I had been living in Sydney for almost a decade now and I must tell I won’t swap Sydney for another city in the world. I had been in the IT industry since 2010, and most lately I am working as WordPress Developer, where my duties varies from Front End Development to SEM AdWords Campaign. I do work as Freelance WordPress Developer now and then working on selected projects.
I had to work really hard to get my first break into IT industry here in Sydney. My first job landed me as Front End Developer. I must tell my skills set at the time of landing that job was pretty good in terms of writing HTML, CSS and JQuery. I did some custom coding in PHP building a Content Management System.
Hereby sharing some of my experiences and stories of how I gradually developed myself to the programmer to land a job where I am really happy and can see myself grow with the current company and team.
WordPress Development Resources/Courses
When I entered IT industry, WordPress was gradually picking up. I must tell at that time Joomla was quiet popular and so was Drupal. But WordPress was really starting to pick because of its ease of use. WordPress core team were releasing and adding features with every new updates.
Being new to WordPress some of the resources on the internet was really helpful.
Some of the helpful websites included:
Finding a WordPress Developer Jobs
I started my first job as WordPress Developer as volunteer for a local charity via Seek Volunteer website. It was good learning experience and got me some exposure to local market.
Then I landed few projects via references. Few of the things I did on side was I learnt a lot about WordPress on site. I must tell I was lucky enough to get Full time job as WordPress Developer. And at same time I had chances to learn SEO where I started working. I found SEO very interesting and this is where I really excelled myself. Within few months of learning SEO, I was able to rank my personal site pretty good on SEO, which in turn landed me regular projects.
This was my story where I really started from bottom to be where I am at the moment. In case if you are seasoned pro WordPress Developer, there are lot of opportunities here in Australia. A good start point is to start looking jobs via SEEK, which had always been my go to site for job hunting.
Skills you need as WordPress Developer
At bare minimum as WordPress developer skills you must have are:
- HTML and CSS
- JavaScript and
- PHP
You can add other skills such as web design and SEO later.
WordPress Developer Salary in Sydney
Based on your skill sets you can expect to get an offer here in Sydney anywhere starting from 40-45K package to 6 figures.
When entering the industry as junior WordPress developer, expect any offer from 40K to above. Most of the companies like to have 3 month initial probation period before offering Full time role. You might be able to get a rise based on your performances.
If you are entering the market as Mid Weight Developer, with 2 or3 years of experience and good portfolio, you can expect an offer of 60-80K package. As mid weight developer you are expected to work independently in most of the cases and may need to guide your junior developer if needed.
If you have more than 5 years of experiences and are really good at what you do, expect to land job as Senior WordPress developer. You can be offered anywhere of 6 figures package based on your skill sets. You must know WordPress Core inside out, write custom plugins when needed, play with WordPress API etc.
Getting work as Freelancer WordPress Developer
If you are thinking of working on side projects or be away from 9 to 5 jobs and work on your own time, freelancing can be a good option too.
As freelancer various options are available:
- Work with your own clientele
- Worked for various agency around Sydney
- Looking or bid for jobs via Folio or job portal sides
For myself I started my freelance work as side job to what I was doing, primarily to learn SEO best practices. Within a year or two, I was able to use my WordPress developer portfolio site for regular income too.
Staying ahead in the pack
As with every other CMS, WordPress do go through various updates and changes regularly.
It’s good to be up to date with the changes and update yourself with. Since WordPress is SEO friendly, learning SEO can help you stay ahead of the pack. Getting into full stack development helps a lot too. Try adding some web design and Server Management skills in your resume.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on my experience3s, if you are a good WordPress developer getting into industry here in Sydney is relatively easy. If you are looking to survive the market completion and work as developer for long run, try to be more competitive, more proactive to stay ahead in the chain.
Image copyright – Robin Thebe at WP Guru.
