The argument that WordPress will replace web developers has been around for a long time. There is no denying the fact that WordPress is a powerful platform. Even normal people can do too many things using it, which developers used to take days to complete.
This is why panic is often heard – will WordPress replace web developers? It’s really hard to predict the future. But I don’t see any such possibility in recent days. Actually, WordPress is a CMS that allows one to create any type of website overnight.
But to make it functional, users need numerous other tools and extensions for which they have to rely on developers again. So, rather than replacing, WordPress has been a career opportunity for developers. Let’s talk more about it in detail.
What Do Web Developers Do?
Web developers are professional programmers who design, create, develop, and maintain websites and web-based applications. They use programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and others to create visually appealing websites.
They possess a good understanding of UX and web design principles. It helps them deal with clients to understand their requirements and create websites accordingly. Once the website is live, they maintain it through regular improvements, bug fixing, and content updating.
In short, web developers do the following things:
- Take notes from clients and create wireframes.
- Design and develop responsive websites.
- Add features like cart, checkout, and payment for eCommerce.
- Maintain websites through regular updating and improvements.
- Test and debug issues.
- Collaborate with clients.
Types of Developments Web Developers Do
There are basically three types of developments web developers usually do. They are front-end web development, back-end web development, and full-stack web development. Let’s know about them in brief.
1. Front-End Development
Front End Development is the process of creating the visual interface of a website. This one is also known as client-side development. Frontend developers use HTML, JavaScript, and CSS languages to create a responsive web interface that fits perfectly on all digital devices.
2. Back-End Development
Backend Development is known as server development. Backend developers use languages like PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, and Node.Js for server-side coding. They also use PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB for database development.
Through an API (Application Programming Interface), they connect the Backdnd database to the Frontdnd. It allows visitors to retrieve data from the Backdnd library quite effortlessly. Backend developers fix errors if any bug arises.
# Full Stack Development
Full Stack Development refers to the development of both front-end and back-end elements of a website. They have equal proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for front-end designing as well as languages like PHP, React, Angular, and Node.js for back-end development.
Full-Stack developers can collaborate to develop the back-end library/database using the MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB languages. In case of any problem, they can instantly help in bug fixing, API maintenance, and feature development for web applications.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS). It has tons of themes, plugins, and addons in its repository, by which you can create almost any type of website you want. PHP is its server-side core language.
PHP allows it to create dynamic content that can be displayed on the web front end. WordPress also uses HTML for structuring web pages, CSS for visual stylizing, and JavaScript for adding dynamic behavior to the pages.
MySQL is the language used in its database management. It helps to store data of web posts, pages, comments, and users in its library. Learn how to create a website with WordPress.
Key Features of WordPress: What Has Made It a Revolutionary Web-Building Platform
WordPress has emerged as a revolutionary platform for website building due to its tons of extensive features, user-friendly interface, and humongous repository. As a result, WordPress has become a democratized web development platform. Individuals and businesses of all sizes can use it.
Here are some key features that have contributed to the revolutionary status WordPress currently has.
1. Ease of Use
WordPress offers an intuitive interface that allows users to create, edit, and publish content easily. Its dashboard is user-friendly, making it accessible to beginners.
2. Themes
WordPress currently has 9,500+ free themes in its repository WordPress.org. Besides, there are many other platforms selling premium WordPress themes. These themes control the appearance and layout of the site, allowing users to create unique designs without coding.
3. Plugins
Here again, you’ll get 50,000+ free plugins on WordPress.org. Besides, the number of premium plugins for WordPress is countless. Plugins extend the functionality of the platform, allowing users to integrate features such as contact forms, SEO optimization, e-commerce capabilities, and more, without needing to code from scratch.
4. Gutenberg Editor
Introduced in WordPress 5.0, the Gutenberg block editor revolutionized content creation by providing a more flexible and intuitive way to design and structure pages and posts. Users can now create rich multimedia content by arranging content blocks visually.
5. Full Site Editing
Building upon the Gutenberg editor, WordPress has been moving towards full site editing capabilities. It empowers users to customize every aspect of their website, including headers, footers, sidebars, and more, using blocks.
6. REST API
The WordPress REST API allows developers to interact with WordPress sites programmatically, enabling the integration of WordPress with external applications and services. This opens up possibilities for building dynamic web applications and mobile apps leveraging WordPress as a CMS.
7. Customization Options
WordPress offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor their websites to meet their specific needs and preferences. From custom post types and taxonomies to custom fields and menus, WordPress provides flexibility for creating unique and personalized websites.
8. Integration with External Platforms
WordPress integrates seamlessly with various third-party platforms and services. For example, it has seamless integrations with social media networks, email marketing tools, analytics platforms, and more, allowing users to extend the functionality of their websites and streamline their workflows.
9. Headless WordPress
Headless WordPress decouples the backend (content management) from the frontend (presentation layer). It enables developers to use WordPress as a content repository while building the frontend using modern JavaScript frameworks like React or Vue.js.
10. SEO-Friendly
WordPress is inherently optimized for search engines, making it easier for websites built on the platform to rank well in search engine results. Additionally, there are many SEO plugins available that help users optimize their content further.
11. Mobile Responsiveness
With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a website that looks and functions well on smartphones and tablets is crucial. WordPress themes are typically responsive, meaning they adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring a consistent user experience across devices.
12. Security
WordPress takes security seriously and provides regular updates to address vulnerabilities. Additionally, there are security plugins available to enhance website security further, such as firewalls, malware scanning, and login protection.
13. Multilingual Support
WordPress offers multilingual support, allowing users to create websites in different languages. This feature has made WordPress a global platform, accessible to users from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
14. Cost-Effectiveness
WordPress itself is free to use, which significantly reduces the barrier to entry for individuals and businesses looking to establish an online presence. While users may incur costs for hosting, premium themes, plugins, and other services, the overall cost of building and maintaining a WordPress website is typically lower compared to custom development.
15. Community Support
WordPress has a vast and active community of developers, designers, and users who contribute to its growth and development. This community provides support, tutorials, themes, plugins, and regular updates, making WordPress a continuously evolving platform.
16. Performance Optimization
With a focus on speed and performance, WordPress has introduced features and optimizations to ensure that websites load quickly and efficiently. This includes improvements to codebase efficiency, caching mechanisms, and image optimization tools.
Is WordPress a Threat to Web Developers? If not, How?
Seeing all the features above, you may feel scared if WordPress is appearing as a threat to web developers!
Well, don’t get scared. WordPress has never been a threat to web developers. Rather, it’s a valuable tool that designers and developers can use to create many useful addons, features, and functions for taking the web industry to new heights. WordPress does it in the following ways.
1. Allows to Build Custom Applications with Robust API
WordPress API (Application Programming Interface) is a way by which developers can connect the back-end database to a custom software or application. Using this technology, developers connect websites to mobile apps, social media, voice assistant tools, and more.
Headless WordPress today is an emerging term in the web industry. In this system, the back-end and front-end of a website built in WordPress are decoupled. The back end continues to use the PHP framework. However, the front end uses other technologies like Reach, Node.js, and GatsBay.
Here, again, the API technology is used to create communication between the frontend and backend. This technology improves the scalability and security of WordPress websites.
2. Offers a Platform to Create Themes and Plugins
To power up a website in WordPress, users need a variety of themes and plugins. Without plugins, WordPress is just a blogging platform. Today, you’ll find around 9,000+ themes and 55,000+ plugins in WordPress repositories.
Due to these, WordPress has become a powerful platform by which users can create websites like membership, eCommerce, news portals, and more.
3. Makes a Way to Offer Customized Services and Solutions
Today, there are thousands of eCommerce, multivendor marketplace, and membership sites built-in WordPress, earning millions of dollars each month. Most of them want to hire full-time developers so that they can instantly fix any problem that arises.
Besides, there are many software agencies hiring full-time developers as support engineers. Whenever customers complain, they instantly reach out to them with solutions.
In summary, WordPress is never a threat to developers. Rather, it’s a platform that allows developers to create and offer advanced tools and support to make the web industry more friendly and efficient for users.
How WordPress Development Can Be a Good Career Opportunity for Developers
WordPress development refers to the set of activities involved in creating and maintaining websites using the WordPress CMS. It includes developing themes and plugins, configuring technical settings, designing web pages, ensuring security farewell, preventing malware attacks, and getting the website live again if it goes down.
WordPress is currently powering up over 42% of websites online, and this number is going up every day. As a result, the demand for web developers in the following fields of WordPress is constantly increasing over time.
1. Theme Development
A theme is a combination of many different files that create the front-end visual appearance and layout of a website. It includes page templates, headers, footers, sidebars, image sections, and many important parts of the website.
With the help of WordPress themes, web owners can present their content in appealing ways. Theme development can be a lucrative career opportunity for web developers. Some important skills and knowledge web developers require are:
- Expertise in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP languages.
- Familiarity with WordPress APIs and core functions.
- Knowledge about front-end design tools and frameworks (Bootstrap and Foundation).
- In-depth ideas on basic web design principles.
2. Plugin Development
Plugins are a type of software that adds specific features and functionalities to WordPress websites. As I said before, WordPress is nothing but a blogging platform without plugins. Using specific types of plugins, one can instantly convert a simple WordPress site into eCommerce, multivendor marketplace, NFT, membership website, and more.
In addition to these, there are many others, like SEO, security, cache, form, and email marketing plugins. They help to grow, maintain, and secure WordPress sites. Page builders are another exclusive plugin by which even no-code users can create and design new pages without a single line of coding.
In short, plugin development has revolutionized the WordPress industry and made it more user-friendly. This is why skilled plugin developers are still in high demand in the job market. And it will continue to rise in the coming days as well.
3. Full Stack Development
I have already covered what full stack development is at the beginning. It is the process of developing both the front-end and back-end of a website. Full-stack developers are currently in high demand because of their skills and expertise in many technologies.
Alongside the software industry, the demand for full-stack developers is seen in niches like eCommerce, finance, healthcare, and education. Another advantage of full-stack developers is that they can use their skills to create unique themes and plugins.
If their products start selling well in the marketplace, they can immediately move to mini startups. Besides, they can quickly grab new technologies with a solid foundation.
4. Create Online Courses
With the speed at which technology is taking over the world, programming may become a part of elementary education. It has already been adopted in many countries like Japan, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
Besides, there are many platforms like Coursera, Khan Academy, and Udemy, where millions of people join each year to learn coding and development. If you are an expert and can create courses on coding and development, it can also be a passive income source.
5. Join as a Support Specialist
You won’t find any shortage of mobile apps and software these days. Even you’ll find dozens of software that offer the same service. Still, most software startups fail to make the achievement they dreamt of. The key reason behind that is the lack of good services.
This is why most software agencies today look for dedicated support engineers who can provide technical assistance to customers. They usually render services through a variety of channels like email, phone, chat, social media, and tickets.
As a result, they must have good communication skills to break down the technical terms to no-code users.
The Future of Web Developers
Though WordPress holds the largest maximum market share (40%), it’s not the whole of the entire web industry. Still, 60% of the market share is controlled by other CMSs, SaaS, and language-based frameworks.
So, apart from WordPress, web developers have huge demand in various other sectors. And it will continue to go up in the coming days. Below are some rising trends and opportunities shaping the future of web developers.
1. Increasing Demand for Mobile App Development
Due to easy accessibility, personalization, and improved user experience, the demand for mobile applications has increased over the last decade. Hybrid apps, progressive web apps, and cross-platform apps are currently the three most trendy types of mobile apps in the market.
2. Development of eCommerce Technologies
Headless eCommerce, multivendor marketplace, and mobile commerce are already so popular. But new technologies like omnichannel commerce, voice commerce, social commerce, artificial intelligence, blockchain, chatbot, etc., will soon shape this industry. Developers have tremendous opportunities in these fields.
3. Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
AI technologies are already being used in web development, text writing, image creation, video creation, and music creation. The advancements in AI technologies can help web developers create more exciting web applications that can personalize web content and improve user experience.
4. Utilization of Cloud Technology
Cloud technology allows web owners to store data remotely without needing any infrastructure. Developers with cloud technology skills will be in great demand to create cloud-based applications, integrate the cloud into existing applications, and create new services.
5. UX Design and Development
A good design doesn’t refer to the visual appearance only. It also refers to user-friendliness and easy functionality. UX design and development cover this segment. In the future, most websites will have to integrate trendy new features like artificial intelligence, blockchain, chatbot, and more. This is why designers with good UX design skills will be in more demand.
6. Extending Web Securities
According to techjury.net, over thirty thousand websites are hacked daily. 65% of websites have experienced cyber attacks at least once. Successful websites become the most targeted ones to hackers. In the coming days, it will be a more serious issue. This is why developers with skills and knowledge in web securities will surely enjoy good market demand.
A Quick Snapshot of WordPress vs Web Development
Hope you already have got a complete overview of WordPress and web development from the above discussion. We’ll now provide a quick comparative snapshot of WordPress and web development in the table below.
| Topic | WordPress | Web Development |
| Ease of Use | WordPress is easy to use, even for users who have no technical knowledge. | Web development requires comprehensive knowledge of coding, programming, and frameworks. |
| Customization | WordPress offers a good number of themes and plugins by which users can easily modify the functionality and appearance of their websites. | Web development offers the maximum level of customization by which developers can meet specific needs. |
| Scalability | WordPress is scalable to a certain extent, and it may struggle with complicated websites. | Web development offers limitless scalability and works well with complicated websites. |
| Security | WordPress sites are secured if they are maintained well and updated with security patches. | Web development offers more security and allows developers to create customized security features. |
| Job opportunities | Major job opportunities in WordPress are themes, plugins, back-end, front-end, eCommerce, and technical support. | Web developers have wider job opportunities, like front-end, back-end, full-stack, UI/UX, mobile app, database management, and more. |
FAQ on the Topic Will WordPress Replace Web Developers
We’ll now answer some common questions related to the topic – will WordPress replace web developers?
Is WordPress enough to be a web developer?
WordPress is indeed a powerful Content Management System (CMS) by which you can create websites from scratch without any coding. But it’s not complimentary to web developers.
The process of web development involves using various languages, tools, and frameworks. It involves developing the front end and back end separately. It also allows a developer to test, debug errors, and optimize the site for better performance.
Will artificial intelligence (AI) replace web developers?
Artificial intelligence has the potential to affect the job market of web developers. Because it can automate certain tasks and generate codes. With this support, one can easily carry out the tasks that a junior developer could do.
But since it can’t give you a customized final decision, you will always have the need for developers, especially senior developers. So, the conclusion is that you can take AI as a great assistant. However, it cannot entirely replace the need for human workers.
Are WordPress developers still in demand?
Yes, WordPress developers are still in demand and will continue to be so for at least this decade. The key reason for this is that WordPress is a powerful platform. Over 650 million active websites have been built with this platform.
Hence, users will need support from developers in various tasks like plugin building, theme development, customization, and security enhancements.
Is WordPress losing popularity?
There is no strong evidence that WordPress is going to lose its popularity in recent years. See the last 10-year WordPress growth statistics according to w3techs.com:
- 2023: 43.5%
- 2022: 43.2%
- 2021: 39.5%
- 2020: 35.4%
- 2019: 32.7%
- 2018: 29.2%
- 2017: 27.3%
- 2016: 25.6%
- 2015: 23.3%
- 2014: 21.0%
- 2013: 17.4%
What is the future of WordPress?
Below are some predictions of what is going to happen in WordPress in the coming days.
1. Multilingual web support
2. Multi-author collaboration
3. Better UX of Gutenberg block editor
4. Integration of REST API
5. Advancement of User Interface
6. Improved security system.
7. Bigger community with a more helping attitude
Final Takeaways on Will WordPress Replace Web Developers!
Evolution in the tech industry is nothing new. In every era, I am used to seeing some evolutions coming in the tech industry that affect the job market. But technology advancements don’t necessarily mean they’re here to take away jobs.
Instead, technological advancements smarten up the employees’ lives and take their work process to a new level. The same goes for WordPress as well. Throughout this article, I have tried enough arguments to testify that WordPress isn’t here to replace web developers.
Rather, it has opened up countless job opportunities for them. Besides, WordPress isn’t the only CMS in this market. There are many other popular CMSs in the market as well, like Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla, Drupal, Dorik, and Weebly.
And the above arguments apply to them equally as well. Hope you have enjoyed this discussion. Have a nice day, and happy reading.
