I’m a software developer from Benin Republic.
I have been coding since 2017 with languages like HTML, CSS, PHP(WordPress), JavaScript.
I have worked on different projects and built lots of cool stuff that you can check on my GitHub.

How everything started?

Everything started when I got my first job as a developer at ORION ORIGIN : a team of nice people, who build amazing premium plugins and themes used by people and developers around the world. I was tasked with creating plugins.
At first, this was challenging but I found a way around it. I built WordPress plugins and also provided support for them.

Along the line, things got easier, so I started working on personal projects, one of them is called : HomeScript and I have built lots of cool WordPress plugins under these name that you can download on my WordPress Profile.

Let’s talk about WordPress.

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that is powered by PHP and MySQL. Developing with WordPress means you have to be grounded in PHP, understand OOP concepts in PHP, understand WordPress hooks ( add_action and add_filter concepts ) and how they work. All these knowledge must be acquired by a developer. So I dare say that being a WordPress developer doesn’t make you any less of a developer. 🙂

Why WordPress instead of other CMS?

This choice was based on my job, the choice is based also on the fact that setting up a website with WordPress is easier than setting up with Prestashop or Drupal.
This motivates beginners who want to learn to code and do not want to kill themselves with all the different languages.
Many developers have created lots of plugins, that are helpful when you want to easily create your website.

Also, WordPress has a very large active community of developers that are always there to show support and guide you on anything you might need when developing with WordPress.
This gives everyone an opportunity to be part of an awesome community that accepts everyone.

Challenges i have faced

Some of the challenges I had when I started coding are, first of all, electricity not always being available, and secondly the price of internet here in Africa is very expensive.
This is really a problem because without the internet you can’t get access to courses online.

At ORION ORIGIN, one lesson I learnt during my job is that every code needs to be optimized, I don’t need to repeat some functions into my code. The (DRY: Don’t Repeat Yourself ) concept applies to WordPress too, the ability to respect the coding standards set by WordPress .

Some recommendations

Everybody can create amazing plugins or themes that can be successful like the Conditional Discounts for WooCommerce or WooCommerce Product Designer plugin, they just need to find the right idea that adds value to someone, and the money will follow.

By searching on the internet, many articles exist and can help a lot in the process of creating and releasing a WordPress plugin. For example, articles on Medium have contributed to help me become a better developer today.