[dtougas]

I am a Python/Django developer. I am not a WordPress fan, but I am not above recommending it to people, provided that they understand what they are getting into. This is what I generally tell people...

- WordPress as an 90/10 solution: You can get 90% of what you want for 10% of the effort, and you don't have to be a programmer to get most of the way. It is that last 10% that will suck 90% of your time, and it won't be pretty. In fact, it will probably be terrible and (as a developer) you will feel very icky about yourself when it is done. If you can be satisfied with getting close-to-but-not-quite what you want, then you will probably be happy with WordPress. If you are very particular about that last 10%, then you will probably be in for a world of pain. It may end-up costing just as much (or sometimes even be cheaper) to go with a custom/Django solution in those cases.

- WordPress works well as a basic publishing platform. That was what it was designed for, and that is it's sweet spot. It isn't however ideally suited to application development. The further you head down the path of trying to make WordPress behave outside of the standard content publishing paradigm, the more painful and difficult it will become.

- You absolutely have to stay on top of security and updates. If you aren't willing to spend that time, then you will end-up paying for all the time you saved when you set things up by having to deal with security fallout.

I recognize the appeal and place that WordPress has in the marketplace. I also recognize that people that need it are not my target clients. I have learned that my sweet spot for development is to fill the niche where WordPress isn't a great option.