How to find the best WordPress developers for you: Part 2 – Expertise

This is the second post in a series of posts about “How you can find the best WordPress developers for you“.

In yesterdays post we talked about how vital experience can be when choosing a developer and this is closely aligned with today’s key developer skill:

2) Expertise

‘Can the person I am paying for WordPress development do the job to the standards I require?’ is a great question to ask and can be measured easily enough through seeing examples of previous projects and work they have done. As in the previous example about developers experience, finding someone who invests time in improving what they do can be invaluable. Look for their qualifications or ask if they have attended any conferences. Find out if they are up to date with technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, LESS/SASS and Git. Keep asking questions until you get the answer you are looking for.

Remember, talking the talk and walking the walk are two completely different things.

We have spoken to developers and they have sounded great when we have spoken to them but when it came to their work it was substandard at best. Get examples of their work, speak to people who know what they do, make your own opinion based on this.

Questions to ask:

• How many WordPress sites have you completed? – Whilst a high number might not mean that they are good, seeing examples of these sites will tell you a lot. If they are for the local window cleaner then they may well not be able to handle your WordPress project.
• What is your experience using SASS (or other technology)? – If you get a blank look or a pause on this question then this will indicate that they don’t keep up to date with the latest technologies and are likely to provide you with something that is out of date with current development. Does this matter? Yes, it does. Choose someone who has invested their time into their craft and you will get a better result.
• Are you involved with the WordPress community and do you attend WordCamp’s or meetups? – This might seem to be less relevant, it is still important though. Developers who get involved with the community are more likely to have people they can reach out to help them if they get stuck on your project. They are also more likely to have shared best working practices and to have learned a lot at WordCamps. All of this can really help you with delivering a great project.

In the next post in this series, we will cover the topic of ‘Price‘