Exclusive Interview with Ray Bogman

It was a pleasure for the digital marketing team at Elsner Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to have an in-depth conversation with Ray Bogman, Magento Senior Business Solutions Architect, Magento. With the help of the expertise of Ray Bogman in Magento technology, we framed some stimulating questions that covered in-depth information pertaining to the current path and the future course of action for Magento. We have even discussed the future of Magento 2 in one of our questions. Through this interview, Ray Bogman has shared his thoughts and insights pertaining to Magento. He has even provided invaluable advice that can prove to be a catalyst for the success of novice Magento developers.

In this quest for excellence and love of Magento, he has even written a whitepaper on “Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 Commerce and a video on “Strategic Planning for Business Leaders.” Take a look at his valuable insights which can prove to be essential for the future of Magento 2 success.

Laxman:  To begin with, can you please share your career history with our readers?

Ray: Ray is an IT professional and Magento evangelist from the Netherlands. He started working with computers in 1993 as a hobby at first. In the past, he has worked for KPN, a large Dutch Telecom company, as a senior security officer.Over the last years, he co-founded many businesses as a CTO (Jira ICT, Yireo, Wild Hibiscus, Rapido and SupportDesk.) As a trainer/consultant he has trained over 1,000 Magento experts worldwide since 2008.At Magento events (worldwide) he has been a regular speaker since 2009. He has participated in reviewing Mastering Magento (2012), Mastering Magento Theme Design (2014), Magento Administration Guide (2014), Learning Magento Theme Development (2014), and the video, Mastering Magento (2013), all by Packt Publishing. He is also known as the Magento Doctor at Meet Magento events where it helps clients. Ray is a Certified Magento Solution Specialist, Magento Certified Professional Cloud Developer, Certified Ethical Hacker, Red Hat Certified Engineer and besides Magento, PHP and Linux he loves to go deep on Security, Performance, Mobile and SEO. In 2016 his first Magento book got published, Magento 2 Cookbook. By the end of 2016, he created a new Magento Performance Open Source project called: Mage.coach.Currently, he is working for Magento an Adobe Company as a Senior Business Solutions Architect in the EMEA/APAC region.

Laxman: Why did you select Magento? Did you encounter any problems when you decided to go for this technology? How did you tackle them?

Ray: I was introduced to Magento in 2008, still the beta period and it was love at first side. Back then I worked mainly with eCommerce systems like Virtuemart by Joomla, OsCommerce,  X Cart, and many other Open Source eCommerce systems. Magento was a bless, multi-site, multi-currency, multi-language, multi-everything ;-). Finally, one system that could rule them all. 

Laxman: As a Magento Certified Solution Specialist, please tell us how did it help grow your career and how will you guide newbies you wish to achieve the same level of success?

Ray: Getting certified is one of the great achievements and confirms your product knowledge. But most important is diving into the weeds and getting your hands dirty. I remember installing Magento 1 more than 100 times while training others. My tip would be, Learn, Practice and Share with others. 

Laxman: What would be the one piece of advice that you would give to merchants who are migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 platform?

Ray: I would advise merchants to read and watch my whitepaper and video on “Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento Commerce 2: Strategic Planning for Business Leaders”

Laxman: What difference did you make out between Magento and other platforms? How does Magento stand out amongst the rest of the technologies?

Ray: Adobe (Magento) is again the Named leader in the annual Gartner quadrant.https://info2.magento.com/2019-Gartner-MQ.html

Laxman: Do you think Magento events play a critical role in providing a learning curve to beginners and experienced Magento professionals? If yes, how?

Ray: My motto is “Sharing is Caring”. Did you know that Meet Magento NL was the first-ever Meet Magento ever? And did you know 6 months before I presented the first Magento demo in the Netherlands at a Joomla event, haha? And during that event, Guido Jansen announced the birth of “Dutchento” the first Magento Community. So, one big YES, these events rock. And I like to thank everybody within the community who helps to build this over and over again. I ran the Magento User Group Amsterdam for about 7 or 8 years. It was fun to organize and share the Magento evangelism, but without the help of my partners (Byte Internet, SupportDesk) and all of the many participants it was not possible.So, go out and share, it does not matter if it is small or big, every effort counts!

Laxman: Is there any one person who is your role model who has inspired you to take on Magento technology as your forte? If yes, please tell us the story.

Ray: My main role model would be Roy Robin and Yoav Kutner, the formal CEO and CTO of Magento. The first time we met was at the first Meet Magento NL (January 2009) and both of them needed a ride back to the hotel in Amsterdam. Since the following next 4 days we spend lots of time together and talked about Magento, Varien, PHP, security, performance, eCommerce, open-source, communities, entrepreneurship and lost more… I was inspired and intrigued about how they build this “Piece of Art” and the community behind it. Ever since we became (Mage)friends and we met again at global events, music concerts or running in the park and our stories continued.Thanks again Roy & Yoav! (and the Magento Team/Community behind them)

Laxman: Is Magento your only love of life? Or do you have other hobbies too like watching movies, playing games, etc

Ray: Yes, I eat and breath Magento ;-). But yes, I do have a very good life besides Magento. I love sports and are active about 5 times a week. Running, race bike, snowboarding, field hockey, downhill mountain biking, movies, music concerts, playing drums.

Laxman: If we gave you an option to choose between Shopify and WooCommerce which technology would you opt? Please remember you cannot opt for Magento here. Also please explain your selection in detail.

Ray: WooCommerce, I am passioned about Open Source so that is an easy pick. It also has a large community and solution base.

Laxman: Finally, if given a chance who would you like to nominate for an interview on the future of the eCommerce industry in the year 2050? You can even nominate yourself. Also please provide a valid reason for nominating that person.

Ray: I love to nominate myself. I could use the input from the expert panel I am currently participating in (ShoppingTomorrow).