WordPress developer as a career!

[gilkest]

Hello mate,

Good day to all! I'm new to WordPress and going to learn it. Is there any legitimate method to learn WordPress easily?

Please let me know. So that I can start asap.

[axew3]

Hi! This is my experience, so i can only speak about what i've do along the time. May others will add their experience.
First of all i'm not a mate, i'm just a self-taught. I'm not an hard mathematic guy with particular skills. Mine is just a passion that helped me along the time, an hobby moved a step over ...
So may i'm not the right person to ask this. May yes but just for some hint.
I learned my method. Along the time, i've try to do things increasing my skills.
I learned HTML as first step reading some books and experimenting.
In the while i was mounting my own pc with help by a skilled guy about hardware, at this time we like to crack tv cards to see free tv ... what crazy! and i started a pirate group that was about this kind of things, and that now of course do not exist anymore ... i changed my computer pieces several times on years, but it was long time ago: now i own just 2 laptops. I've mainly read two books about php (Wrox) and some other that not was quite good like wrox editions, one or two about mysql, one about javascript all the rest, i've learn doing pieces of codes time by time, to achieve something, and all over the internet, doing lot of searches and questions. It is a good way.
I do not use any WYSIWYG, i look the code opening files with my text editor (get one good like Ultra Edit).
I've loose my time on reading i think millions of lines of code, often without to get out of something i was looking for. Lately, i have not find out anymore a thing that if asked to me as work, or that i would like to experiment, that i've not find out the way to get it work or resolve. But let me say, this is still not enough. There are programmers and programmers. A good programmer is the one that can think to a big box like WordPress for example. I'm maybe just a good hacker, able to do strange things that may others ignore. Ok i know how to write a code, an html page, a query, a javascript, and understand what the code of others do.
I do not use things like nodeJS angular js, or others frameworks that simplify life of many programmers. I like to learn pure javascript for the little i know, and using jQuery at max. Remember: before then framework that make your programming life more easy, learn the main back bone. Once you have this, frameworks are just something more that you can use, and that you'll understand by another point of view: that of the one that know the basis where these libraries are built in. Then you'll have no limits.
What remain in my mind of books i've read, actually is a mystery. I've loose my time doing things on linux and windows OS, installing my own server, services, and so in the while, starting knowing how a console work, how an environment +- is built. Nothing so deep, just the necessary to let work something i want, but doing things like this, you'll be forced to learn much more that you believe. You need to resolve problems, and start to understand why something occur and why it work in a way, but not in some other. A good start for me after html and css (a good html book from wrox can help you to know also something more about http protocol, ftp etc and geta general idea) were as said two books about php and mysql: a good book can start give you a sense of the entire joke.

I've start doing something with nuke cms, templates for phpBB long time ago. Then vBulletin. Then Joomla. Then one day, bored on writing code to execute mysql queries, i have fall into this:
http://justinvincent.com/ezsql
that as you may know, but many ignore, this is the MySQL library used into WordPress.
It was +- exactly the time when WordPress born.

Two years ago, my life changed due some health problems now +- resolved, so i switched this passion to write the plugin about integration ad several more never published because never finished. I've see that i'm able to do, it is working on my example, ok let go with something else more hard ... something like this you know!? Let say that i could rewrite today the integration plugin, almost 10 times better then when i've write it two years ago, but as you'll discover, this is obvious because you'll see to the past with new increased skills, time by time. Along the time you'll discover that what was true for you yesterday, it isn't today.
My limit is that i've never work into a group of various persons, i just chat with persons that hire me to resolve problems. Some telephone call, nothing extreme until now. I see often code that is still cryptic sometime, but this has become time by time more rare. I'm impressed by skills of cool programmers. There are guys and engineers able to do much, much, much more then me. I know.

I know php, but i still open thousand of times php.net also to look how substr() work, seem that my mind isn't able to contain all info! I learned a method, i try to understand how is the code flow after some code inspection.
Php.net for php functions, MDN network for javascript, MySQL official documentation, and good books to start with are to me the best way.
Stackoverflow to look what others do to resolve a thing. But prefer the official documentations. This is valid also for wordpress, that have one quite extensive himself at wordpress.org

Or you aim to be someone that use plugins to build a site, but that know +- nothing about how they work in the environment?
Assuming that you're not this kind, get a minimal arsenal of the above. Do not forget to learn Regular Expressions, because you will come over the fact that without, you can't go a step ahead in many programming scenarios.
Open Hello Dolly plugin, and when you'll be able to transform it into something else to execute some task you need, then you'll be on the right way! If i've do this, you can do this!

Cheers to You and to all cool people

[gilkest]

Thanks for your good guidelines. Looks like a great tips. I will surely follow.

[jakrot]

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback

[Madisondade]

Nice post, Thanks for sharing it with us.