Hate your job? Not exactly super-stoked about where your life might be headed in your current vocation? You’re not alone.
Many of us are stuck in dead-end jobs that are incredibly difficult to be passionate about. In fact, you may audibly groan every time the alarm clock awakes you in the morning.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Honestly, I’ve seen more people start doing this thing called “web development” during their current 9-to-5 job and start not only loving it but making a serious living off of it.
And WordPress is where it’s at. You can plug yourself into this amazing community quicker than most things and find yourself serving clients in no time. Sure, it’ll take a commitment on your part and some serious motivation to get started, but you’re not using any of that energy in your current job, so go on and be your bad self, right?
I was speaking to a new WordPress consultant who just managed to “score” his “biggest” client yet at a “whopping” $300 and this is only after working with WordPress for 4 weeks. Sure, that’s small for many of us here but for those starting out, wow.
And you can do it too.
Can Anyone Learn To Develop WordPress Sites?
I would say the answer is a resounding “Yes,” and you can learn to do it faster than you might expect.
Here are some ways that you can start taking some “baby steps” in that direction. To be clear, you don’t have to be a ninja-guru to make money or pivot your career; you don’t even need to know HTML, CSS, or PHP to get a decent looking WordPress website up for a client.
You just need some of the basics and you can go from there.
Here are some resources for you to check out:
w3schools is one of the most simple ways to get started. I don’t need to spend much time here because you can walk yourself through this quite easily.
It is worth noting that w3schools has gotten a lot of flack about their inability to keep updated with best practices and coding techniques. While this might be true it’s still a resource that’s worth considering (and we believe you’re smart people so you’ll do your own research!).
If that doesn’t float your boat then please consider these other great offerings!
I can’t speak enough about Codecademy. You can learn to code not just websites but other programming languages for free. Not a single cost to you. Start with the Web Fundamentals course and you’ll be killing it in no time.
Got it? Good.
Code School is another great offering that’s free to get started and is an incredible resource. Signing up is easy and hassle-free. Amazing.
I love Skillshare as it’s model can really work for many people – these are classes that have pre-determined timing with their offering, just like “real” courses. You may even get homework assignments and have requirements. Some people really thrive in this type of environment.
Udacity is leveraging the power of existing colleges and universities and giving the lectures away for free. Unbelievable.
It’s very much like this next offering as well…
Venture Lab by Standford is unbelievable. That’s all I can say. I’ve taken some classes and been blown away by the value and quality.
For The Fast Learner
As you begin to attract new clientele, you may decide to invest in your own education to further develop your design and coding skills through paid tutorial membership sites or advanced courses.
That’s easy too. Here are 3 sites that should get you super-charged:
Treehouse is amazing and the quality of instructors are bar-none.
Udemy has some paid courses which are amazing as well as some amazing free courses too! Pricing is for every wallet.
Our friends at Envato have their Tuts+ Premium network and it’s incredible. Our own technical editor, Tom, has done work here too.
Lynda has been around for a while and the quality has proven itself time and time again. Try it free for 7 days and then pay a nominal $25/month to start your new career.
And the rest is honestly up to you.
I believe that you can have a successful career, one that is incredibly satisfying and that creates value for tons of people. Life is far too short to be doing stuff that you hate and it’s time to do something about it.
Get started in web development, you’ll be glad you did!
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