When I started freelancing, I had zero agency experience, no professional network, and no client base.
But I did have something: time, grind, and curiosity.
And while everyone was building websites with WordPress, I went the opposite way — I stuck to React, Next.js, Spring Boot, and code.
The CMS Curve Is Flattening
I spent months digging into the CMS landscape — especially WordPress. It dominates the web, no doubt.
But something interesting happens around 2022–2023 — the growth curve plateaus. Around the same time… AI explodes.
What I realized:
- Generating static sites with tools like ChatGPT has become insanely easy
- You no longer need to browse Bootstrap for a simple carousel → just prompt ChatGPT, refine, and boom.
- Building a simple CRUD with auth? I can spin it up in Spring Boot + React in a few hours — no CMS needed.
Yes, I rely on ChatGPT heavily. No shame. It speeds things up. You still need to know your tools.
Code Is Getting More Accessible. CMS Is Still... CMS.
I noticed a trend: non-tech clients using CMS like WordPress or Wix often end up looking for devs to fix or customize things.
- Pages slow to load
- Plugins breaking
- SEO nightmares
- Hard-to-scale setups
At the same time, devs (even solo) can now build cleaner, faster, SEO-friendly sites in less time — thanks to better tools, AI, and frameworks.
What I Build
I mostly offer:
- Custom websites (static or dynamic)
- Custom web apps (dashboards, internal tools, etc.)
My stack:
- Frontend: Next.js / React
- Backend: Spring Boot (Java)
- Hosting: Vercel, Netlify, or VPS depending on the client
Check my portfolio :
https://hugo-calmels.fr/fr
Why Not Learn WordPress?
Simple: I’ve already invested in mastering multiple stacks (React, Angular, Java, etc.). Learning a CMS from scratch, with different paradigms, felt like a bad ROI.
Especially when I could start earning with what I already knew.
What Now?
I'm testing the market — trying to see if small businesses and freelance clients are open to custom-coded alternatives to WordPress.
If you’re a dev doing the same, or a business tired of bloated CMS platforms, I’d love to hear from you.
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