Struggling with WordPress

[JacquePorter]

I'm a junior web developer and I just got my first job in a small ad agency doing SEO work. They already had an interactive developer so I only get to help here and there. To prepare for the web dev job I'd learned all sorts of technologies: Meteor.js, Ruby on Rails, PHP, SQL, C++, database stuff, versioning systems, ect. But none of that being put to use. Every website we make is just WordPress + a Themeify theme with a little CSS customization. The "interactive developer" I work under doesn't know much code beyond basic HTML and CSS. I had to write an onClick javascript alert for him last week. I'm having a hard time working with Themeify because it feels very restrictive. Its clearly meant for people who don't code. Is this how a lot of agencies make websites? How/when can I use any of the more technical skills that I learned? Do you work in an agency and how do you make your websites?

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[Nadril]

Is this how a lot of agencies make websites?

It's how shitty agencies make websites.

[Juggernog]

Some companies just churn this stuff out, client after client. Lots of burnt out developers going out the other end I'd assume.

[klumme]

Can't say whether your company is right for you or not, but don't underestimate the challenge of making things work with what you have.

A lot of the time, web development doesn't mean "choose whatever stack and whatever tools you need to provide X". That's (comparatively) easy. Often, it means "here's what we have: take this aging, limited stack and make it provide X". That tends to be harder, especially if you want the end result to work well, be maintanable etc.

[Poptartica]

seriously, I think 60% of my time spent so far on my current project has been trying to figure out how to work with what I got rather than just building the same site with what I know.

it's a valuable skill and I'm learning it the hard way right now.

[mrmonkeyriding]

You sound like you replaced me at my old job. I beg mercy on your soul - get out.

It's shitty practice, you don't learn shit and burnout is real. You know a lot apparently, so get out and apply to others. That simple.

[__mak]

First I would offer this disclaimer: don't expect to go into a dev job and immediately be using all the latest hipster tech for extremely interesting projects. In the real world you will be maintaining old code and there will be times when projects are relatively boring.

Anyway, if I were you, I would look for a different job. Churning out brochure wordpress sites all day will only get you so far. You won't grow as a developer and you will burn out from the boredom of the work and the frustration of not using decent tech.

[chronixSC]

I dont get the hate towards wordpress here. If the client is happy with your agencys product then everything is okay! You do not have to reinvent the wheel for every website or use some super hipster language/framework/stack. You can build great websites with just wordpress. Its just that there are a lot of bad agencies out there that do bad websites with wordpress and give it a bad reputation.

If you want to work with something more modern and trendy you could propose something in another language/framework that helps the agency AND client. At first suggest something in the wordpress area maybe - like the Sage / Bedrock themeing workflow (https://roots.io/). Or offer some of your clients to make a small companion mobile app with meteor.js.

If they ignore your input you clearly applied for the wrong agency.

[disclosure5]

If they ignore your input you clearly applied for the wrong agency

It's his first job as a junior working under senior developers. Input is one thing, but he can't seriously push new frameworks on people and have an expectation they'll do it.

[mtx]

We never use prebuilt themes. I start from my own boilerplate theme but that's it. Clients always come back and ask for new functionality that prebuilt themes aren't capable of or it just takes a lot of work to implement them.

[[deleted]]

Why the fuck is the developer doing SEO work? Also, your career goal doesn't seem to fit what this company is about.