How to Hire a Magento Developer in 2020

Learn How to Hire the Best Magento Developers on the Market with Our Helpful Guide

Released back in 2008, Magento is one of the oldest e-commerce systems on the market. Through the years, it has retained its popularity among online merchants thanks to its extensibility and a wealth of features, these here, to name a few:

• Asset and content management with a handy drag-and-drop Page Builder
• Content staging and preview
• Customer segmentation and personalization
• Product recommendations
• Instant purchase
• Visual merchandising
• Elastic search …

… and more.

According to the data on builtwith.com, over 190,000 live sites are currently powered by Magento. With its wide range of functions, it is one of the most powerful and versatile solutions in the e-commerce industry.

Magento wins over cutting-edge SaaS platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, and others) in many crucial aspects such as automating inventory management or personalizing customer experience. All this, however, comes at a cost. The initial setup and adjustment process is more of a job for professional developers rather than for rank-and-file users.

If you have just started on your Magento journey, you might have felt this complexity, too, and thought of getting professional assistance. However, if you take a look at all the ads offering Magento development services, you might ask yourself, “How can I hire a Magento web developer who can bring real value to my business?”

Well, this is what we are here for. Below, you will find a detailed guide on how to hire a Magento ecommerce developer. It deals with different facets of this less-than-straightforward process, starting from a description of different types of Magento developers and ending with questions to potential candidates.

We have divided our guide into two major parts: ‘Do Your Homework’ and ‘Talk to Programmers.’ We hope this information will put you on the right path if you’re looking to hire a Magento developer.

How to Hire a Dedicated Magento Developer: A Helpful Guide

Part 1: Do Your Homework

Before you even talk to a Magento developer, there’s so much groundwork you have to do on your own.

Get Motivated

Whenever you start a new enterprise, you should understand how you can benefit from it. This holds true when you are thinking of hiring a Magento 2 developer. You should know what value for your business this professional can bring. Here are the main advantages of working with one:

• You don’t have to deal with the ‘rocket science’ stuff yourself. Coding, settings, database refining… sound daunting? Then, hire a certified Magento developer and free up your team’s hands for essential business tasks such as negotiating with shippers.
• A Magento developer will share their expertise with you. You may not know much about the platform at the moment. When you hire expert Magento developers, though, they will share their deep knowledge with you. This may come in handy later, when you start running your store on a daily basis. Something may go wrong, and you will have to fix it yourself somehow.
• You can always call on a developer when you need to add a new custom feature or adjust an existing one. E-commerce is a very dynamic area. You must keep up with the latest trends in web development if you don’t want to lag behind your competitors.
• When you hire Magento certified developers, they will ensure that your store runs fast and is immune against hacker attacks and other security threats. This is especially important now when cybercriminals are more active than ever.

Find out About Different Types of Magento Developers

It takes all sorts to make the Magento Universe. Before you hire Magento online store developers, you need to know that all of them are responsible for their specific areas of expertise. This knowledge will help you refine your search and be better prepared for the actual interview.

The Wrapper or the Chocolate

You can hire Magento ecommerce developers who are proficient exclusively in making websites visually attractive and easy to navigate. These are front-end developers. They have little to do with the inner workings of the site, i.e., the database. Of course, they must be experienced in using Magento itself. However, when it comes to database design and data manipulation, this is the realm of a different cast of Magento programmers — back-end developers.

You can also hire Magento developers who, like universal soldiers, can deal with the two parts of the equation. That is, they can provide both the client-side and database-side services.

‘Come and Go,’ ‘Here to Stay,’ or ‘Wild Cat’ Options

Another important aspect you should consider when looking to hire a Magento developer is how much time they can devote to projects in general and to yours in particular.

If you hire a full-time dedicated Magento developer, they will be working exclusively on your website. However, this is a more expensive option than when you find a developer on a contractual basis. You can also hire a freelance developer to perform a specific chunk of work.

Remember, though, that freelancers are notoriously famous for their unreliability. That’s why we recommend working with a Magento development company instead.

Hire Magento Certified Developers

Look for Magento programmers who have taken one of the certification exams. These cover all areas of expertise required to create a perfect e-commerce solution. For instance, the ‘Adobe Certified Expert-Magento Commerce JavaScript Developer’ exam tests if a front-end or back-end professional has adequate knowledge and skills to be able to build new JavaScript modules for Magento 2 or change existing ones.

Know Your Way Around the System Before You Hire Expert Magento Developers

As we said earlier, Magento is by no means a simple platform. That’s exactly why you need to find a Magento certified developer. That said, you should strive to become an expert user of the platform yourself.

Study numerous tutorials you can find on the official site or on the Internet. This will improve your general knowledge and help you come up with specific questions you’ll ask at interviews.

There’s No Point in Hiring Magento Ecommerce Developers if You Don’t Exactly Know What You Want

The next step after getting to grips with Magento, is to have a clear vision of your future online store. Sit down and think of all the features you need. Consider analyzing similar solutions on the Internet. This will allow you to understand if you need that functionality, too, or if you can do with something simpler.

Make a list of all the essential features. Then, write down how many hours, in your assessment, their development might take. All this ground work will pay off when you start discussing the details of your cooperation.

Pick Several Agencies and Do Some Research on Them

Now, you are getting closer to hiring the best Magento developers. There’s still a lot of ground to cover, though. Choose several agencies or individuals. Do some research on them. What does this mean?

View Their Site and Previously Completed Projects

If someone claims that they are the best experts in the market but their own website looks unprofessional or similar to thousands of others, that should arouse suspicion.

Another clear indication that you’re dealing with worthwhile Magento programmers is a set of previously finished projects that meet high-quality standards. It would be great if you could get access to real websites that the company has made. However, this is not always possible.

Find out What Other Clients Say

These days, spreading the word around is as easy as ABC. Search for the assessment of a company’s performance on the Internet. For instance, visit Clutch to find out how highly our clients value our work.

You can also read clients’ feedback on the company’s site. However, this can hardly be considered objective. Searching forums for relevant information from clients is yet another valid option.

Make a List of Questions to a Magento 2 Developer for Hire

Based on what you have learned and discovered, you are now ready to compile a list of questions to a candidate for the position. There are some general questions regarding certification, experience, and  specialization, as described above.

You can also add questions that call for detailed answers. For example, if you’re looking to hire a Magento theme developer, you may want to ask about the way a custom theme is created in Magento. If you want to hire a Magento extension developer,  ask what extensions they have developed before.

Part 2: Talk to Programmers

Communication Channels

The next stage is a series of interviews with Magento developers for hire. First, note the number of communication channels. A worthwhile vendor provides a range of ways to keep clients informed about the latest developments in their projects.

Interviews

Get in touch with the agencies you have included in your short list. Ask them the questions you’ve come up with and assess their answers. Do they sound professional enough? Do they seem convincing? Do you get a sense of doubt or lack of knowledge in their replies?

Record your conversations, then listen to the recordings and note down the important information. Rate those developers from 1 to 5 or from 1 to 10. Finally, proclaim the winner.

Hire a Magento Developer at GetDevDone

Finding the best Magento developers is a process that requires a lot of preparation even before you actually get in touch with a company or individual. You need to know how you can benefit from working with Magento experts, get familiar with the ins and outs of the system, do research on the companies you have selected, and compile a list of questions to programmers, among other things.

We have good news for you, though. The experienced GetDevDone development team provides all the Magento services you will ever need. You can hire our top-class Magento online store developers to work full-time for you.

The list of our services includes Magento to Magento 2 migration, building Magento extensions, customizing existing Magento themes or creating Magento themes from scratch, performance and security optimization, and much more. Why spend countless hours searching for a Magento developer for your online business? Just talk to us and hire Magento ecommerce developers you can trust.