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Thinking about hiring a WP Tutor

by baxterblue
4 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hi Everyone,

So I am thinking about hiring a Wordpress Tutor and I would welcome your opinions and thoughts.

I understand the very basics of WP and I have built a couple sites but I am not efficient by any means. I really like responsive themes and I want to learn more about building sites using 2 specific themes. Do you think it would be worth it to hire a Tutor to help me learn these themes better or is "trial and error" the approach most builders go?

I have watched a ton of tutorials on Lynda.com and that site is absolutely awesome but they don't really get into the newer responsive themes.

So my questions are...
Do you think a WP Tutor would help to expedite the learning curve with WP?
How much do you think a good WP Tutor would cost? (I did a Google search and found the pricing anywhere from $15 -$100 per hour).

Here's a link to the 1st site I built. It took me about 4 hours starting from scratch, including the graphics.... Joe Racer - Motocross
(This is a Demo Site. All Fictitious)

Thanks for your help!
Baxter Blue
#hiring #thinking #tutor
  • Profile picture of the author David V
    My personal opinion is no.
    But, this depends on the type of person you are and how you best learn.

    I would think it would get expensive real fast.

    You need to separate your thinking of WordPress themes into several parts.

    Html, CSS, PHP, and WordPress specific PHP (Functions, actions, filters, etc..)

    The fact that a theme is responsive or not has nothing to do with WordPress.

    I think you'll struggle (and really drag this out with a tutor) if you dive straight into theme development.
    You might be better to not hit it head on, but from a different angle.

    If you can master html5, CSS, and be pretty good at php, then you could dive into a theme.
    Also, there's a lot of work that goes into a theme after the sale.
    You'll find 1/2 the questions you get will be php related.
    You could reduce support questions by starting out with child themes if you really insist on building a premium theme.
    At least with the child theme, the framework is already in place (Genesis, WPJumpstart, etc....)

    As far as the site you "built", I congratulate you on the effort, but it's actually built by WebFactory.
    It's a turn-key premium theme.

    What you did was more of a "web designer" who changed around some styling and images.
    Don't get me wrong, 75% of all "web design" companies online do this so I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.

    I'm only pointing it out because if you actually want to BUILD themes and go beyond a few minor aesthetic changes, you'll really need to study up on the basics pointed out above.

    It would seem far more productive to go to cutting edge learning sites like:
    https://www.codeschool.com
    Learn Web Design, Web Development, and More | Treehouse
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    • Profile picture of the author baxterblue
      Originally Posted by David V View Post

      As far as the site you "built", I congratulate you on the effort, but it's actually built by WebFactory. It's a turn-key premium theme.
      I never said I developed the theme... I stated it was the first site I built. Quite honestly if I knew how to build the themes I don't think I would need a tutor to help me with WP sites. I guess maybe I had the terminology wrong and I should of used the term designer and not builder.

      I do appreciate the feedback and I think you may be right about learning some coding to go along with WP.

      Thanks again!
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      • Profile picture of the author Eugen Oprea
        I would recommend you to have a look at Treehouse instead of hiring a tutor:

        https://teamtreehouse.com/

        They are really good at explaining things and I think that you pick it up fairly quickly.

        David is right in most of the points he added.
        Signature

        Eugen is an Online Marketer and blogs about Web Analytics, SEO and WordPress at EugenOprea.com. You can get his Google Analytics course for free or check his latest product, the Web Analytics Blueprint.

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        • Profile picture of the author goldbiz
          No. I wouldn't pay anybody to teach me WP. As David V. said, it would get expensive really fast. You can learn all the basics and lots of extras just through YouTube videos, and G-searching for articles, like I did.

          If you had a code tweak question that you couldnt answer through G or on a forum, then that would be worth a few bucks.

          As for themes, I use Genesis framework (which I consider a must, as so many top sites use it) and Dynamik website builder (G it). Dynamik offers lots of options to configure your own site without coding--meaning complete control of all colors, fonts, headers, footers, widgets, etc. And it's responsive.

          Mostly all you have to do is choose "this" or "that" option or enter the number of px for the width of this and that. It's really straightforward and good for people like me who just don't know all about css.

          If you pm me I can show you my site created with it.

          Hope this helps.
          Signature

          I’d explain it to you, but your brain would explode.

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