The professional wordpress web developer expectation...?

Hi Jeremy Frimond

First off, don't confuse designer with developer. A designer works in Photoshop, a developer in code. Broadly speaking. Then there's front-end developers and proper developers. Front end devs know how to make an HTML page, some jQuery and style it with CSS. They don't know server side languages like PHP and mySQL.

There's a range of levels you can be at. Installing WP, themes and plugins, setting them up and creating a child theme is perfectly acceptable but I'd class it as the lowest level of professional you can expect. Being a professional simply put is a stipulation that if you take on a project, there are foregone expectations of quality of work and level of service provided. You can have amateur knowledge and skills but present them in a professional manner.

If you're talking about being an ACTUAL developer, someone who creates innovative and original solutions to specific problems via bespoke programmes, then you're looking at needing extensive knowledge in the principals of the languages HTML, CSS, jQuery, PHP, mySQL and WordPress. \

You can make a reasonable living as a designer, front end developer or basic WP developer but you'll reach a ceiling due to time. You'll be doing lots of small quick projects for a few hundred dollars at a time.

If you want the 5 or 6 figure projects, you need to study and study hard for a couple of years. Putting in at least 10,000 hours. I started learning HTML here on TreeHouse on April 1 last year. So far, I've put in around 80 hours a week via learning for the initial 6 weeks and then doing project thereafter. Doing the math that's about 3,600 hours. There's areas I still haven't even looked at like classes in WordPress but, I can confidently take on a project in the knowledge that as long as it is actually possible to do it, I have the ability to do so. I imagine that in another 12 to 18 months, I'll know 2 or 3 times as much as I do now. 6 months ago, I wouldn't even know where to start with working out how to do the things I do everyday now. However, I would say that I've somewhat taken to the world of code like a duck to water.

I hope that my personal journey can give you some insight into what you've got to look forward to. You need to establish what it is you want to do. Design or development. If it's development, what kind of development. Just whatever it is you do decide to do, be professional, think of the customer and if you're saying to yourself I wouldn't buy this and are laughing all the way to the bank, quit! 99% of your clients will have zero knowledge of what you're selling them so it's incredibly easy to take advantage of them. Don't!