How to Become a Shopify Developer
by Ilias Haddad
Shopify has been growing so fast in the last couple of years. “We made history in 2018: no other SaaS company has crossed the $1 billion-dollar revenue mark at a faster growth rate than Shopify has,” said Tobi Lütke
I’m a self-taught developer who worked as a freelancer and indie maker in 2019 and I learned Shopify app and theme development and I want to share with you resources that help me to become a Shopify developer
Update: 29/05/2023
I made a Youtube video about different types of Shopify development like theme, app and headless development. Also, dev tools that can help you with Shopify development.
Prerequisite to learn Shopify Theme Development :
Shopify theme is like WordPress themes but Shopify use their markup language (Liquid ) instead of PHP
You need to
- have basic knowledge with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript
- have basic knowledge with jQuey (Many Shopify libraries use jQuery ) — Optional
- have basic knowledge with Command Line
- Create a Shopify Partner account to upload and test your Shopify theme (Free with unlimited Shopify store for development)
Prerequisite to learn Shopify App Development :
Shopify app is a web app and you can use any programming language like Ruby, Python, PHP, or Node JS to build one in this guide, I’ll focus on Node JS in this guide
You need to :
- have basic knowledge of HTML5, CSS3
- a good understanding of JavaScript and React (Shopify Polaris is built With React but you can use any framework or just vanilla JS)
- good understanding of how to build a full-stack web application (Authentication, consume external API, Send Requests from the front end and deal with it in the back end )
- have basic knowledge of GraphQL (Shopify API built with GraphQL)
- Create a Shopify Partner account to create, test, and publish your Shopify app (Free)
Ressources to learn Shopify Theme Development
- Shopify Partner Blog: Articles and guides about design inspiration, Shopify development tips
- Shopify Partner Academy: Free courses from the Shopify team to learn how to work with Shopify tools
- Shopify for web developers: (Free course) Set up your first Shopify store and create your first custom Shopify theme by a Shopify Expert
- Advanced Shopify Theme: (Free course) Create an advanced Shopify theme (Make Shopify theme a single web app using AJAX ) by a Shopify expert
- Liquid Cheatsheet: Cheatsheet to get all Shopify liquid variables, filters, and helpers
- Liquid Code Examples: Collection of code snippets to speed up your development process and understand how to write liquid code
- Shopify YB Playlist: Youtube course to learn Shopify theme development
- Shopify Theme Kit: a command-line tool to upload your Shopify theme to a Shopify store automatically when changes are made locally
- Shopify Theme Docs: Shopify docs to create your Shopify theme
- Shopify Dev YouTube Channel: Official Shopify YouTube channel for developers
- Shopify Dev Twitch Channel: Official Shopify Twitch channel for developers
- Shopify Build Tool: Great tool to build your Shopify theme from well established Shopify Agency
Ressources to learn Shopify App Development
- Shopify Partner Blog: Articles and guides about design inspiration, Shopify development tips
- Shopify Partner Academy: Free courses from the Shopify team to learn how to work with Shopify tools
- Shopify React Node App: Tutorial by the Shopify team to create your first React and Node JS Shopify app using Polaris (Shopify React design system) and KOA Js to handle server-side rendering
- Shopify App CLI: Create your Shopify app like (Create React App), serve your shopify app in the Ngrok server (Free) and update your Ngrok server link automatically in your Shopify App dashboard
- Shopify Dev YouTube Channel: Official Shopify YouTube channel for developers
- Shopify Dev Twitch Channel: Official Shopify Twitch channel for developers
Conclusion
Thanks for reading, I wish you the best on your new journey.
- Shopify Dev