With some of the world’s top websites developed in WordPress, it really could be seen as the future when it comes to website development. WordPress has thousands of pre-designed themes and plugins available. WordPress even makes e-commerce simple with a whole host of e-commerce plugins that will transform your site. With that in mind, having the ability to get to grips with WordPress and the language used throughout it, you could be setting yourself up with a skill for life.

The low down

When it comes to the development side of things, some designers like to start from scratch and so working with a platform like WordPress can be a big no-no. However, there will always be a place for static web design, but as many businesses now need the website to be integrated with a CMS (Content Management System), building a static site isn’t always the best option as website owners have the need to be able to have full access to their content. This is where the beauty of WordPress comes in.

Despite WordPress enabling anyone, technically skilled or not, to set up their own site, users do still get stuck in some areas, so working directly with a WordPress developer can be extremely advantageous. Not only this, but if you wanted to create your own website theme or develop your own plugins and customise your site to your specific requirements, you would definitely need a trained pair of hands to help you out. As mentioned earlier, more and more clients are wanting control over their website and to be able to manage their own content to some extent so hosting on WordPress and working with a developer trained in WordPress really is the future of web design. It allows clients to have as much or as little input as they choose by working with designers who can manage the whole site or relinquish some control back to the client.

A day in the life of…

So what does a typical day involve for a WordPress Designer? It would include a mix of ongoing projects and short one off tasks. You will work on delivering innovative, well presented and well coded websites forclients and will be involved in a variety of projects and tasks from start to finish. Some projects will take days, others will take weeks or months.

Most days it will be important to catch up with clients and make sure everything is running smoothly and to ensure there are no issues. If anything is flagged up, it is important to resolve it quickly and efficiently. Testing is another key part of the role, it’s essential when designing a new site that it is tested in as many ways possible before it’s launched to ensure it, well, works! And the rest of the day? Doing what web developers do best of course.

What skills do you need?

WordPress is written in PHP, so if you are a traditional web developer looking to switch to WordPress, you would need to possess PHP skills and also have an thorough understanding of how WordPress works.

To successfully become a WordPress Designer we would recommend you possess skills in PHP, WordPress, MySQL, HTML, Javascript, responsive designs and LAMP stack. This will definitely give you an extremely high advantage.

Being a WordPress Website Designer is a an exceptional skills which companies and clients are on the lookout for. If you have the desired skills listed above then you’re not going to find it hard finding work. We did a simple Google search and this company are currently looking for a website designer with WordPress experience to join the team –  if you cant find your own opportunities!