How to become a HubSpot developer

Derick Beauregard Derick Beauregard
June 6, 2019   |   3 min read time

Any agency that specializes in HubSpot development will tell you it’s hard to find folks with the right skillset.  HubSpot has grown quite a bit in the past few years but it’s still a “David” to the WordPress Goliath (a much more expensive David but a David nonetheless). However, I can tell you from firsthand experience that the demand for HubSpot developers is growing fast. I don’t know that I can say the same for WordPress. In short, this is a great time to get the skills needed to help fill the talent void.

Surprisingly, online coding schools such as Udemy offer little to help you accelerate the learning curve.  HubSpot’s own training academy has evolved over the years. They used to offer a full-blown developer certification course (which, in my opinion, was a bit heavy on the marketing side and never could quite keep up with the software’s growth). They now have a pared-down but very relevant set of courses you can find here.  These walk you through all the tools available including basic template structure, custom modules, HubDB, and HubL (HubSpot’s backend language).

In addition to this tutorial they have a codex-esque documentation section that has all the info you need plus some tutorials that, even after 6 years, I still rely on. The previously mentioned courses offered by HubSpot use specific examples to show you how their modules work but when you want to branch out and create something new this documentation will help bridge that gap.

So you have these two resources. You can watch the videos a million times and memorize the documentation but as every developer knows you learn by doing not by … well … learning. So now it’s time to create a trial account and build something. My suggestion would be to find an old PSD that you used to build something on WordPress or find a live page and rebuild it in HubSpot.  

Helpful hint: Don’t use HubSpot’s modules. Build your own custom modules and make them as flexible as possible using the boolean/choice fields provided within. Anyone looking to hire you as a HubSpot developer wants to see what you can build with custom modules. We want to see how you would approach giving your client the ability to swap out a background image, move columns, add columns, toggle a section on and off, etc… With very few exceptions your template should be a global header, global footer, and a flex column in between where you’ll add your modules at the page level. Each row in the design you are building should be made up of a module. All the content within should be editable at the page level and should require absolutely no knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript from your client.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, this will take a while to build. However, if you have this in your back pocket when reaching out to a prospective employer I can guarantee you’ll move to the top of the list. It’s what we want to see because not only have you shown you have a fundamental understanding of the software but, more importantly, you have the desire and willingness to learn.  

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