Powering more than 22% of all websites and still growing, WordPress presents a major source of various career opportunities. truth be told, this platform provides great employment options not only for developers and designers – in fact, there is a whole range of non-technical careers that are somehow connected with this CMS, attracting professionals from diverse fields and backgrounds. Therefore, we have decided to answer some of the most common questions related to this topic.
No matter whether WordPress has unexpectedly affected your career path or you are determined to become a WP professional – there is a couple of typical questions that you should ask yourself. The most common of them are: What can I do?, What skills do I need? and Where can I look for the job?. Let’s try to address these questions one by one.
What Can You Do & What Skills Do You Need?
As it has been mentioned, WordPress offers a wide variety of career opportunities. It has all of the tools required to work in development, design, business management, human resources, communications, customer service and support, education, writing & editing, community management, marketing, recruiting, etc. Let’s look at some of these directions in more detail.
WordPress Development
It’s a classic career path connected with this CMS, and the one always in demand. But who is actually a WordPress developer? It is a professional who is comfortable using the WP codex, has a general insight into PHP, can set up local and staging environments and create custom applications. Some good places for every WordPress beginning developer to start with are the WP Codex and Make WordPress. When it comes to the particular skills a good developer should possess, they include:
Web application development with a combination of: HTML, CSS and SASS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery;- An ability to work with WordPress API;
- Knowing how to use Ajax in WordPress;
- Theme and plugin development;
- Debugging in WordPress.
Being a WP developer you can get a job in big corporations, development houses, smaller businesses or even universities. However, be prepared that if you are applying for those kinds of jobs, WordPress is only a part of the skill set necessary to hold.
Content Creation
Another popular WordPress career path nowadays. Since content is the king in the world of internet marketing, bloggers are in demand. With no doubt, this profession requires the following skills to succeed: effective copywriting, SEO proficiency, editing, etc. However, WordPress knowledge will definitely come in handy too, for your value as an expert will be much greater in case you are able to write content that can work within the flow of WordPress.
Teaching WordPress
Because WordPress is so prominent and so many people are willing to build their careers around it – those who are able to teach the tricks of the trade are needed. Thus, showing the ropes of this CMS is a huge career opportunity in itself.
Automattic
The company behind WordPress.com which aims to democratize publishing and development, and offers a lot of benefits for those working for it. Before applying though, keep in mind that not only strong tech skills are required, but also a significant altruistic contributions to the WordPress community. In case you pass the interview stage – you’ll have to complete a 4 to 6 week contract and work in customer support for three weeks, before getting to your actual job.
Freelance Positions
Many people attracted by the possibility of being their own bosses, choose freelancing careers. However, that kind of job should not be mistakenly considered for an easy one. Being a freelancer means that except your primary craft skills you will also need a tax number, business registration papers, an accounting system, business development proficiency and a bundle of other business things to succeed with this path.
Where Can You Look For The Job?
There is a number of places where you can find WordPress related jobs. Even a quick Google search provides a decent amount or results. Though, here are a few specific sources you can look through:
- jobs.wordpress.net – brovse through WordPress-related jobs, divided by specialties;
- Craigslist – just choose your area and search using “WordPress”;
- LinkedIn – simply type in “WordPress” as the keyword and choose your country/city of preference;
- WPMU DEV – just choose a job category and a budget.
A Few Words Of Warning
Remember, no matter how great WordPress is, it shouldn’t be the only tool in your tool kit. All of the jobs described above require many more qualifications and for neither of them WordPress should be the main focus. WordPress mastering is undoubtlessly a great benefit, but apart from that you should still have a strong enough foundation skill set to be able to work with different instruments if needed.
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