trends and industry requirements. What if you develop a website after putting a lot of effort and it fails to draw the attention of people? Some insights and growth of the hack mindset are always helpful to excel. You should ask yourself two questions-How can I solve the client’s problems through a website? And, how can I develop the existing website furthermore?

If developers make a website that meets the client’s requirements effectively, they can excel and get a handsome hourly rate. If they work in a WordPress development company, they can get a senior position as a team leader in developing all these skills.

7. Use Github And Bitbucket

As a WordPress developer, you have a growth hack mindset. True! For that, you will always have to think out of the box. Let me give you an example, it is not always convenient to write code from scratch. One thing you can do is save your projects in the form of snippets. Afterward, you can use this ready-made code to enhance your speed on another project.

Furthermore, you can learn online services like Github and Bitbucket. With these tools, you do not lose your work progress and effectively save your work. Moreover, millions of developers and companies create, ship, and maintain their software with Github. It is an advanced and largest development in the globe. On the other hand, Bitbucket is more than only Git code management. It builds quality software with code review.

8. SEO Knowledge

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a practice of increasing traffic to your website using organic search results. It is always useful for any website to reach more individuals. There are various factors that affect the website ranking on search engines like site content, you need to create a unique and appropriate web page title with an appropriate meta description.

The important thing is that you can also hire an SEO Expert that monitors your SEO campaign. Once you hire an SEO expert from us, we guarantee that the volume of traffic to your website would be increased.

9. Command Line Tools

The WP-CLI is a powerful tool that permits you to run WordPress commands from the console. It provides a command-line interface for many actions you may perform in the WordPress admin. You do not require to login to WordPress or open Filezilla to go digging through folders. You need to write a code into the command line. For instance, write the wp plugin install –activate in the comment line that lets you install and active plugins on your website.

As a WordPress developer, you are required to create your workflow as effectively as possible. Once you understand how to use WP-CLI, you will never want to go back. You can check out the installation guide for more details.

10. Version Control

Version control is a tracking system for every single change you make in your project, along with other information such as when did the changes happen and who made these changes. You can also go back to the version before the edits with only a single click. You don’t have to find the code and change it yourself; the tools do it for you.

Version control is a very important step in web development projects. There are modern tools available such as VersionPress and Gitium, which make it very easy for you to integrate Git Version control into WordPress installations.

As a developer, you are expected to make development fast, and for that, you need to make use of every minute you have on your hand. For that, most of the development teams use Git, which has all the tools you need to make the development process more rewarding. It is fast, versatile, open-source, and very user-friendly.

11. Build Tools

Web development is pretty time-intensive; even small tasks such as code compilation and code optimization take a lot of time. So, build tools that allow you to skip these menial tasks and invest your time in important work.

The increased awareness in the business owners also is a reason why you must learn to work with build tools. People are looking for professionals that have the knowledge and experience of working on projects so that the development project doesn’t take an eternity and also the quality is at par.

Learn build tools such as CodeKit, which is probably one of the best build tools. It allows easy compilation, code compression, and optimization. It works across all browsers and devices. Moreover, it also integrates with npm and allows you to import common front-end frameworks.

Gulp and Grunt are JavaScript Task runners that automate the repetitive steps. But don’t confuse them to work on only JS; they are efficient to work on other languages too, which makes them versatile.

12. Gutenberg Block Building

Custom-made blocks are one of the most high-demand tasks from WordPress developers. It is surely one skill you need for the future. Soon other platforms would be going for custom-made blocks.

Gutenberg can be used for ReactJS website development. Before Gutenberg, it was not possible. Gutenberg is a versatile tool, and no matter what area of WordPress you are developing, you can use Gutenberg. Plugin developers can release block plugins, theme development and also incorporate templates. This is surely one skill that is going to make you stand apart in the market.

13. Web Frameworks

Writing code from scratch is a part of WordPress. You can integrate web frameworks to speed up the web development process. You can create websites that are high-performing and have a cleaner code. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP frameworks are highly compatible. You can use some of these front-end frameworks such as Bootstrap, React, Laravel, Foundation, Semantic UI and UIKit.

As mentioned, Gutenberg blocks are built on React, which is why JavaScript has more important than ever it was. There were frameworks you can use to develop the WordPress themes much easily. There are web frameworks that provide you base to build off and templates you can reuse Genesis Framework, Thesis, Cherry Framework, Divi, Gantry, and Headway. These tools will allow you to bring out your creativity and try all sorts of integrations.

14. Time Management

Time management is very necessary. Nobody wants a developer that has no sense of time and would be delaying the work too much. If you are a freelancer or have been working from home lately, then it is crucial to work on communication skills and time management.

For time management, you can use the tools such as RescueTime and improve your communication with Slack, Trello, and Focusmate. These tools have been great at improving productivity and decision-making, which in turn helps in faster development.

What Is WordPress Website Development Process?

If you want to build a simple WordPress website, and you do not have much technical knowledge or coding insights, then also you can take the following steps with ease:

• Think of a website theme
• Choose a cool and impressive name
• Select the right theme from WordPress store
• Create sub-pages for website
• Add content

You will be surprised to know that a simple WordPress website with basic functionality will get ready in just 15 minutes!

The difficulty remains in making a user-friendly, competitive, and feature-rich website. Because there you need to take care of back-end development for functionality and WordPress plugins for desired features. The entire WordPress system consists of many steps like database integration, loading of theme, plugin integration, and the like. You need to hire an expert WordPress developer to serve all these objectives effectively.

Also Read: Top 20 Trends To Influence Web Development Domain In 2021

Concluding Lines

Technology evolves rapidly and the WordPress application development grows in line with advancing technology. As a WordPress web developer, you should always learn new things and remain in touch with the latest updates. The Internet is full of free and paid tutorials on WordPress, and you can readily learn every new technique. You can be a growth hacker after learning new things and keep yourself updated. The thriving WordPress community can help you resolve any queries.

Solwin Infotech is a leading WordPress development company. Our in-house team of experienced web developers can develop different top-class WordPress themes and plugins to simplify complexities and meet different business requirements of modern enterprises.

Categories : WordPress

Tags :Become A WordPress DeveloperExpert WordPress DeveloperSkills Required For WordPress DeveloperWordPress DeveloperWordPress Developer SkillsWordPress Developer Technical SkillsWordPress Development SkillsWordPress SkillsWordPress Web Developer

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