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I'm trying to get my head around the Magento system so that I can launch my business into the online commerce world.

Can anyone recommend any guides, books, online service provider platforms where I can find Magento webshop designers so help me out?

I have looked around and there are a variety of online platformns that offer Magento designers but I feel really passionate about my Magento online shop and would ideally like to undertake the construction process myself. So can anyone recommend if it's better to teach myself, or employ a specialist?

Many thanks, Robert Schmidt

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This is SPAM post. Can we put some minimum karma for posts with links? – Ross Nov 4 '10 at 14:51
There's already a minimum for posting 2+ links. Flag it and move on. That said, I'm not sure it's spam, it's kind of borderline. We'll see if the OP responds (which would be big points in favor of non-spamminess). – HedgeMage Nov 4 '10 at 15:28

1 Answer

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When it comes to web development, teaching yourself vs. hiring a specialist depends on a lot of things, including your background, your timeline, your budget, etc. I can't comment on Magento specificially, I don't know anything about it (I'm a Drupal consultant), but in general:

  • If you have a firm deadline, get a professional. Learning a new system yourself (if you aren't already an experienced hacker who just happens to be changing CMSes or platforms) is an extremely unpredictable process.
  • If you already have a decent amount of seed funding, get a professional. Not only will building a relationship with a good consultant now help you down the road, but you will grow to the point eventually where you need an in-house dev. Take the opportunity to get professional service now and focus on the parts of your business you will still be handling in 12 months.
  • If you aren't willing to really research (especially best practices, accessibility, standards-compliant markup, etc.) and plan ahead, get a professional.
  • If you are a geek/developer, but new to web development, consider hiring for a professional theme and doing the rest yourself after plenty of research.
  • If you are on a shoestring budget, do it yourself, paying special attention to your CMS's best practices so that if you bring in a pro dev later they don't have to go back and start from scratch.
  • If you don't have a firm deadline, go ahead and do it yourself, you can change your mind and get a pro if it proves necessary after you get your feet wet.
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Thankyou for you answer, the information and good tips! I am working to a strict deadline so hiring a specialist would be the best course of action. I have undertaken some tentative research over the last few days and feel swamped by the depth of information that you need to learn when adopting to a new system. I just wasn't sure if Magento was a particularly easy system to use or not. Either way thanks! @Ross, I wish this was a spam message! I have spent too much time over the last few days trying to get my head around programming a new system.... – user5230 Nov 8 '10 at 16:06

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