Hire Expert WordPress Plugin Developers

Why hire WordPress plugin developers? 

WordPress is a world-famous open-source content management system (CMS). It is the most used CMS in the world and powers the lion’s share of all websites.

You can hire competent WordPress developers today and quickly get a professional-looking and functional website up and running. This is because WordPress offers many advantages. Ease of use is one of them. The availability of WordPress developers is another advantage. 

Yet another advantage is the massive WordPress ecosystem of themes and plugins. An organization can create a suitable look and feel by choosing an appropriate WordPress theme. Organizations can quickly implement various functionalities by using WordPress plugins. 

E.g., WooCommerce is a famous plugin for creating a WordPress eCommerce site. Yoast SEO (Search Engine Optimization is yet another popular plugin. It helps to improve the ranking of various WordPress post types. 

However, what happens when you can’t find a plugin for the functionality that you want to implement? You might have a very unique requirement and a WordPress plugin corresponding to this requirement might not exist. 

The open-source nature of WordPress offers a huge opportunity here. It allows you to create a plugin to meet your unique requirements. What’s more, should you make it available, organizations with similar requirements can then download this plugin from the WordPress plugin directory. This means you can earn handsome financial rewards if your plugin becomes popular.  

A lucrative market exists for high-quality WordPress plugins. Naturally, many organizations want to tap this market. As such, they need expert WordPress plugin developers. Therefore, the demand for such developers is high.

You need to plan well. You might think of hiring freelancers, however, this approach is risky. Hiring senior WordPress developers from a trustworthy software development company like DevTeam.Space is your best bet. We will explain why later on.

Before that, you need to understand the skill requirements. These are as follows: 

Primary WordPress plugin development skills

A WordPress developer needs the following primary technical skills to develop WordPress plugins: 

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• In-depth WordPress knowledge;
• Deep understanding of CMS;
• PHP expertise;
• Familiarity with the important PHP files and PHP code used in WordPress;
• Good knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, HTML5, CSS, and CSS3;
• Familiarity with the important JS (JavaScript) libraries;
• JSON and XML knowledge;
• Knowledge of the ecosystem of WordPress themes and plugins;
• Sound knowledge of databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL;
• Web designing and development experience including WordPress theme and plugin development experience;
• SEO knowledge;
• Expert knowledge of WP admin;
• Knowledge of tools used for WordPress debugging purposes;
• Proficiency with tools and resources that are considered the WordPress plugin and theme developer’s best friends.

Note: WordPress plugin developers need very good knowledge of several useful resources. WordPress theme developers need this knowledge too. You can think of these resources as any WordPress plugin and theme developers’ best friends. The following are just a few examples:

• WordPress core files;
• WordPress admin panel;
• Various admin settings for WordPress administration;
• WordPress debugging tools like WP_DEBUG and other plugins for debugging;
• The WordPress Theme Check plugin to test your new theme;
• Plugins for WordPress user switching, which help in testing;
• Tools to regenerate thumbnails in WordPress.

Other software development skills needed for creating WordPress plugins

An expert WordPress plugin developer needs the following additional skills:

1. Information security skills needed for WordPress plugin development

WordPress plugin developers need practical knowledge of information security for the following purposes:

• They need to code secure plugins so that hackers can’t exploit them.
• Developers need to create secure WordPress websites.

If a plugin adds security vulnerabilities to a WordPress website, then it goes without saying that it’s not good. Cybercriminals exploit bugs in programs to attack software systems. Therefore, WordPress programmers need to prevent coding errors when developing plugins. 

They need to do the following to develop secure websites:

• Avoiding coding errors;
• Using website monitoring solutions;
• Utilizing security plugins;
• Disabling file-editing options from the WordPress dashboard and admin page;
• Implementing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), firewall, etc.;
• Managing the backup process proactively;
• Avoiding themes and plugins that don’t receive security patches;
• Running security scans and using the latest version of PHP.

2. API development and integration skills needed for developing a WordPress plugin

WordPress developers need the API development skills that full-stack developers have. They need knowledge in the following areas:

• Hosting APIs using cloud computing platforms;
• GraphQL vs REST APIs comparison;
• RESTful API development;
• Tools for API development and documentation, e.g., Postman, Swagger, etc.;
• Designing API endpoints;
• Securing APIs;
• Creating rules for API requests and responses;
• API testing;
• Integrating APIs via widgets and plugins.

3. Cloud computing knowledge needed for WordPress plugin development 

WordPress plugin developers need a thorough understanding of cloud computing. They should be familiar with the important WordPress cloud hosting providers like Kinsta, InMotion, etc. Programmers need to understand the differences between shared hosting and VPS (Virtual Private Server). They should know how to use the relevant tools provided by cloud hosting providers.

4. Code review skills needed by WordPress plugin developers

WordPress plugin and theme development require considerable coding skills. While you will surely need to test the new plugin, it’s also important to review the plugin code. A code review can detect defects early in the lifecycle and save development costs. 

Look for WordPress developers with code review experience. Reviewers should know the important code review strategies. Furthermore, they should follow a systematic approach to reviewing code.

5. Software engineering, development methodologies, and development process skills needed by top WordPress plugin developers

You should follow the relevant software development processes for a WordPress plugin development project. Developers should know these processes well. E.g., programmers should know about testing, quality management, and coding best practices. 

You need developers to know the software development lifecycle (SDLC) phases. They should know about popular software development methodologies like agile and waterfall.

6. Industry domain skills needed for developing the best WordPress plugins 

WordPress plugins help you to add functionality to your website. Business functions can be of various types. Different industries might have unique requirements for how they implement business functions. While WordPress plugin developers should have sound coding skills, that’s not enough. They need a thorough understanding of different business functionalities and industries.

7. Competencies that expert WordPress plugin developers need

You need WordPress plugin developers to have the following competencies:

• Problem-solving skills: WordPress plugin development projects can be complex. You need developers that can effectively collaborate and brainstorm with the project stakeholders to solve project problems.
• Communication skills: WordPress plugin developers need to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders including end users. They need sound communication skills.
• Empathy: Programmers need to understand the requirements of a proposed plugin from the perspective of users. They need empathy.
• Passion for excellence: The market for WordPress plugins is highly competitive. You need to offer a plugin that stands out in this market. You need developers with an eye for detail and a passion for excellence.
• Teamwork: Professional WordPress developers need to work with a varied range of stakeholders to develop a high-quality plugin. Teamwork is essential.
• Commitment: Inherent complexities of WordPress plugin development can expose your project to risks. You need to meet the project scope, budget, schedule, and quality requirements despite these risks. You need committed developers.

How to find the best WordPress plugin developers? 

You now know the skill requirements of WordPress plugin developers. You can now start the process to hire senior web developers to create WordPress plugins. You need to take the following steps:

1. Decide the kind of platform to hire WordPress plugin developers

Quite a few organizations create their WP sites by using themes and plugins already available in the market. Some organizations might choose to customize these themes and plugins. However, some organizations create their own WordPress themes and plugins. They do this to cater to the highly customized requirements of their proposed websites. 

This tells us that their WordPress plugin development project is very important to them and the success of their website. If you are one such company then you will want to hire the right developers for such an important project. You will need to make the right hiring decisions so that you don’t end up with sub-par developers. 

When you sit down to think about how and where to hire developers, the thought of hiring freelancers might cross your mind. Freelance platforms do enable businesses to hire freelance developers at a low hourly rate. That might seem a lucrative option, however, we don’t recommend this.

The very fact that you need to develop a WordPress plugin indicates that you have a web development project with unique requirements. Otherwise, you could have simply used a plugin from the market. Unique requirements compel you to develop your own plugins, and unique requirements make a project complex.

We strongly recommend that you don’t execute a complex project using freelancers. Freelancers work part-time, which makes it hard to manage their work. You will find it harder still when using remote freelancers. 

You might not get enough bandwidth from freelancers. They might leave your project mid-way, so you need to find replacement programmers. Also, you don’t get any project management support from freelance platforms. 

We recommend you hire WordPress plugin developers from a trusted software development company like DevTeam.Space. We offer dedicated developers. Our WordPress developers are highly skilled and experienced. Our practice of encouraging our developers to upskill keeps them motivated and on the cutting edge of the latest technologies. 

We follow a unique software development process. We provide project management support. Our dedicated account manager provides oversight for the work of our developers.

2. Interview the WordPress plugin development professionals

You have now selected the right hiring platform, so what next? The next step is to interview any suitable candidates. Consult our WordPress interview questions if you don’t have WordPress skills and wish to find some great example interview questions. You can also ask colleagues or friends with the right developer knowledge to help with interviews, alternatively, we recommend hiring someone to help who knows their stuff. 

Don’t ask only theoretical questions. You should ask questions that help you evaluate the hands-on knowledge of developers. Do ask questions in all the relevant technical areas. 

Ask candidates about their past experience in WordPress plugin development. Find out how they solved problems in their past projects. You can explain your project requirements, and subsequently, you can ask how developers will approach this project. You should expect specific points when developers answer these open-ended questions. They shouldn’t just mention jargon.

3. Onboard WordPress plugin developers effectively

So, you have interviewed the candidates and found the right WordPress web developers for plugin development. You now want them to hit the ground running! Effective onboarding goes a long way toward making developers productive very quickly. 

Describe your project to the new developers, and explain the business requirements. You should explain the technical solutions for developing the proposed WordPress site and plugins. Share all the relevant documents with the new developers. 

New developers need access to the relevant project tools and code repositories. Provide this access. Introduce the new developers to your existing team. You should explain the roles and responsibilities of all the project’s relevant people.

Describe the project plan. Explain the project schedule, furthermore, identify the milestones. Explain the work approval process and establish accountability. Set up a communication channel with the new developers. Establish protocols such as what language to message in, how long replies can take, and how often to upload code into the repository, etc. 

Tips for hiring WordPress developers to create plugins

Consider the following suggestions from us when you hire WordPress developers for creating plugins:

1. Hire developers that have reviewed important plugins to get important ideas

You can find a wide range of plugins in the WordPress plugin directory. Some of them stand out due to the value they offer. Smart WordPress developers routinely review leading plugins like WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Advanced Custom Fields, etc. They can get excellent ideas from these plugins. Look for developers that follow this best practice.

2. Evaluate the PHP skills of developers thoroughly

Creating a WordPress site with 3rd party themes and plugins might not require much coding skills. However, creating a WordPress theme or plugin is a custom software development project. Coding skills are vital here. Evaluate the PHP skills of candidates carefully.

3. Hire developers with experience in creating user-friendly WordPress plugins

Indeed, many non-technical people use WordPress to get a website up and running quickly. They use a premium 3rd party theme to give a professional look and feel to their site. On the other hand, they use relevant 3rd party WordPress plugins to add functionalities. Such non-technical users need easy-to-use plugins. Therefore, look for developers that put user-friendliness at the forefront and understand what will work and what won’t. 

Examples of questions when interviewing professional WordPress developers for plugin development

Ask questions that help you evaluate the practical skills of candidates, e.g.:

1. Name some of the quick shortcuts you used when coding WordPress plugins? 

Answer:  

In reply to this open-ended question, expect developers to talk about the WordPress keyboard shortcuts they used. A few examples are “Ctrl+X”, “Ctrl+C”, “Ctrl+B”, etc. Developers might mention how they improved productivity by using them.

2. Describe the steps you took for WordPress plugin development? 

Answer:  

You can have WordPress plugin development projects with unique flavors, therefore, it’s a partly open-ended question. All WordPress plugin developers follow similar basic steps though. Expect developers to talk about the following:

• Researching and analyzing the plugin requirements;
• Planning the plugin development project;
• Setting up a test environment;
• Creating the main plugin file;
• Providing the relevant information for plugin headers;
• Coding;
• Testing the plugin on a local machine and staging sites;
• Creating the necessary plugin documentation, e.g., functions defined, etc.;
• Publishing the plugin to the WordPress plugin directory.

3. State some of the fields in plugin headers?

Answer:  

While developers might not provide a complete list of the available WordPress plugin header fields, you can expect them to mention the important ones. A few examples are as follows:

Plugin name, which is a required field;

• Plugin URI;
• Description;
• Version;
• Requires at least (the lowest WordPress version that supports this plugin);
• Author;
• Author URI;
• Text domain.

Submit a Project With Zero Risk

Despite being one of the most popular CMSs, a WordPress website development project can be complex. That’s true with WordPress plugin development too. You need skilled and experienced WordPress developers to get it right. Why take the risk of hiring anything but the top WordPress plugin developers?

DevTeam.Space is a community of experienced field expert software developers. All of our dedicated senior WordPress developers have been vetted and trained in our unique agile software development process.

We match only the most suitable developer or development team to your project specifications. If you would like to learn more, simply fill out our DevTeam.Space product specification form and one of our experienced account managers will get in touch to answer any questions you might have.