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A practical roadmap to become a professional Shopify developer, from fundamentals to real-world projects.
Most people start learning Shopify by watching random tutorials or tweaking themes.
That works — until it doesn’t.
This roadmap shows you what actually matters, in which order, and why.
Based on real projects, real clients, and years of hands-on Shopify development.
Number one: You don’t need to learn everything at once.
Shopify development is a broad field, and trying to do everything in parallel is one of the fastest ways to get stuck.
Start with the fundamentals if you’re new to Shopify
Skip sections you already understand
Each step builds on the previous one
Before diving in, it's helpful to understand that Shopify development isn't a single thing.
Depending on your skills and interests, there are a few main areas developers usually grow into:
Platform Specialist & Consultant:
Working directly inside Shopify’s admin, there’s already a lot you can do without writing any code.
From store setups and platform migrations to payments, shipping, international markets,
and even automations with tools like Shopify Flow.
Theme Developer:
This includes adjusting existing themes, building custom sections and blocks,
and in some cases, developing fully custom or public Shopify themes
using Liquid, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
App Developer:
Here you're building custom functionality that goes beyond themes.
This includes private apps for specific stores as well as public apps for the Shopify App Store,
working with APIs, authentication, webhooks, and backend logic.
Most developers start with platform fundamentals and theme work.
It’s the fastest way to understand Shopify, build real projects, and get your first experience working with merchants.
App development typically comes later, if you’re interested in specializing more technically.
Regardless of what you’re interested in, it helps to have a high-level understanding of each area and its fundamentals.
