I have worked for about 3 years as a frontend web developer and am moving into starting my own business as a freelance web designer/developer. I’ve already had a few clients and feeling more confident, but I’m overwhelmed about what direction to take my skills in for my business, and to make sure I’m keeping my skill set sharp.
My experience with companies has been working with React, Vue, Next, etc., often with headless CMS and working in teams with backend developers and designers. What I’m doing now feels totally different, as I’m mostly redesigning websites for clients who use Wordpress and Squarespace. My skills as a developer have been useful, but I am doing basically zero JavaScript coding, and also limited CSS work. I’ve noticed that it would be helpful to have some PHP skills and SysAdmin skills for working with hosting problems.
Some skills that seem useful:
- PHP
- Converting Figma to a website
- Wordpress theme work
- SysAdmin (not sure what this includes)
- SSG frameworks
My question is: what skillsets should I be looking to improve to best help my clients, but also to progress myself and my business? I want to be practical and am trying not to let my ego get in the way of what is useful for clients.