Introduction

In today’s time, when every business is trying to mark their online presence, WordPress comes in as a handy tool to build a highly customizable website for the business. The current COVID-19 pandemic has forced every business to change its business model, and having an online presence is no longer a luxury but a necessity for every brand. WordPress allows businesses of every size to update, edit, and change the content of their website in the most convenient ways. The flexibility, scalability, and customization features make WordPress a popular choice among business owners.

Although it started as a blogging platform, WordPress has carved its niche as a powerful website builder and a robust content management system. According to the Search Engine Journal, WordPress is now powering 39.5% of all websites in 2021, up from 35% in 2020. Today, WordPress is the leading content management system globally.

So, it does not surprise that today every company that wants to strengthen its online presence would like to have an efficient and skilled WordPress developer in the team.

A WordPress developer is responsible for both the front-end and back-end development of the website, which includes creating WordPress themes and plugins. They are adept with different programming skills, including PHP, CSS3, JavaScript, HTML5, etc. Apart from the coding skills, WordPress developers also have an excellent aesthetic sense to work with arrangements on the screen, color palette, font, etc., and can play around the website, keeping in mind the general brand essence.

Types of WordPress Developers

If you ask a hiring manager what kind of WordPress Developer they would like to have in their team, you may get varied responses. And that’s because WordPress developers have their own specializations. They can be loosely classified into five different categories

1. All coders: As the title suggests, this group of developers have specialized in coding and will give you the leanest code. But, they might not be pro at designing. So if you are looking for a custom theme created instead of modifying the existing design, go for an all coder developer. This all coder developer will also be your go-to person if you want to have an e-commerce site integrated with your website or a similar complex business website.
2. The designer: A designer WordPress developer is a master to customize any theme. These developers can select any existing theme and customize it to gel with your brand theme. So if you’re considering building a user-friendly website with easy navigation and attractive UI/UX, then these are the candidates you should look out for.
3. Business experience: These WP developers have enough business experience. So, if you’re looking to build a WordPress site for your business but not sure how to go about it, then look out for these bunch of candidates. They can give you the right recommendations along with different understanding and tactics of content marketing and SEO.
4. The complete package: If you’re looking for a WordPress developer who has complete knowledge of coding, project management, design esthetics, and administration, then you will find this group of candidates valuable. They are all in one, come with diverse industry backgrounds, and have a strong experience to back them. They also come with a high price tag but completely worth it if you have a hiring budget.
5. Budding WordPress Developers: They are the newbies, just foraying in the domain. Their coding skills might not be great, or they are still developing their design esthetics, but if you can guide them right, they can become great assets to your company in the future. They are also eager to learn, so they are the perfect candidates if you’re looking for interns or beginners. If your hiring budget is limited but if you have resources to train, they can be a great value addition to your team.

Required Expertise

Requirements - Hard Skills

• Experience working on any eCommerce platform
• Have a published Plugin on the Wordpress.org ecosystem
• Experience working on high traffic WordPress powered websites
• Working experience in improving the performance of an e-commerce website
• Good knowledge of best SEO practices
• Eye for layout aesthetics
• Website design and development experience, especially in WordPress
• Agency experience is helpful but not required
• Knowledge of SEO tools - Google Analytics, SEMRush, Majestic, Screaming Frog, Moz,
• Good communication skills
• WordPress, HTML, or other coding skills a big plus
• Experience as DevOps Engineer/Site Reliability Engineer
• B.E/B.Tech in CS or equivalent streams from the institute of repute
• Experience in AWS experience is a plus
• Experience in Kubernetes, Docker, and Containers
• Proficiency in developing and deploying fully automated environments using Puppet/Ansible and Terraform
• Experience with monitoring tools like Nagios/Icinga, Prometheus, AlertManager, Newrelic
• Good knowledge of source code control (git)
• Expertise in Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment setup using Azure Pipeline or Jenkins
• Strong experience in programming languages. Python is preferred
• Experience in scripting and unit testing
• Basic knowledge of SQL & NoSQL databases
• Strong Linux fundamentals
• Experience in SonarQube, Locust & Browserstack is a plus
• Clear concepts of OOPs 
•  Good understanding of PHP, Jquery, MySQL, HTML, and CSS
• Strong proficiency in JavaScript, including DOM manipulation and the JavaScript object model
•  Strong understanding of WordPress CMS
• Must have WooCommerce knowledge
• Plugin customization and development
• Theme customization and development
• 3rd Party API Integration
• Ability to implement automated testing platforms and unit tests
• Thorough understanding of React.js and its core principles
• Experience of Gutenberg custom block with React.js
• Knowledge of modern authorization mechanisms, such as JSON Web Token
• Familiarity with modern front-end build pipelines and tools
• Experience with common front-end development tools such as Babel, Webpack, NPM, etc.
• Experience in versioning technologies 
• Agile/DevOps environment
• Experience with continuous integration/Continuous Deployment
• Knowledge of interacting with RESTful APIs
• Good analytical and logical skills
• Understanding the security and compliance aspects of DevOps.

Experience

A WordPress developer can work as an independent contributor or in a team. At an entry-level, analyzing and implementing high-quality WordPress solutions are required, along with good communication skills. They are also expected to design and implement new features and functionality and establish the website’s architecture. Their job role would also include ensuring high performance and availability while managing the technical aspects of the content management system. At a beginner level, they will also be expected to help formulate an effective and responsive design and then convert it into a working theme and plugin.

However, at senior and mid-senior levels, many additional skills are required to have to take more job responsibilities. Some of these can be:

•  Building things that drive business value and make an impact.
• Make sure the WordPress systems can serve the client’s traffic at the intended performance level.
• Increase the team’s WordPress Capability by exploring new technologies and figuring out where to use them.
• Get important work done while caring about the quality
• Unit Testing and debug code
• WordPress based website production, coding, deployment, and optimization of ongoing projects
•  Optimize applications for speed and scalability
•  Development of front-end and back-end web properties, working closely with our creative team to develop, implement, and maintain designs that fit  the company’s brand guidelines
•  Lightweight server-side maintenance (domains, DNS, redirects, hosting)
•  Deploying international websites with translation management
•  Ensuring high-performance and availability, and managing all technical aspects of the CMS
•  Plan & execute the projects from start to completion involving deadlines, milestones, and processes.
•  You are versed in package management and front-end build systems like gulp, npm, Webpack, Babel, and the concepts of compiling
•  Keep track of developments in web technology
•  Stay up-to-date with industry-related news and generate ideas around trending topics
•  Optimizing client and server-side code for maximum speed
• Develop and collaborate in large-scale systems design discussions.
•  Deploying and maintaining in-house/customer systems ensuring high availability, performance, and optimal cost.
•  Automate build pipelines.
• Work with other stakeholders to ensure cloud security
•  Develop standard operating procedures for various facets of Infrastructure services (CI/CD, Git Branching, SAST, Quality gates, Auto Scaling)
•  Perform & automate regular backups of servers & databases. Ensure rollback and restore capabilities are Real-time and with zero downtime.
•  Lead the entire DevOps charter for us. Mentor other DevOps engineers. Ensure industry

Salary Structure

Remote hiring has become predominant among companies due to the ongoing pandemic. However, experts believe that remote working is here to stay even after the pandemic is over. Whether you’re looking for freelance, full-time, or contract WordPress developers, we at Skuad can help you hire the best talent tailored to your requirements and industry.

We cater to various sectors - Edutech, Fintech, Healthcare, Logistics & Transport, Retail & Ecommerce, Travel, Banking, Media, and more. From selecting to onboarding, invoicing, compliances, and taxation, we act as your local HR to manage the day-to-day operations related to your overseas employees.