A concrete week-by-week plan for ramping a new developer from zero to Adobe Commerce Developer certified. Twelve weeks, with shadowing and real project exposure throughout.
Prerequisites (Week 0)
- Foundational knowledge of LAMP stack development — coding with PHP and the Zend 2 framework.
- Access to Adobe Solution Portal with the new hire’s email address: solutionpartners.adobe.com.
Week 1
Adobe Commerce Business Practitioner preparation and certification (Exam: AD0-712).
Week 2
Business Practitioner additional details and on-demand training to deepen the foundation.
Week 3
Set up local development server. Begin Adobe Commerce Developer Certification preparation.
Weeks 4–11
Continue Adobe Commerce Developer Certification preparation. Work through the on-demand training (parts 1 and 2). Dive into the additional resources on the Where to start page.
During this stretch, shadow an experienced Adobe Commerce backend developer on a real client project. This is where the certification material becomes practical knowledge — you see how senior developers actually solve problems, read code, and reason about architecture.
Week 12
Adobe Commerce Developer review and certification (Exam: AD0-E717).
After the 12 weeks
Newly certified developers are productive on simple-to-moderate tasks and can pair with senior developers on complex work. Most reach senior individual contributor capability in 18–24 months from this starting point, depending on project exposure and mentorship.
Adapted from the Adobe Commerce Primer, slide 43. Last reviewed May 2026.