BigCommerce is the world’s fastest growing SaaS eCommerce platform. BigCommerce, in my opinion, is one of the greatest eCommerce systems for providing both B2C and B2B capabilities at the same time. There appears to be a high demand for web developers in recent months, particularly in the eCommerce market. Many recruiters are looking for Shopify and BigCommerce developers. This blog post will go over the abilities required to become a skilled BigCommerce theme developer. In upcoming blog posts, I will discuss how to become a BigCommerce App developer, SEO specialist, BigCommerce solution architect, and so on. If you are looking to hire bigcommerce website designer, I highly suggest to check out Always Open Commerce.
This post will serve as a primer for someone who is new to web programming. You may already have some core knowledge and can proceed, but don’t dismiss the importance of refreshers.
Understanding the Fundamentals of the Web/Internet
- Knowing how the internet works
- What exactly is DNS? What are the most often used DNS Records?
- What exactly is a domain registrar?
- How do webpages function? What exactly is web hosting?
- Here are a few videos that I believe may be useful to you:
- DNS Made Simple videos
- IT Free Training on DNS Records
- By 48 in 48, the distinction between a domain name registrar, DNS, and hosting.
HTML with semantics
- HTML would be one of the initial stages toward becoming a web development professional.
- In my 12+ years of experience, I frequently run across applicants/people that claim to be HTML experts yet are unaware of web semantics, web standards, and so on.
- As a result, I strongly advise you to grasp web semantics as well as W3C standards when learning HTML. Writing relevant HTML can improve the user experience, accessibility, performance, and SEO of your website.
- There are numerous online courses accessible (Free or paid).
CSS
- CSS is being added as a second stage here, but it will generally work with HTML.
- There are several CSS frameworks available, however I strongly advocate mastering pure CSS. Once you understand the principles of a language, you can rapidly adapt any framework. Coding with pure CSS will assist you in improving your stylistic abilities.
- Learn about responsive web design and the mobile-first approach while learning CSS.
Design Resources
- A basic familiarity of design concepts and tools will be extremely beneficial to your web development career. You do not need to be an expert in these design tools, but you should be familiar enough with them to extract assets and other information from design files.
- Popular design tools used in front end web development include Figma, Photoshop, Sketch, and Adobe XD.
- After you’ve completed the HTML/CSS training. Attempt to locate certain web page design files and turn those files into an usable responsive webpage using HTML/CSS.
JavaScript/ES6
- A thorough understanding of Vanilla JS will be really beneficial.
- Find an online course that teaches you the fundamentals of the JS. Make sure you’re understanding advanced ES6 capabilities like arrow functions, fetch/await, map functions, and so on. Find a course that teaches you the fundamentals of JS as well as the most recent advanced features of JS.
- After you’ve finished learning JavaScript, I strongly advise you to PRACTICE. There are YouTube courses available that include some practice JS tasks. Many applicants are weak in this area, therefore consistent, thorough JS practice will put you ahead.
jQuery
- There are numerous JS frameworks/libraries available. It will be simple to customize any framework once you have a solid understanding of JavaScript. In this list, I will include jQuery as a necessary ability. The BigCommerce Cornerstone theme and many websites on the internet still use jQuery, therefore learning it is a smart idea.
Awareness of the BigCommerce Platform
- This is an important step. You cannot create BigCommerce websites unless you are familiar with the various options offered within BigCommerce.
- Before designing themes or websites on the BigCommerce platform, I prefer developers to have a solid understanding of the platform’s fundamentals.
- You can set up a trial BigCommerce store and play around with the various aspects of the admin panel.
- Configure basic and sophisticated products
- Create categories based on the parent-child connection.
- Products for import-export
- Create customer groups.
- Payment options, shipping, discounts, taxes, and so on
- Examine each option and learn how it works.
- Videos for BigCommerce
Basic SEO Knowledge
- If you are creating a website for a customer, they will want the website to appear in search engines and generate business. I don’t expect engineers to be SEO gurus, but they should understand the fundamentals of SEO.
- Developers are frequently working on an existing website CRO implementation or collaborating with a team on on-page SEO things.
- Make certain you understand:
- Canonical keywords
- Snippets Rich
- as well as others
Internet Accessibility
- Many retailers have been sued in recent years for failing to follow ADA compliance rules.
- There are third-party apps that make the website accessible, but they are limited and will not fix all of the problems.
- It is recommended that while building or developing a website, web accessibility rules be followed.
- Understanding the ADA compliance checklist and methodologies will be extremely beneficial to you as a developer. This ability will set you apart from the competition.
Awareness of Web Performance Optimization
- Conversions are negatively impacted by slow websites. There are approaches and development workflows available to assist you in developing quick websites.
- Find out more about Core Web Vitals. Google now considers CWV to be a ranking factor.
- I believe that online performance optimization is a critical ability that will help you design high-quality, speedy BigCommerce websites and distinguish you from other developers.
Integration of Third-Party Apps
- Most BigCommerce websites may necessitate the installation/setup of one or more apps. There are numerous possibilities, including: reviews app, filters app, incentives app, back in a stock app, and other features.
- To be a successful BigCommerce Developer, you must first learn how to install third-party apps.
Project Management Software
- It is recommended that you understand the fundamentals of Project Management tools in order to work efficiently with a team or simply manage your personal projects. Basecamp, Asana, Teamwork, JIRA, Trello, and so on.
- You do not need to understand every tool because they all perform comparable functions (like tasks, time tracking, progress tracking, etc.). However, the primary concept is to grasp the communication method and workflow of the firm with whom you are dealing.
- When working with a firm or client, strong communication is essential, therefore start documenting your work on a daily basis.
Tools for Testing and Bug Tracking
- After you have finished developing the site, you should test it on various platforms, devices, and browsers. BrowserStack is what I use, although there are alternative platforms accessible. Similarly, I use BugHerd for bug tracking, but there are other options.
- The goal is not to learn every tool, but rather the concept and method. You could go over one tool and learn how it works and how it can help your development workflow.
Please contact me if you are searching for mentorship, web development career counseling, or one-on-one BigCommerce development training sessions.