Introduction
There’s a moment in every developer’s career when you realise something:
being mid at everything is not a career strategy.
Sure, it gets you started. You can build things, fix bugs, and contribute across the board. But if you want to become genuinely valuable (and build a career that compounds) you need one deep specialty that nobody else on your team fully owns.
That’s the core of the T-shaped developer idea: broad skills horizontally, one strong vertical of expertise.
For me, that vertical became Shopify front-end development + analytics pipelines. A weird combo for some, but it makes perfect sense when you look at what ecommerce stores often struggle with.
This post breaks down what being T-shaped really means, why specialization matters, and how to pick a niche that fits your strengths as a developer.
What a T-Shaped Developer Actually Is
A T-shaped developer has:
-
Breadth (the horizontal bar):
enough knowledge across multiple areas to collaborate, understand context, and work independently. -
Depth (the vertical bar):
one area where you are genuinely skilled, fast, confident, and able to solve problems others cannot.
A lot of developers mistake “T-shaped” for “full-stack lite.” It’s not that.
It’s focus + range, not “learn everything.”
Your broad skills help you navigate the ecosystem.
Your deep skill is where your value and career leverage comes from.
My Vertical: Shopify Front-End + Analytics Pipelines
I work as a front-end developer with a clear niche:
Shopify theme development and analytics setups.
This niche exists for one simple reason:
Marketers know GA4/GTM but can’t debug code.
Developers know code but can’t debug analytics.
Shopify adds its own quirks on top.
That gap is where I live.
The problems I regularly solve:
- events firing twice or not at all
- GTM triggers not matching Liquid rendering
- consent mode not respected
- CMPs (Consent Management Platforms) blocking essential events
- GA4 parameters missing (items, currency, transaction IDs)
- broken cross-domain tracking
- theme updates wiping custom tracking scripts
- dataLayer objects in the wrong scope
- Shopify’s built-in analytics conflicting with custom setup
- merchants unsure what is “correct” or “broken”
This niche is valuable because no single role fully owns it.
Marketing teams don’t understand Liquid, theme architecture, or script timing.
Devs often ignore analytics entirely.
When you can speak both languages: code and tracking, you immediately become the person who can fix things properly.
That’s what niche mastery looks like.
The Horizontal Skills That Still Matter (Even If You’re Not an Expert)
Having one vertical doesn’t mean ignoring everything else.
Being T-shaped means understanding enough to make good decisions across the whole ecosystem.
Here are the horizontal “good to know” skills that matter for any web developer:
- Accessibility basics
color contrast, focus states, screen reader handling - Design principles
spacing, hierarchy, typography, visual intent - HTML fundamentals (deeper than people think)
- CSS fundamentals (layout, flow, responsive patterns)
- JavaScript basics (the real fundamentals, not framework hype)
- Front-end frameworks (React, Svelte, Astro)
- UX patterns
- Performance thinking
loading patterns, hydration strategies, critical rendering path - Light dev-ops
DNS, hosting, SSL, environments - Consent mode, CMPs, and privacy basics
especially in EU markets - Documentation and communication
- Version control + branching strategy
You don’t need to be a guru in all of these.
You just need enough to collaborate and decide well.
Why Niche Specialization Beats Being “Mid at Everything”
Here’s what happens when you pick a niche:
1. You become memorable
People don’t remember “just another front-end dev.”
They remember the developer who can fix their Shopify analytics overnight.
2. You solve high-value problems
Niche problems are painful and expensive.
Solving them makes you indispensable.
3. You reduce competition
Few developers specialize deeply.
Even fewer specialize in technically messy niches like tracking.
4. You price your work better
Depth increases your leverage.
Clients pay for certainty.
5. You grow faster
A niche accelerates your learning because everything you touch feeds into it.
6. You stand out in hiring
You’re no longer one CV in a stack: you’re the candidate with a specialty.
7. You build long-term authority
If you, like me, write a blog, Google rewards authors who consistently write about a focused topic cluster. When potential clients search for help with your niche through organic search, there’s a greater possibility your site shows up.
Useful Developer Niches (If You Don’t Have One Yet)
Not everyone needs to pick Shopify + analytics like I did. It’s actually a really niche choice to tackle the subject from a technical perspective. Here are mostly eCommerce focused niches that might have real demand in 2025:
- Shopify front-end development
- Accessibility audits (huge opportunity)
- Performance optimization
- Design systems
- Headless commerce (Hydrogen, Remix, Next.js)
- CRO / eCommerce UX
- Email templating + Klaviyo flows
- Tailwind specialist
- Animation and micro-interactions
- Internationalization setups
- CMS migrations (WordPress → headless)
- SEO for JS frameworks
- Payments + checkout customizations
Pick one that you enjoy solving repeatedly. That’s usually your niche. In addition to that, if you want to make money with your skills, you have to choose a niche that actually pays out.
Your niche does not have to be on this list, of course. These are just examples of possibilities. It can be almost anything, even a cross-industry one. The most important thing is that it solves real-world problems and is valuable.
How To Actually Pick a Niche (That Fits Your Career)
A good niche meets three criteria:
1. You enjoy working on it
Not every day, but often enough that you naturally keep learning.
2. Teams struggle with it
If others find it confusing or painful, your niche has value.
3. It connects to your existing skills
No need to jump industries.
Your niche should be one layer deeper than your current work.
Example:
Front-end dev → Shopify front-end → analytics tracking for Shopify stores.
That’s exactly how my vertical formed.
4. It stands the test of time
One thing to keep in mind is longevity of the niche: if you plan on becoming an expert at something, you should do your research on how well your niche stands out in the future. Of course, no one can predict the future in current AI-era, but focusing on something that is already becoming obsolete might not be the smartest way to go.
But fear not. It is common (mandatory, actually) that things change over time. Because you have broad knowledge around a lot of things, you are able to change your niche. You are not locked in your choice for the rest of your life. People often change whole career paths, so changing your niche is a possibility, and sometimes a refreshing one.
How To Build Breadth Without Overwhelm
Breadth is important too, but you don’t need to master everything.
Here’s the simple system:
1. Learn fundamentals deeply
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, HTTP.
The stuff that never changes.
2. Learn cross-functional concepts lightly
Enough to collaborate:
- UX
- accessibility
- design
- performance
- build tools
3. Don’t try to become an expert in everything
That’s how you burn out and end up “mid.”
4. Each quarter, learn one adjacent skill
You slowly grow your horizontal bar without losing focus.
My Journey Toward Becoming T-Shaped
When I started my career, I felt pressured to “learn everything.”
Back-end, front-end, Vue, animations, dev-ops, design, databases.
It was too much.
My career only started compounding when I realized:
I don’t need to be great at everything. I need to be great at one thing and good enough at the rest.
Shopify became my platform.
Analytics / tracking implementations became my vertical.
Everything else related to web development are my horizontal: front-end architecture, Liquid, tracking, consent mode, app integrations, accessibility, UX, fonts.
Nowadays my daily work consists something around 50/50 on front-end related work and analytics related work. I am able to do the complex analytics related tasks (which is my vertical skill), as well as more general front-end related tasks (which are my horizontal skills).
That’s the impact of breadth.
Final Thoughts
Becoming T-shaped isn’t a trend.
It’s the most realistic and sustainable way to build a long-term career in web development.
Depth gives you value.
Breadth gives you range.
Together, they make you stand out.
Don’t try to be world-class at everything.
Pick one niche, master it, and let everything else support it.
Even if you change the niche in the future, you still have broad knowledge about other topics.
Your future self and your clients will thank you.
