Hiring a dedicated WordPress developer is an important step in creating or improving your website. Whether you’re launching a new site, redesigning an existing one, or looking for long-term support, choosing the right developer can have a big impact on the success of your project.

To make the right choice, it’s important to ask the right questions during the interview. These questions help you understand their experience, technical skills, work style, and whether they align with your goals.

Review Their Portfolio and Experience

Start by asking to see their portfolio or examples of past work. This gives you a real sense of their skills and style. Look for variety, responsiveness, and performance. Try visiting some of the websites they’ve worked on to check for quality, load speed, and mobile compatibility.

Ask if they’ve worked on projects similar to yours. If you’re building an eCommerce store, blog, or membership site, it helps to know they’ve handled similar projects before. Experience in your specific niche means they’ll better understand your needs and challenges.

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Check Their Understanding of WordPress Core

It’s important to find out how well they understand WordPress core features and custom development. A skilled developer should be comfortable working with themes, plugins, hooks, filters, and custom code. This ensures they can handle advanced customizations rather than just installing pre-built themes.

Ask About Their Coding Skills

Ask about the programming languages they know. A solid WordPress developer should be familiar with PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and MySQL. These are the key languages used in WordPress development, and the more proficient they are, the more capable they’ll be of building complex, high-performing sites.

Understand Their Approach to Themes and Plugins

Find out how they approach theme and plugin development. Do they create custom solutions or heavily rely on third-party plugins? Understanding this will help you see how flexible and future-proof their work is. It also shows whether they follow best practices when customizing themes and plugins.

Comfort with Page Builders and Gutenberg

If your website uses a page builder like Elementor, WPBakery, or the Gutenberg block editor, check that they’re comfortable using it. They should be able to create custom blocks or widgets and make the most of these tools while keeping your site lightweight and fast.

Learn About Their Testing and Debugging Process

Good developers test their code. Ask about how they handle testing and debugging. Do they use WordPress debugging tools, browser developer tools, or automated testing frameworks? Their answer will tell you how reliable and stable their code is before it goes live.

Ask How They Stay Updated

Make sure the developer stays up to date with the latest WordPress trends and updates. The platform changes regularly, so developers need to follow blogs, attend WordCamps, or be active in the WordPress community. This shows they care about keeping their skills fresh.

Discuss Security Practices

Website security is a major concern. Ask how they secure websites they build. Do they sanitize input, prevent vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS, and use proper authentication methods? Are they familiar with security plugins and regular updates? Their answer will give you confidence that your site will be protected.

Talk About Speed Optimization

Speed is a ranking factor for search engines and a key part of user experience. Ask what they do to improve website performance. They might mention caching, image optimization, code minification, lazy loading, and using a CDN. A fast website is a must-have in today’s digital world.

Understand Their SEO Knowledge

Even though SEO is not the primary role of a developer, they should understand technical SEO basics. This includes using proper heading tags, clean code, fast loading times, mobile-friendly layouts, and support for schema markup. These elements help your site perform better in search results.

Ask About Migration and Launch Experience

If you’re moving from another platform or preparing to launch a new site, ask how they handle that process. A good developer should be able to manage backups, domain pointing, database transfers, and thorough pre-launch testing. Smooth migrations can prevent downtime and data loss.

Explore Their Workflow

Understanding how a developer works helps you know what to expect. Ask about their workflow, including how they handle staging environments, version control (like Git), task management tools, and how they communicate progress. A clear workflow leads to smoother collaboration.

Check if They Offer Ongoing Support

Many websites require maintenance after launch. Ask if the developer offers ongoing support, such as plugin updates, bug fixes, or performance monitoring. Having someone familiar with your site available for future needs can save you time and headaches down the line.

Clarify Rates and Availability

Finally, talk about their rates and availability. Are they open to hourly, project-based, or retainer pricing? Do they have enough time to commit to your deadlines? Clear conversations around budget and scheduling help avoid confusion later on.

Final Thoughts

Hiring a dedicated WordPress developer is about more than just technical skills. It’s about finding someone who understands your goals, communicates well, follows best practices, and delivers results. The questions in this blog will help you make a smart decision and find a developer who’s a great fit for your website.

Take your time during the interview. Ask for references, test tasks, or code samples if needed. With the right developer, you can build a powerful WordPress site that meets your goals and supports your growth.