This article is aimed at making a well-skilled WordPress developer. These guidelines cover many important topics including following deadlines, thematic stages, filtering unnecessary points, projects, CV creation.
Many of us do not get proper guidelines to become WordPress developers, due to which we get stressed while building a career, and many of us even go off the line. Many people can save a lot of time and become a Skilled WordPress developer if they get the proper professional guidelines. I have tried to make this small contribution towards this goal.
This pipeline is my personal opinion. Some may disagree with this. But from my 9 years+ experience and market needs and reality, I think this pipeline is one of the best guidelines, (If the Almighty wants).
Let's start the ride!
Many learn the common themes of theme and plugin development separately, making their careers more time-consuming and complicated.
In this guide we will learn Hot Topics first. So that 80% of themes and plugins will be learned in advance, inshallah. Themes and plugins are similar in many respects. So there is no need to learn them separately.
Cannot go to next chapter without completing one chapter. One project must be done at the end of each chapter.
Without thinking like this, you wonder what you will learn. Watch and learn multiple videos from YouTube or blogs on one of the topics described below. It is better not to follow more than 1-2 videos. You have topic means you have no problem to watch videos of any good trainer. Learn topic by topic.
Any project requires Mockup / UI. Don't waste time doing this UI yourself. Some websites hire professional UI designers. Download your favorite UI from there.
UI Sources:
-
HTML5
-
CSS3
- Basic +
- Pseudo Class
- Display Property
- Position
- Flex
- Grid
- Animation with KeyFrames
- Responsive (Media Query)
-
SASS/SCSS (Optional but Helpful for Career)
-
Bootstrap / Tailwind CSS (Optional)
-
Javascript
- Basic +
- Debugging
- DOM Creation
- DOM Manipulation [Most Important]
- Fetch API
- Event Handling
- Event Bubbling, (stopPropagation)
- Function (types, making, calling, passing arguments inside, return)
- Form Validation
- Trigger an Event
- AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript - Part 1) [Most Important]
- Promise (Asynchronous JavaScript - Part 2)
- ES6+ Features - (Arrow functions, let/const, classes, destructuring, spread/rest operators etc etc.)
-
jQuery
- Repeat All the Javascript Chapter in JQuery Syntax
Now it's time to project your frontend. Select a UI of your choice (downloaded from any site in the UI Sources section above). Plan to apply the HTML5, CSS3, SASS and Javascript topics you learn there. Make it fully responsive with mobile and desktop devices. Upload your project to Git.
These three tools are famous for project management and library use. As a developer you need to master these. Check out these 3 topics from any playlist. Use it in your project.
- Git (Host your project, manage, plan etc etc, its usage is very rich)
- NPM (JavaScript libraries/packages reside here)
- Composer (PHP libraries/packages reside here)
No one can expect backend without frontend. Now it is very important for you to learn a programming language called PHP. From Facebook, YouTube to Wikipedia and PHP, you can understand its popularity.
- PHP Basic (The basics of any programming language are pretty much the same, learn PHP basics from any playlist, there's nothing to filter.)
- MySQL (Basic) (The language of sending and receiving data from the database, will there be any work without data? Learn the basics of MySQL from any playlist, including the following)
- Select Query
- Insert Query
- Update Query
- Delete Query
- Inner Join
- Left Join
- Right Join
- Use of
DISTINCT - Use of
GROUP - Use of
WHERE
- PHP OOP (Object Oreiented Programming) (OOP stands for Advanced PHP, at this stage you may not understand or forget many things, don't be afraid, it happens to everyone. Keep in mind the following topics, practice hand code)
- Classes
- Methods
- Objects
- Properties
- Instance
- Access Modifiers (public, private, and protected)
- Magic Methods
- Encapsulation
- Inheritance
- Polymorphism
- Abstraction
- Trait
- Interfaces
- AutoLoading classes with Composer
- SOLID Principles (Learn Later, After First Job)
- Design Patterns (Learn Later, After First Job)
If you develop a CRUD project, you will find many great playlists on YouTube. You don't have to do it all. Grab any of the latest ones and make the previous small frontend project dynamic. If you don't do that, it won't take much time to download such a small UI from UI Resources. Remember, the project should not be too big. Many people get frustrated because of not completing big projects.
You just make a small project by doing CRUD with basic PHP and OOP. If you don't use OOP and don't mind, you should learn OOP later. Then, build your project using PHP Basic and Mysql. Definitely use Git when doing projects. This will help you get your job (If the Almighty wants).
Now is the time to learn WordPress. Do the introduction first and then finish the hot topics one by one. If you do Hot Topics, you will learn 80% of your theme and plugin development, Inshallah. Meaning, it will take less time to learn themes and plugins later, (If the Almighty wants).
- Introduction
- WordPress Dashboard Introduction
- WordPress Database Table Introduction
- WordPress Hot Topics
- Debugging (Learn at 1st)
- Hooks
- Ajax with WordPres
- Sanitization & Escaping & Validation
- WordPress APIs
- MetaData API (Metabox Management)
- Settings API
- Option API
- Creating Shortcode
- I18n: Translation Functions
- Conditional Tags
- Coding Standards
- WordPress Theme Development
- Template Hierarchy
- Post Types Register
- Taxonomy Register
- WordPress APIs
- Customization API (Theme)
- WP_Query & get_posts()
- Child Theme (How to create & manage)
Now you will do a theme development. Download any free HTML project for theme, write Free HTML Template and you will get many free projects on Google. Do not plan to do more than one project. It is your loss. Finish 1 first.
Try to keep as many Hot Topics as you have learned in your theme. Plan yourself. Try to apply the best coding standards. Once the project is done, post it to any senior brother or group and get it verified by someone.
- WordPress Plugin Development
- Admin Menu Management
- Asset Management / Enqueue assets
- WordPress APIs
- WordPress Rest API (< Mid Level)
- Transients API (< Mid Level)
- Cron Management
- Working with Third-Party APIs
- WP_List_Table class (Optional)
- Gutenberg Block Development
- React (Intermediate)
Plan a small plugin. If you plan big, you may not have time to execute alone. Apply what you've learned from this chapter to that little plugin.
Now you will do internship in a firm for 3 months to 6 months. You alone can not qualify for a professional project. You have to work with any team. Keep an eye on Facebook groups, where to apply for internships. And give minimum 3 interviews.
Interviewing gives experience. Don't despair, if you master what you have learned so far, after a light internship you will move on to a good level and a good salary (If the Almighty wants). It won't be long now.
You can't become a good developer just by writing code. Also have to do many unofficial activities. Follow the tips below.
- Try to have a conversation with senior developers. Don't disturb them unnecessarily with messages. Follow them on social media. These will inspire you (If the Almighty wants).
- Try joining WordPress Meetups, Events. Most events are free. Many ideas and knowledge are shared in these.
- Connect with developers on Facebook, LinkedIn. The more developers connect with it, the more ideas, job posts, events, etc. you will get to know (If the Almighty wants).
- Learn the way you understand, tutorial blog all results. Do not listen to others.
- Share what you learn in the media. Don't push any ego while learning, it will harm you.
- Your project is more important than your personal website. If you have time, make a personal website. Otherwise no need.
- Make your projects public on Github. Many companies may want to look at these.
- Improve your skills in English, the better you know English, the more the door to your improvement will open (If the Almighty wants).
- Chat regularly with juniors like you. Talk about careers. A lot of hope and inspiration can be found here.
I would say from LinkedIn. LinkedIn creates a very professional resume/CV with information from your profile. That's why the LinkedIn profile should be well organized first.
If even 1 person's life becomes better from my writing, then my pain will be worth it, inshallah. Please stay by my side with your opinion and advice and pray for me. Your prayers and love will give me a lot of inspiration (If the Almighty wants).
Share this link. Even your one share in the community can contribute to the success of many.
Thanks everyone. Happy coding.
Nazrul Islam Nayan
Senior WordPress Developer @storepress
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