Transform your web presence with expert WordPress developers! Find top talent for custom, responsive websites that engage users and drive business growth.
WordPress is a free and open source blogging and content management system built on PHP and MySQL. It is one of the simplest and most popular ways for individuals and organizations to create their own websites.
In fact, WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet today. This means that 1 in 4 websites is powered by the platform. As an open source CMS, WordPress licensing allows anyone to use and modify its software for free.
WordPress is a content management system that makes it easy to manage important aspects of your website, like written content, images, and videos, without needing to actually know how to code. However, outside of personal blogs and small informational sites, the world of WordPress really opens up when experienced developers get their hands on the code to create custom aspects of the CMS.
In this article you will learn, among other things, how to hire dedicated WordPress developers .
Costs to hire a WordPress developer
By hiring a WordPress developer you benefit from the skills and experience of a professional who can manage the front-end and back-end of your product and who can provide customized solutions for every possible need you may have.
The latest data from W3Techs places WordPress as the most popular content management system today, with 43.3% usage and 65.3% market share. This remarkable popularity is largely due to the practicality and ease of use of WordPress, as well as the wide variety of options it offers an experienced developer.
That said, you need to keep in mind that when hiring WordPress developers there are many variables that must be taken into account when calculating costs. It is only possible to estimate a WordPress development project after analyzing important aspects such as project complexity, deadline, dimensions, urgency and talent.
How to hire a WordPress developer?
The first thing you need to do before hiring a WordPress developer is to assess whether this is the best direction for your project to take. Analyzing what can be achieved through a professional developer will show you whether you really need to seek their services.
Furthermore, it is important to have an overview of your needs so that you can better seek appropriate care. However, this doesn't have to be a complete and complete summary, as an experienced professional can help you better understand your needs and guide the project in the right direction.
Finally, it is important to look for experienced professionals who can integrate perfectly into your teams, understand your business objectives and who offer advantages such as time zone alignment and proficiency in your preferred language.
There are many companies and freelancers that can help you, so it's crucial that you do thorough research into what's available before hiring a WordPress developer.
WordPress Developer Skills
One of the main reasons for WordPress' popularity is the fact that almost anyone can use it to build and maintain a website. If you hire a WordPress developer, however, you'll benefit from the seasoned experience of a professional well-versed in some of the major web design programming and markup languages, such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, and SQL.
These, however, are not the only skills you will find in a professional WordPress developer. There are 2 main areas where someone specializing in WordPress can offer their expertise: plugin development and theme development. Each of them requires an analytical skill set to determine the best course of action and a problem-solving mindset to determine how to achieve desired results.
WordPress plugin developer
Plugin development is one of the most powerful elements of WordPress as it allows a WordPress engineer to employ custom plugins for specific needs. This has the ability to expand the functionality of the website and offer new features. Plug-ins are mainly programmed in PHP, but using other languages such as HTML and CSS will certainly allow for more complex and interesting results.
WordPress theme developer
WordPress Themes is one of the most popular tools for customizing a website. This feature allows you to control the visual presentation of your content and the behavior of certain elements. Developing a theme, rather than using a pre-designed one, offers an additional level of customization. To do this, developers must have knowledge of languages such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS, in addition to PHP.
WordPress Developer Hiring Guide
Some of the advantages of WordPress can also be pitfalls when you are looking to hire a WordPress developer. As it is simple to understand and does not require complex knowledge for basic use, you may find less qualified candidates for your project. It is important to have a general idea of the platform's features and what can be developed with it to better evaluate the developers you evaluate.
Hiring Guide
While it may seem counterintuitive to hire developers for a content management platform that boasts ease of use, WordPress developers are more in demand than ever thanks to the platform's growing popularity. Professional WordPress developers usually manage front-end and back-end development; however, they can also specialize in one area.
Their most common tasks include creating customized themes and plugins as per client(s) demand. However, the work usually goes much further than that. WordPress developers often create sitemaps or wireframes for website designs or redesign a website to optimize search engine optimization (SEO). Another common practice for WordPress developers is migrating existing websites to the WordPress platform.
Generally, WordPress developers require proficiency in programming languages like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. This allows them to create their own plugins, modules, and themes when needed, as well as tweak front-end designs and back-end functionality. Currently, there are a huge number of plugins and themes available online, which means it takes a technology expert to choose the right one and customize it if necessary.
Availability of WordPress Developers
As WordPress represents a large percentage of websites currently online, the development market is quite saturated with people specializing in CMS. However, it is also so widespread and easy to use that there are many inexperienced developers claiming to be experts. This makes it even more important for anyone hiring to find the right developer to perform the tasks at hand.
On the other hand, those hiring should make sure not to hire someone like a Laravel expert for a WordPress job as they would end up overpaying. The Internet is full of resources, courses, and forums to help developers of all skill levels master WordPress and the accompanying web development to learn it, as well as other CMS.
Interview Questions
What do you consider to be the most useful and interesting features of WordPress?
There are many features that make WordPress as popular as it is today, including:
- Built-in SEO engine and plugins
- Simple and free themes
- Availability in more than 70 languages
- Flexible and easy publishing
- Simplified installation and upgrade
How would you optimize the performance of a website built on WordPress?
Website optimization helps increase a website's speed while getting the highest possible ranking in search results. There are many important tasks to optimize a WordPress website, including:
- Installing a caching plugin
- Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Keep the overall structure and theme simple
- Updating the website regularly
- Break long posts into smaller, more digestible pages
Why should you backup your WordPress root files?
There are many files located in the WordPress directory: some of them can be downloaded from the hosting provider. However, some are recoverable while others are not. The wp-content directory contains all the plugins, themes and media files uploaded to a website, making it personal and unique. The wp-config.php file is equally important because it contains user options and the website database. Both unique files require backup.
What does a “child theme” mean in WordPress?
Any extension created from the parent theme present in WordPress is a child theme. When developers make changes to the parent theme, the changes are reflected in the child theme. Changes and customizations to work done in child themes are then preserved.
What are the limitations of WordPress?
- You cannot use WordPress as a framework as it is a CMS.
- Your plugins, themes and the WordPress version itself require frequent updates.
- It's difficult to customize without knowing at least one programming language.
- It is not easy to complete a database migration with other CMS frameworks or systems.
Job description
We're looking for a full-stack WordPress developer to join our growing team. This work requires managing website development, server maintenance, test automation and customization for the company. The right candidate has the skills and experience necessary to develop solutions that are not only effective, but also meet industry standard methodologies.
The successful candidate will work collaboratively with designers to help translate digital intent into a developed product. They will strive to create the highest quality results after visually aligning design intent with work.
Job responsibilities
- Code and create design team websites through WordPress modification
- Manage hosting and domain providers
- Integrate WordPress sites with other API integrations
- Install, customize and create plugins, themes and modules
- Convert media and written content to compatible web formats
- Develop new software solutions and maintain existing ones
Skills and qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field and/or equivalent combination of education and professional experience
- 5+ years of WordPress experience
- Proficiency in CSS, JavaScript and HTML
- Experience managing databases with phpMyAdmin
- Experience in accessibility accommodations
- Ability to work with git-based version control
