It’s been about a year now that I’ve written the last overview of the current situation in Magento-country, so it’s really about time for an update.
One thing is for sure: Magento has reached reality. Right now, agencies and developers around the world put this software to the test, building different-sized projects on the basis of the application. As the German blog shopanbieter.de (Magento stagniert auf hohem Niveau) has reported yesterday, the Google search volume for the keyword “magento” has been the same for the last 12 months, suggesting Magento has left its hype phase and stagnates on the same level. But to be sure: Now that the name Magento seems to be in everyone’s head, there is an increasing demand for professionals able to implement individual functionalities. This sounds like a technology goldrush, and in some respects it actually is. The problem is, however, that there are not enough developers who could satisfy this demand. When looking at the situation in Germany for example, agencies are desperately trying to hire new developers to build Magento-based stores. Especially with regard to Enterprise-level clients, the projects of whom require quite some effort, there are just not enough ressources.
Developers, developers, developers!
This puzzles me a little bit. Given that even a half-decent Magento developer can choose his employer these days and not only participate in interesting projects but also make good money, I wonder where the Magento offspring is. Is this because the application is just so complicated? Are people sceptical about this software after all? And how about neighboring communities such as the PHP- or the Zend-Framework people? From what I read, I cannot see anyone from those communities enthusiastically and wholeheartedly embrace the possibilies offered by Magento (I’m probably reading the wrong stuff). Is this software just not sexy enough maybe? I’m planning to do a little research and hopefully find an answer to the question why there simply aren’t enough Magento developers. (If you have any clue, please leave a message in the comments to this post.)
In my opinion, Magento – which is now the official name of the company behind the software – until now hasn’t put too much focus on alleviating this problem (apart from the recently introduced Magento Summer Webinar Series maybe). Apparently, there is a certification programme and I have heard about some developers in Germany who underwent a test that made them certified developers. These, however, seem to be rather exotic cases. I cannot find any information on the Magento site that would outline such a certification programm in detail. The official Magento Academy site, which is currently available in French only, offers training and certification. But regarding the latter, no much information can be gathered concerning what the certification process looks like, how much it costs etc. The way I see it, only a standardised certification process will lead to a professional environment where clients can adequately gauge the competence of partners offering Magento services.
Enterprise
A couple of months ago, Magento has raised about 22,5 million dollars from an unnamed investor. (The name of this investor has not been officially published. My guess: think about which payment provider got his own logo in the Magento admin panel at about the same time the deal was brought to the public.)
Another challenge looms in the Enterprise world. A couple of days ago Jochen Krisch from excitingcommerce.de has mentioned a rumour according to which Zalando, one of the flagship Magento Enterprise projects in Germany might be relaunched on the basis of the Hybris platform. If this proves to be correct, one can only speculate about the reasons. Is this also because there aren’t enough Magento ressources available? Or does it have to do with the fact that according to a recent presentation Zalando needs about 35 servers to be able to provide the necessary performance? Be that as it may, it’s clear to see that Magento’s credibility as an Enterprise-level application is at stake.
To some extent, this post leaves opens more questions than it actually answers, I will do my best to fill in the gaps in the next couple of days. If you have input/criticism for me, please fire away in the comments.
Great article as it mentions some concerns I already had in mind!
Why are some elected developers / development companys more and more hyped with presentation on the featured extensions page on Magento Connect (there is obviously one major firm), certification programs in which the majority of developers is not able to participate, etc. instead of concentrating on establishing a wider range of experts and developers?
You raise several interesting points, I can speak most strongly to one of them at least. I was just brought on at Magento this year to head up and coordinate our education, training and certification work. And I can attest that one of Magento’s priorities for this year is to restart ALL of our knowledge initiatives for ALL of our key user communities–business users, designers and developers. Magento (previously Varien) has always believed that growing Magento was really about growing and empowering the community. That takes on a lot of forms, but this year for me, that means developing and launching our documentation and training programs. The Summer Webinar Series is merely a start, not an end.
Certification should be the capstone of all that. Magento certification is much needed and will be a tangible asset to those who earn it. So to ensure certification is meaningful and rigorous, we’re in the early planning stages of developing our certification criteria and materials. We’re targeting the end of 2010 for our first certification level and will continue to build out from there.
Wish I could snap my fingers and make it all happen tomorrow. But you’ve written the books, so you know the complexity of the application and the challenges in truly clarifying it, not merely documenting it, for learners. But we’re committed to both doing it and doing it right.
Can I quibble with just one fact and word choice? Looking at trends.google.com shows the term “magento” leveling off (rather than stagnating :-) since about February or March this year. Our own analytics show a rise in direct traffic and non-search engine traffic during 2010 that speaks to fact that other sources and name recognition are driving a greater percentage of traffic than used to be the case. I believe Magento is at an inflection point and am happy to have a front-row seat for what’s next.
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Hi Kara, thanks for taking the time and clarify some of things I’ve addressed in my post. You’re absolutely right, trying to come to terms with all the bits and pieces that form such a complex software such as Magento and turn them into understandable prose is quite a task, so I can imagine the heap of work that’s on your desk. I’m convinced that Magento puts a lot of work into reorganising all the software-related information on your website, I just wished this would happen in a more transparent way and I think a lot of the community members would second that. Even after your post on the Magento forum and your keynote for the recent Meet Magento conference, the ECT initiative is a bit like a black box to me (which is the reason I wrote about this in the first place). I think there are a lot of knowledgeable members in the Magento community who would like to contribute, there are numerous books and blogs on the subject, and there clients willing to invest in their employees’ education in order to build great web stores. Somehow this should all come together, and I’m looking forward to future developments in that area.