About me as about WordPress Freelancer

Hello. My name is Taras Roik. I am a WordPress freelancer, and this is my blog. If you are looking for a WordPress developer or a WooCommerce developer, maybe I can help you.

First of all, I want to tell you about some of my “weaknesses” (which I might rather call nuances). I just want you to know about them.

First, regarding English – it is not my native language, and I do not speak it perfectly. Second, the client and I may be in different time zones. Because I live in Ukraine, and you may be in the USA or Canada. If these “weaknesses” do not bother you, I will be glad to help you. My plugins may be cheaper compared to those from American developers, but that does not mean lower quality.

If you are looking for a WordPress developer from another country, maybe you have considered developers from Asia or Russia but have not yet decided. Try to ask yourself a simple question – how well do you know Russian quality? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a car (maybe you heard about “Lada” cars) or IT – the approach to quality is always the same.
And now compare Russian “quality” with products of Ukrainian developers (such as Magento) – they are in demand worldwide. Also, Ukraine ranks first among Central/Eastern European countries in terms of IT outsourcing services.

This means that world-famous companies are trying to hire Ukrainian developers. It also means that cooperation with Ukrainian freelancers is very promising, including WordPress and WooCommerce freelancers.

WooCommerce Developer after 2022

And after the large-scale invasion of Russian NAZIs in 2022, Ukrainian developers demonstrated unprecedented quality of their products. The Russian fleet was pushed out of the Black Sea waters thanks to Ukrainian naval drones. 30% of Russian strategic bombers were destroyed thanks to remotely controlled FPV drones. Try to guess which country’s developers created the software for those drones?

We have moved to a new level of development approaches – including web development. I have created several products that help save the lives of civilians, and I gained new experience that I call “combat programming”. Let me give a few examples:

1 – Speed. You probably know that in Ukraine there are problems with electricity and internet? That is why during development, the speed of generation is carefully monitored at every stage of work. My benchmark is 0.15–0.2 seconds. Any solutions that contradict this requirement are rejected, and custom ones are used instead.

Did someone on Reddit or Twitter tell you that generating a page in one second is “fast”? Then my services are not for you.

2 – Accessibility. A mother carrying a child to a bomb shelter must be able to see the information either in twilight or in bright sunlight. For this, it is very important that all navigation elements and all key information have high contrast and do not use fonts that are “beautiful” but inconvenient for reading. Also, the site must not “break” when JS or images are disabled in the browser.

Google began lowering the rankings of sites with insufficient accessibility only in 2024. And we have been doing this since 2022. Because for a Ukrainian developer, a service that works in non-standard and limited conditions means someone’s saved life.

Do you still think that a few positions in the SERP don’t matter? Then my services are not for you.

3 – Ambidexterity. This term comes from weapon manufacturers and means the ability to operate a weapon with either the left or right hand. If one hand is wounded, a soldier with an ambidextrous weapon continues to shoot with the other hand.

Maybe this sounds a little strange, but the same should be used for mobile interfaces. A civilian who, during an air raid, is looking for the nearest bomb shelter, or a volunteer checking the current stock of medicines, must be able to do this with one hand. Because the other hand may be busy or injured.

It was very interesting to see studies in 2025 showing that stores where products can be purchased with one hand have 12–15% more sales than “ordinary” stores. And we… We have been building such interfaces since 2022. Because sites that are convenient to use even under stress, for a Ukrainian developer, mean someone’s saved life. And for online stores, such an interface reduces errors and means more successful orders.

Is 12% an insignificant amount for you? Then my services are not for you.

WordPress Freelancer, my Rules.

My “civilian” rules, which I used before 2022, have remained unchanged:

1. Security. Comfort, functionality, beauty, and speed cannot be sacrificed for security. This means I must filter all incoming data, check all data sources, etc. After massive Russian cyberattacks on Ukrainian resources, all code is initially oriented toward security and protection against SQLi or XSS. Development under cyberwar conditions made me paranoid about security — in a good way. Your site is protected from attacks already at the code stage;
2. Server-side speed. Comfort or beauty cannot be sacrificed for speed. The simplest example – using loops inside loops is unacceptable;
3. Frontend speed. A site must load quickly, and this largely depends on the skills and experience of the developer. All of my clients’ sites have a PageSpeed score of 92% or higher;
4. High-quality code, without hardcoding. For example, you can check your error.log file before and after my work – you will like the result 🙂 ;
5. Compatibility. I use standards such as the WP Codex for WordPress. You will be confident in compatibility with other plugins/themes and future WP versions;

Hire WordPress Developer, ready?

Any WordPress freelancer will tell you the same – that their code, security, quality, etc. are the best. But how can a client check this? I think they can check the freelancer’s personal blog. It’s very simple and will only take a few minutes, but you will know for sure (or not). If a freelancer talks about good speed, accessibility, etc. – his blog should also have good speed, quality, and accessibility. This will mean your site will be built by the same principle.

Do not believe everything you see on the internet. Always check the information. That is why I sincerely hope you will check me before hiring me as a WordPress/WooCommerce developer :).

You can check using Google tests (such as page speed test, mobile-friendliness, schema.org, etc.). Only if the tests are passed does it make sense to hire a WordPress and WooCommerce freelancer.
Maybe me 🙂

My sites bring more profit because they are faster, clearer, and more reliable. And I test my products as if lives depend on them — because in Ukraine, that is exactly the case.
Choose whichever way is more convenient – on Upwork or simply contact me through the contact form.