Sourcing Shopify Developers - A Short Guide

If you are looking to have a brand new Shopify store punched up or need a fancy upgrade or two done to your existing site and aren’t confident to pull off the project yourself then you probably need to look into hiring Shopify developers to make your vision come to life.

But before you can sign off on a Shopify web developer you need to find, contact and vet them first, more than one of course, and then make your choice.

So how do you pick a Shopify developer to trust with your online store?

What to look for when picking Shopify developers

Check out their site

Whether they are a professional company or a Shopify developer found on a freelancing site, they should have their own website which you can check out to get an idea of their abilities.

While the general design, user experience and lack of mistakes should be scrutinized, you should be heading straight to their portfolio page to see what they have done. You can go a step further than just taking what they write as gospel and actually go ahead and contact the admins of websites listed and ask for references from Shopify owners to get a less glossed over picture of how the Shopify developer performs.

Running web searches for their company name and seeing if they pop up elsewhere is advisable too. And of course, check out their social pages where you may find more reviews and look at how long the page has been up to get an idea of authenticity

Communications

Their ability to communicate will be key in creating a frustration free journey to realising your Shopify store dream, whether they work in Shopify web design or are a backend wizard. If their communications are weak before you’ve picked them then you can expect them to probably get worse with time. If they aren’t responsive to a potential paying customer, imagine how they will be after you have paid them, especially if you pay a portion upfront!

They should keep things simple and easy to understand to minimize confusion and streamline things. Language barriers may cause issues down the line as well so making sure you are both adept in a common language is a good idea. If you are having trouble talking with a Shopify website developer at this stage then do not move forward with them!

Transparent pricing

What you expect of them and what they will charge for the job should be black and white and indisputable. To achieve this, you need to give a complete and in depth job briefing while keeping it as concise as possible to make sure they are clear on your Shopify plans. In return, they should be able to come back to you with a crystal clear fee structure, whether that be an hourly rate, a per job rate or a project price.

Failure from both parties to be clear about all of these factors could lead to some tense and awkward exchanges at a point when you would rather not.

Are they cool?

While not the most important thing to consider, if you are going to be talking with them a lot to optimise the online shopping experience your web store delivers then it will be better if you get along well. Being able to have a little joke with them will make everyone feel a lot more comfortable during the whole project too.

Where to find Shopify developers

While sites like UpWork, Freelancer.com and *shudder* Fiverr have a large pool of cheap, mostly third world freelance web developers available to hire, if you are one of those people who has learned that you get what you pay for and would like to browse a selection of Shopify developers that deliver professionalism then check out this list of freelance Shopify web developers we recommend or if you’d rather, here is a list of Shopify service providers and agencies.