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Avoid the booby traps when learning Magento 2

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Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce) is a robust platform capable of transacting significant revenue. Magento 2 is different from many other competitors thanks to its open-source nature. If a merchant requests a change, that change can be made. The only factor is the budget.

Because Magento is open source, a developer must learn a 30,000-foot view of this system.

Adobe Commerce Open Source includes Customers, Wishlists, Customer Groups, Products, Price Calculation, Categories, Catalog Price Rules, Cart Price Rules, Quotes (Cart), Checkout, Admin Users, ACL, API (REST and GraphQL), Layout XML, Templating, Controllers, Models, View Models, Service layer, Indexing, Caching, Page Builder and more.

Suppose your company builds for Adobe Commerce (the paid edition). In that case, you also need to know about Gift Registries, Live Search, Live Product Recommendations, Related Product Rules, Business Intelligence, Loyalty programs, Private Sales, Abandoned Cart emails and more.

Then, if we add the B2B suite, you also need to be familiar with Shared Catalogs, Companies, Order Approvals, Negotiated Quotes and more.

You may have a daunting feeling coming to this page, and this list may have made it worse. Keep reading as we will break this down into manageable pieces.

This ability to customize means Adobe Commerce is powerful—but with great power comes great responsibility.

Why is this important?

StackOverflow has one of the highest Page Ranks on the internet. And this is for good reason as their question-and-answer style well-aligns with customer search behavior. Thus, we often end up on this website as we seek advice.

The outcome is often less than ideal. I'm not saying StackOverflow has no value. There is no official vetting process. If enough people upvote an answer, we view it as good. The answer may have been helpful, but it may not be right.

We should take all unverified advice with a grain of salt. Beginners don't YET have the sixth sense that is refined through years of experience.

1. Adobe Commerce Docs

Previously known as DevDocs, the Adobe Commerce Documentation database is one of the first places to start when troubleshooting a problem. You should make it a priority to become familiar with this (and extensively use their search feature).

An exciting benefit that comes from the documentation is seeing peripheral answers. As you read a section, you may find a related topic that holds just as much benefit.

For example, I was doing some research on after-plugins. I scrolled through other areas on the page and discovered the list of plugin limitations. I also remember finding the PatchRevertableInterface when reviewing patch documentation.

2. Adobe Experience League

You might ask, "what's the difference been Commerce Docs and Experience League"? The latter is the hub for best practices and tutorials.

You might like to know that SwiftOtter contributed an important segment related to GraphQL.

Important Experience League entry points:

3. The Magento 2 Source Code

Magento 2's source code is the rosetta stone to unlocking this behemoth. You, as a developer, are responsible for changing how this product functions. These workflows are built by source code—and this is easily accessible.

Take the same approach with the source code that I recommended for documentation. When you are viewing a class, glance at the other available methods. Review the constants. More importantly, see how this fits into the grand picture. You will be slowly assembling a mental diagram of the Magento application. Taking a little extra time every visit to a class will accelerate this process.

The other benefit of immersing yourself in the code is you will no longer see this "monstrosity" as scary. Instead, you will gain confidence. These hundreds of thousands of lines of code will begin to make sense as an incredibly complex application.

4. SwiftOtter

Used by almost ten-thousand people worldwide to grow and get certified.

Our focus on certifications started in 2018 when the Magento 2 certification program was "born". The first test was the Solution Specialist (now Business Practitioner). Joseph was one of many who saw the test as daunting, but he took his standard approach for preparation. He took the one-page public test syllabus and turned it into a hundred-page document. He shared that freely with the community. Of course, this was a big hit.

This continued through additional certifications, like the Adobe Commerce Professional and Expert developer exams. All the big players, Adobe, Rightpoint, Corra, DEG, and many others use these courses and prep guides.

The result is a well-oiled training program that works.

They run a yearly Certification Challenge designed to get as many people certified as possible collectively.

SwiftOtter still provides certification material, but they have branched into more general training, like the GraphQL course. They also run the second-biggest Magento-related community outside of Adobe.

5. m.academy

The brainchild of Mark Shust

Ohio, US, is home to much flat land—but still is easily more "hilly" than Kansas (where I live). Yet, Mark Shust's approach to training is not flat. He has been active in the community for the last few years. He is passionate about helping developers conquer the slopes of the learning curve. We have personally heard many positive things about his courses.

While his courses cover various Magento-related topics, he has focused most of his efforts on upskilling frontend developers.

6. Max Pronko / Mage Mastery

Payment Integration course and YouTube channel

What about all these "M"'s in the Magento community? Magento, Maxwell, Mark, Max. And, we have other "M"'s on our dev team.

Max is active on YouTube and has produced a course about customizing payment integration on Magento 2.

Bonus

Max Pronko has curated a must-follow list of Magento community leaders on Twitter. Explore and expand your Magento knowledge with insights, updates, and valuable resources.