Comments on: WordPress Developers – How Do You Make A Living [Poll + Discussion]?

By: Andreas Nurbo

Andreas Nurbo — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:48:16 +0000

I have made some money making custom plugins for people.
My income comes from different sources. Some from my own projects, websites. Some from other peoples projects, launch type stuff. Analysis, tracking, writing emails, etc.
I also do development consulting, programming websites/services.
Just sold off one of my projects to a client and will probably be hired to improve upon that project by the client.

I'm planning on making a substantial part of my income from WordPress related services. Its already moving in that direction.

By: redwall_hp

redwall_hp — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:09:07 +0000

I'm picky about freelance projects too. I've done a couple, but I find it hard to work on projects that I am not excited about. So I turn down most of the offers I get.

By: Thaya Kareeson

Thaya Kareeson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:39:14 +0000

I'm in the same boat as Ozh except my day job is computer related.

Hopefully I can start my own venture soon though *hint* *hint*

By: redwall_hp

redwall_hp — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:08:29 +0000

You work at Miniclip? I didn't know that! I used to go there regularly, back when I played Flash games regularly.

I've been a Binary Moon subscriber for awhile though.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:48:47 +0000

By day I'm the Director of Web development at Miniclip.com (no WordPress ) – by night I blog at Binary Moon and run Pro Theme Design with Darren Hoyt.

By: Ozh

Ozh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:03:06 +0000

I have a boring full time job that's unrelated to WordPress (heck, it's not even related to computers mostly)

I'm doing a bit of freelancing related to WP (and to YOURLS lately) but I've never advertised it and I'm *really* picky about projects and clients so it barely qualifies as an "income source", it's really pocket money

By: Marcel

Marcel — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:04:37 +0000

I am account manager and alliance manager for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
Won Microsoft Partner of the Year Award twice.
You bet it's hard to explain why I am involved in an Open Source project

By: Oliver Schlöbe

Oliver Schlöbe — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:55:53 +0000

Actually I am a TYPO3 and web dev, but that isn't too different to creating plugins for WordPress.

Currently I cannot make a living of my plugins (and don't need to) but donations and such are enough to pay for a nice dinner with my girlfriend.

By: Artem Russakovskii

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:53:27 +0000

And I'm very glad you did – I love lazyest gallery!

So what do you do for living, for everyone's information?

Any tips for us?

By: Marcel

Marcel — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:49:50 +0000

I never thought I ever would be a WordPress plugin developer. But when the original developer stopped Lazyest Gallery, I taught myself PHP, took over and became addicted to WordPress development. Now it absorbs a lot of my free time.

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By: Viper007Bond

Viper007Bond — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:58:03 +0000

http://wordpress.org/about/
http://automattic.com/about/

Ryan, Matt (obviously), and Andrew all work for Automattic. Mark runs his own consulting business and I have no idea what Peter does.

As for me, I'm currently contracting for Automattic.

P.S. Yes, it so totally does!

By: Artem Russakovskii

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:43:34 +0000

Thanks for the input, Alex.

Do you know which core contributors work full time for Automattic?

Also, where do you work, if it's public information? How is the company related to WordPress?

P.S. Top Gear rocks! :-]

By: Viper007Bond

Viper007Bond — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:37:03 +0000

Yes, Automattic has hired on many of the big contributors to WordPress, but many many others work for other WordPress firms and such.

Most people work for or run their own WordPress consulting/development business. Except for a few exceptions, it's not really possible to live off of plugins. People just aren't willing to pay for them as much as they are for themes.

Plugins are however a good way to show your skills and get people to hire you, either as an employee or for a project.

I personally have a traditional WordPress-related job (that I got due to my core contributions and all my plugins) and write plugins in my spare time.

By: Artem Russakovskii

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:08:20 +0000

Hey, are you that guy from Cougar Town who lives on a parked boat?

By: Artem Russakovskii

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:13:00 +0000

Thanks for the answers so far, guys.

Myself, I am a full time developer at a company unrelated to WordPress. My dream is to start multiple projects and go independent. I love blogging, so hopefully blogging will be heavily involved.

By: Beachbum

Beachbum — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:09:13 +0000

1. Live on a sailboat.
2. Steal wifi
3. Eat ramen

By: scribu

scribu — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:01:31 +0000

Automattic has quite a few employees working on WP.org, 3 of which are core commiters.

I started doing freelance work related to WordPress a year ago, and am hoping to achieve financial independence from my parents before I finish college.

By: redwall_hp

redwall_hp — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:35:31 +0000

I'm currently finishing high school, so I don't have a full time job yet. I make most of my money from advertising, and the occasional donation from my plugins. (The donations have pretty much stopped since the "economic downturn" began though…)

I hope to eventually turn my plugins into a full-time job in the future, though. I'm currently working on a new, more fully-featured, version of WP125 that I intend to "go premium" with, and eventually expand from there.

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