How to Hire a Professional Magento Developer

Magento is an open-source platform that can be used by anyone to build a website. It is one of the most popular and extensively used e-commerce development platforms in the world. It is estimated that four out of every 10 developers are Magento developers. Magento comes replete with a lot of features and benefits but it isn't so easy to build an online store using Magento. Sometimes it may happen that you or you-in team are not well versed with Magento and may need to hire a Magento developer for your needs.

Things to consider before hiring a Magento developer

Hiring a Magento developer isn't easy at all and hence this piece has been put together to list some ways which will help all our readers when they need to hire a Magento developer. Let's get started.

Know your Requirements - The first thing that you need to do before you hire a Magento developer or any other developer is to know your requirements beyond all doubt. You need to be clear about what you seek and then go about finding it. There are three crucial things that you need to decide before moving onto other things.

• Frontend or Backend - This choice will depend on your needs. For the aesthetically pleasing web design or just to work on your web design, you need to hire a frontend developer. You need to hire a backend developer to work on the backend and for tasks like making a database and maintaining the servers etc. The choice boils down to your needs and you need to know your needs before you go looking to hire a Magento developer.

• Dedicated or Part-time - The time span for which you will hire a Magento developer again depends on your needs and you can hire them on a permanent on a temporary basis. It is with or without a contract under both modes of hiring talent. If you opt for full-time (dedicated) instead of part-time, then you have a higher chance to hire a professional Magento developer.

• Developer or Agency - The last part of the puzzle is figuring out the scale of your needs and the magnitude of the help that you need to outsource. For a single website, you'd be fine with hiring a single developer but if you have a large business with multiple websites or a large database, then you would need to opt for the services of an agency. While the services offered by a single developer might be limited, the opposite might be the case for agencies. Several agencies can offer Magento services coupled with services like custom eCommerce website development at affordable packages.

Things to look for in a Magento developer

Once you have figured out all the important aspects of your needs, its time to look for developers, browse through the options, filter through the options, narrow your search down to a shortlist and eventually hire a Magento developer or developers.

• Expertise - The first and foremost thing that you would like to look for in a Magento developer is their expertise, both developmental expertise, and industrial expertise. The developer in question should have an in-depth knowledge of all nuances and facets integral to Magento. The developer should also have ideally worked on, or dealt with projects of a similar magnitude, at his or her previous job. To check this part, you need to do your homework on how to test a prospective developer's proficiency in Magento along with checking the level of familiarity of the developer in different versions.

• Reviews & Ratings - If you are planning to hire a Magento developer from a freelance site, then you need to have a look at the reviews and ratings. That will give you a more than a fair idea of the credibility and professionalism of the developer in question. A lot of information is facilitated on such freelance sites in the profile of the developers and you just need to scroll through the data available to get a good idea of the developer in question, which will help you in making an informed choice. 

• Portfolio - You need to go through the portfolio of the developer in question to get a fair idea of his or her skills and verifiable body of work. A portfolio is a great way to gauge the proficiency of a developer and it will give you a very good idea about his or her competence. After you are satisfied with the portfolio, then you can hire the developer in question. 

Final Thoughts

A lot of credible information has been shared which can come to the rescue of any individual or agency in their goal to hire a Magento developer which fits their budget and also suits all their requirements. The aforementioned topics and points are not the end-all of the entire process but just are valuable factors, which if considered, can appreciably enhance your chances of hiring the right developer.