How to vet a Shopify developer
Shopify developers range from theme customizers to engineers who build custom apps and headless storefronts. Clarify which you need, then check real skills: Liquid and Online Store 2.0 sections, metafields and metaobjects, the Shopify CLI and GitHub workflow, theme app extensions, the Admin GraphQL API, webhooks and Shopify Functions for discounts, shipping and checkout logic.
Performance and conversion awareness separate strong developers from average ones. Ask how they kept stores fast while adding features, how they audited apps that slowed pages down and how they measured the effect of changes on conversion. Experience migrating stores without losing URLs and rankings is valuable for brands moving from other platforms.
For larger merchants, ask about Shopify Plus features such as checkout extensibility, B2B and multiple expansion stores, and about integrations with ERPs and warehouses. Our Shopify development page outlines the practices we follow on client stores. Ask for a store where they handled a high-traffic sale.
- Builds themes with sections, blocks and metafields.
- Develops custom apps with the Admin GraphQL API.
- Uses Shopify Functions and checkout extensibility correctly.
- Keeps stores fast while adding features.
- Has migrated stores without losing search rankings.
- Integrates Shopify reliably with ERPs and warehouses.
- Uses Git-based theme workflows and preview themes.


