Hiring The Right WordPress Developers
August 8, 2017
We’ve learned what it takes to hire the right talent, hiring our fair share of WordPress developers over our last 7 years in business.
I’ve come to realize that there are three types of WordPress developers:
- The themer
- The basic
- The natural
The Themer
The themer is a developer who knows nothing about coding. Instead they rely solely on WordPress plugins and themes from other developers.
Advantages
The Themer is typically priced at the lower-end of the pricing spectrum and can have the work completed fairly quickly. If you are able to find a great themer, you’ll get a decent site at a low price.
Disadvantages
Themer’s are limited to the functionality of the theme they choose. Not all plugins work well together so advanced functionality is usually shotty. You may lose some of your critical messaging and/or disengage visitors because instead of designing around your content you will have to write content to fit the chosen theme.
The Basic
Basic’s are developers that understand code but don’t quite get the logic. These WordPress developers often use pre-existing themes and customize them using code they’ve copied-and-pasted from the web. Some may develop websites from scratch — though they tend to struggle through it as they piece the code together.
Advantages
The basic developer has the same abilities as a Themer, but since they can code they will be better able to integrate your website with the functionality you need.
Disadvantages
This type of developer often deliveries a working product, but it can be fairly glitchy. It always feels like once one bug is fixed, another issue is created. They also tend to be much slower and can result in more billable hours.
The Natural
These are the WordPress developers that understand logic. They usually dislike working with themes because other developer’s code can slow them down. They understand the inner-workings of WordPress and enjoy building nifty tools that The Themer or The Basics rely on.
Advantages
The natural just get’s it. If you want a great working website without any limitations, these are the developers you want to hire. They find solutions that just work and they work fast — because they live, breath, and dream code.
Disadvantages
Finding a natural is a rigorous process and when you do find one, they charge a higher rate.
When it comes to hiring we always look for the naturals. To us, nothing is more important than delivering quality.