I’m the sole developer for a $100m company’s website and blog that get over 200k visitors per month. I sort of stumbled into this position and hardly know any coding at all outside of HTML and CSS.
Let’s say worst case scenario happens tomorrow and something in my process or workflow erupts and is no longer viable, and I don’t have a way to replace it.
What’s the best way to spend a couple of hours per day to futureproof myself for such a scenario? Do I…
– Focus on learning PHP specific to WordPress
– Learn a secondary or third builder (e.g., Bricks, Oxygen, Breakdance, Elementor, Gutenberg)
– Something else entirely?
I understand part of this risk is on the company to diversify (as something could happen to me personally), but appreciate any advice.
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All of it.
By learning PHP and WordPress development you could essentially create big value for your company by being able to build your own company theme and maybe some plug-ins specific for your company. (You’ll need JavaScript knowledge as well and as of now React for Gutenberg)
Other than that I feel like Elementor has gotten so established in the WordPress world that it is also a good skill to have especially if you need to make quick changes without much effort or (almost) any code.
I am just sharing my opinion here. If this is your full time job and you’re doing it for a company you should probably invest the time and really really learn what you are actually doing, HOWEVER if this is more of an „could you sometimes look after this blog of ours?“ and you have other stuff to do I would personally just play around with Elementor and whenever you wanna change some simple stuff just use it
Learn how to backup site files *and* the database manually. Do not rely on plugins for this. If you have a backup then you can restore anything. In a worst case scenario, if you have a backup of a working copy of the site then you can fix anything. Absolutely must have a copy of the database (contains all of your written content and settings) and, at the very least,the wp-content folder and everything within that folder (contains all your theme/plugin/uploads/images).
Learn Gutenberg/Site Editor/Blocks. Those are the future of WordPress. Other builders will come and go but these are part of WordPress core. [A recent comment of mine has everything you need.])
I would not recommend secondary/third builders if you wish for simplicity in your workflow.
Also agree with another commenter about connecting directly to the DB ASAP to learn its structure/make backups. Same with the files themselves (/wp-content/ etc) so you can move to another host if ever needed.
Finally them themes bruv… that’ll always be a battle. My advice there is either stick to the defaults or build your own because the rest will try and sell you stuff.
You did not mention it but since this is a company site, are you using managed hosting at all? If not you may want to consider it and make sure that your company pays for it (of course!)
One of the bigger advantages of a managed host is that since they specialize in WordPress the hosting itself is optimized for the best performance, there is usually some kind of automated backup system in place that is robust enough that you don’t have to worry about it, and crucially they offer some kind of WordPress site support (not just hosting support, but support for your WordPress site itself) so if you get over your head with a site issue you have a dedicated contact you can turn to.
Flywheel, WP Engine, Pressable, and plenty of other options out there if you look around.