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Hiring the wrong Shopify developer is expensive. Not just in terms of money, but in lost time, frustrated team members, and technical debt that haunts your store for years.
For B2B manufacturers, the stakes are even higher. Your Shopify store isn't just a website. It's integrated with your ERP, manages complex B2B pricing, handles bulk orders, and serves as a critical sales channel for wholesale customers. A developer who doesn't truly understand Shopify will create problems that compound over time.
This guide helps you identify genuinely skilled Shopify developers and avoid the two most common hiring mistakes that plague B2B businesses.
Before we dive into questions, understand the two main problems clients face when hiring Shopify developers:
What it looks like:
Why it happens:
The cost: You spend more time chasing the developer than managing your business. Projects drag on for months. Features don't work as expected because requirements were never clarified.
What it looks like:
Why it happens:
The cost: Your store becomes difficult and expensive to maintain. Simple changes require developer intervention. Apps conflict with custom code. Performance suffers. When you try to find a new developer, they tell you everything needs to be rebuilt.
The brutal truth: A mediocre developer who knows Shopify deeply will deliver better results than an excellent developer who doesn't.
Before investing time in interviews, use these quick filters to eliminate developers who won't work for B2B manufacturers.
What to look for in their portfolio:
✅ B2B or wholesale projects - Not just consumer brands
✅ Complex integrations - ERP, CRM, custom APIs
✅ Shopify Plus experience - B2B features require Plus
✅ Long-term maintenance - Not just one-off builds
🚩 Red flags:
During initial outreach:
✅ Responds within 24 hours
✅ Asks clarifying questions about your business
✅ Provides specific examples relevant to your needs
✅ Explains their process clearly
✅ Sets realistic timelines
🚩 Red flags:
Before scheduling a full interview, send candidates these two quick video screening questions. These are adapted from our actual developer vetting process.
Instructions to candidate: "Please record a short 30-second video (use Loom or similar) answering each question. We're not looking for perfect answers, we want to see how you think about Shopify architecture."
Scenario: Our client sells industrial machines and wants to display each machine's "gear count" on the product detail page. Customers also need to filter machines by "gear count" when browsing collections. How would you implement this?
What you're evaluating:
✅ Good answer includes:
❌ Red flags:
Why this matters for B2B: B2B manufacturers have complex product attributes (specifications, technical details, compatibility matrices). A developer who doesn't understand metafields will create unmaintainable custom solutions.
Scenario: Our client wants the following to occur after an order is placed: get today's temperature at the customer's zip code, and add that as a tag to the order. How would you implement this?
What you're evaluating:
✅ Good answer includes:
❌ Red flags:
Why this matters for B2B: B2B businesses need automations for order routing, approval workflows, ERP sync, and custom business logic. A developer who doesn't understand Shopify Flow and webhooks will struggle with these requirements.
How to evaluate the videos:
Don't expect perfect answers. Look for:
If a candidate scores well on both questions, proceed to the technical assessment.
For finalists, assign a practical assessment. This is our actual interview project adapted for this guide.
Scenario: Create tasks that test:
Time limit: 4 hours
Instructions to candidate:
Task 1: Subscriptions "We want to offer subscriptions on some items. Explain how we could do that. No need to implement."
Evaluates: Knowledge of Shopify ecosystem (subscription apps)
Task 2: Custom Product Data "We want to attach 'customer stories' to products. Stories have a name, details, mountain location, date, and image. Multiple products can share stories. Create a system to manage this, display on product pages, filter collections by story, and feature a 'Story of the Month' on homepage."
Evaluates:
Task 3: Order Automation "After orders using discount codes formatted like SUMMER_SUNZ_1, SUMMER_SUNZ_2, etc., call an external API based on customer's first name and tag the order with the result. Include authentication headers. Explain how it works."
Evaluates:
Task 4: Webhook Verification "Create a local server to receive Shopify webhooks, verify the signature, and log events. Record it working and explain the code."
Evaluates:
Task 5: B2B Strategy "We sell to wholesalers through our sales team. Explain how we could sell to them directly on Shopify with password protection and bulk pricing."
Evaluates:
Task 6: Product Attributes "Create a system for managing board thickness (in mm) that allows CSV upload monthly and enables customer filtering."
Evaluates:
Look for:
Red flags:
Walk away immediately if you see:
🚩 Can't explain Shopify-specific concepts (metafields, Liquid, Shopify Flow)
🚩 Has never worked on B2B or wholesale Shopify (you'll be their guinea pig)
🚩 Poor communication during hiring process (it won't get better)
🚩 No verifiable Shopify portfolio (can't or won't show previous work)
🚩 Suggests building everything custom (doesn't leverage Shopify platform)
Hire with confidence if you see:
✅ Deep Shopify knowledge demonstrated through specific examples
✅ B2B or wholesale project experience with manufacturers
✅ Asks detailed questions about your business and requirements
✅ Explains trade-offs clearly (different approaches, pros/cons)
✅ Strong communication demonstrated throughout hiring process
✅ Verifiable portfolio with similar projects
✅ Explains when NOT to build custom (leverages Shopify features)
✅ Has a structured development and communication process
Your Shopify project has unique requirements. Ensure candidates understand:
Ask: "We manufacture industrial pumps with dozens of technical specs (flow rate, pressure rating, material, connection type, etc.). Customers need to filter by these specs and download PDF datasheets for each pump. Walk me through how you'd structure this data in Shopify and make it searchable."
Ask: "We use Business Central for inventory and customer management. When a wholesale customer places an order on Shopify, it needs to sync to Business Central with their account number, check credit limits, and update inventory in real-time. Describe how you'd approach this integration and what could go wrong."
Ask: "We have three customer tiers with different pricing: Distributor A gets 40% off, Distributor B gets 30% off, and small retailers get 20% off. Some distributors also have NET 30 payment terms. How would you set this up in Shopify? What are the limitations we should know about?"
Ask: "We have 5,000 SKUs across 12 product categories. Customers need to filter by multiple attributes simultaneously (size, material, color, compatible models). Our current site is slow when filtering. What would you do to optimize performance and improve the filtering experience?"
Once you've selected a developer, establish clear expectations:
Put this in writing. A clear operating agreement prevents 90% of client-developer conflicts.
Hiring a Shopify developer is one of the most important decisions you'll make for your e-commerce business. A great developer becomes a strategic partner who understands your business and helps you grow. A poor developer creates technical debt, missed opportunities, and endless frustration.
For B2B manufacturers, the right developer needs:
Use this guide to:
The extra time you invest in proper vetting will save you months or years of problems down the road.
Need help evaluating Shopify developers? Use the screening questions and technical assessment outlined in this guide. A few hours of structured vetting now prevents years of technical debt and communication headaches.
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