My career as Front End Developer to WordPress Developer had been a long journey. As a newbie, I worked my bums off to get where I am at the moment. I am relatively happy with where I am at the moment.
My Story in short
I came to Sydney as a university student. I did have some working experience as Front End Developer and PHP Developer back home. But getting into local market as Web Developer was bit tough for me. Standards of coding and web was way too high here in Sydney. But my persistency paid off. I was able to land a job in IT as Front End Developer after trying several months after finishing my University Degree.
That was like few years back. But IT market and job industry is really positive at the moment. Provided you got some skills or willing to improve and fight to land a job. If you are new don’t hesitate to volunteer for good cause or help local business. This will definitely help you later.
How to find a job as WordPress Developer
The easiest way to find job in Sydney as WordPress Developer is definitely applying online via job portals. Depending upon your experience you can apply for various roles advertised. Normally jobs are advertised for Junior, Mid-Level or Senior positions. If you are relatively new and with less experience finding job via websites like Gumtree can also be a good alternative. Approaching businesses for volunteering can also help if you are looking for long term goals and trying to build portfolio.
Find WordPress Jobs via Job Portal
One of the most popular job portal in Sydney is seek.com.au. This is my favourite site and I am bit bias to it, as most of my opportunities came through this website.
Just head to the website, type in WordPress Developer, enter details like your salary expectations, location you prefer to work and you will get the list of advertised jobs.
You can create your profile, upload your resume and cover letter. This make application faster and easier if you are logged in or using the app.
I would suggest using job portal for experienced WordPress Developers.
Finding WordPress Developer jobs via Gumtree
Gumtree is quiet popular website here in Sydney. You can find or sell almost anything in the website. Likewise you can find jobs posted for WordPress Developer too. One of the good thing about this website is that most of the time the poster of job is looking for someone to work locally rather than outsourcing.
I have mixed experiences via this website. When I was new and trying to gain some local experience, I was able to get some paid work and volunteer work.
I would suggest Gumtree for someone new in industry trying to get local exposure.
There are other options such as Freelancer.com, but I think these jobs are mostly like to be outsourced rather than looking for someone local. But this is my personal opinion.
Looking for Volunteer WordPress Developer
Sounds bit stupid. Why would you volunteer?
If you are new to Sydney, with some work experiences. It’s always good idea to get some local names on your resume. It worked for me, and would definitely suggest you to give it a go.
When I was gradually moving form Front End/PHP Development to WordPress Web Design and Development, I applied for a role as Volunteer Developer for local organisation. I had chance to work with amazing person, who later provided me a local reference, that help me land my first job as WordPress Developer.
Likewise you can approach local businesses with outdate website.
I would definitely suggest to try this approach to someone new and someone trying to build local experiences. It can be helpful.
Finding WordPress Developer jobs via Portfolio website
If you don’t have a personal website, think about it seriously. Try learning some SEO and rank your website in Google.
It might take some time, but if you are persistence, you will be rewarded. I am self-taught in SEO and my website do rank well for WordPress related keywords. And I do get some decent leads now and then.
Conclusion
This had been a story of myself. I did work quiet hard to be where I am at the moment. I am quite happy with my work situations. I did work for some peanuts, happily volunteered for good cause, landed full time role and freelance now and then for some selective projects. So if you try your best, you can get best results too.