The Different Types of Developers

Posted by Marwan Khanfar in Insights

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Web Developers

Web developers program the code that informs a website how to function. They build websites that are user-friendly, meaning they are visually appealing and easy for users to navigate. Web developers are very familiar with web programming languages, including:

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
JavaScript (JS)
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)

And they are working with frameworks such as:

WordPress
Drupal
Contentful
HubSpot
Webflow
Adobe Experience Manager
And many more…

E-commerce Web Developers

E-commerce web developers play a crucial role in ensuring that potential customers can easily navigate your online store, find what they’re looking for, and check out quickly and safely. Their range of skills, from back-end programming to front-end e-commerce web design, may vary depending on the type of store required.

The right developer or team of developers is capable of:

Designing a functional and visually appealing e-commerce storefront
Making it easy for customers to search and navigate and find what they want
Integrating tools used for marketing, shipping, inventory, accounting, and more
Understanding data and how to utilize data to improve the financial metrics of the website

E-commerce developers are working with platforms such as:

Magento
Shopify
BigCommerce
WooCommerce
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
And more…

WordPress Developers

WordPress’s free, open-source CMS platform offers a wide variety of plugins and features and is the leader in user experience. It’s a platform that’s very familiar to a lot of web developers. The most valued skills for a WordPress developer include:

PHP or HyperText Preprocessor
CSS and HTML
JavaScript
Basic Photoshop, Figma, or Sketch
BootStrap
MySQL
Github and Bitbucket
SEO knowledge

Drupal Developers

Drupal has become a clear leader as an enterprise-level CMS platform for more complex work environments or projects tending to be on the larger side. The skills required for a Drupal developer include:

A firm grasp of PHP
Experience installing and building Drupal modules
Familiarity with Drupal theme development
A Grasp on version control with Git
Experience debugging and updating a Drupal site
In-depth knowledge of Drupal security

Mobile App Developers

Android Developers

The role of an Android developer is highly technical. They have to be proficient in coding and programming languages needed to write the apps. This requires intricate knowledge of:

Kotlin
Java
Expertise in UI/UX design
Understanding of Android Studio and developer SDKs

In addition to these technical skills, an Android developer must demonstrate attention to detail and be a team player capable of working with multiple departments in pursuing the best Android app possible.

iOS Developers

iOS developers are in high demand. Any company looking to reach the tens of millions of customers that use and love Apple mobile products needs iOS experts in their workforce. Here are the skills to look for in an iOS developer:

iOS development knowledge (Swift, Objective-C, XCode, etc.)
Expertise in UI/UX design
Understanding of Apple’s Xcode IDE

Hybrid Developers

Hybrid mobile applications have become more popular because the process is faster and cheaper than the native approach, and technologies (hardware, software frameworks, etc.) are prepared.

The three most popular frameworks for creating hybrid mobile applications are Ionic, React Native and Flutter. The skills required for developing a hybrid mobile app include:

JavaScript (or TypeScript)
HTML
CSS
Mobile web optimization techniques
Platform-specific design and interface conventions
Domain-specific knowledge relevant to the app

Web App Developers

Back-End Developers

Backend frameworks are quintessential to application development. Finding the right backend framework can be quite crucial for developers to ensure optimal performance and scalability.

Popular frameworks are Laravel, Django, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, and .Net. The skills a back-end developer should possess include:

A basic understanding of front-end technologies HTML, JavaScript, and CSS
Working knowledge of back-end development (configuration and administration and management of databases and servers)
Server-side languages (e.g., PHP, C#, Ruby, Javascript)
Database technologies (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc)
Security and authentication best practices
Experience writing RESTful APIs

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Front-End Developers

There are many front-end frameworks on the web to choose from, including Vue.js, React, and Angular, to name a few. Most run on JavaScript as their source language.

Front-end developers concentrate on the aesthetic user interface of applications and websites and also have programming capabilities. They are frequently referred to as “client-side developers” to differentiate themselves from back-end developers, who program what happens behind the scenes (like databases). Their skills include:

HTML & CSS
HTML
Javascript
TypeScript
Frameworks and Libraries
CSS Preprocessors
Responsive Design
Cross-Browser Compatibility

Systems and Data Engineers

Database Developers

A database developer specializes in designing and developing database programs and systems and maintaining and updating them regularly. They oversee project needs and guidelines and establish and implement test systems to identify potential risks and issues.

Critical skills a database developer should have are:

Ability to perform data modeling
Knowledge of a database programming language, preferably SQL
Knowing how to extract, transform, load various data types and sources
Experience designing and testing database plans
Awareness of how to optimize database performance

Data Engineers

Because data engineering represents a convergence of software engineering and data science, it helps to have skills from each discipline. In fact, most data engineers start as software engineers, given that data engineering relies heavily on programming.

Data engineers need to be literate in programming languages for statistical modeling and analysis, data warehousing solutions, and building data pipelines.

Database systems (SQL and NoSQL)
ETL tools
Machine learning
Data APIs
Python, Java, and Scala programming languages
Understanding the basics of distributed systems
Knowledge of algorithms and data structures

DevOps Engineers

In DevOps, the top priority is delivering high-value features in short periods via cross-team collaboration. As a result, a DevOps engineer needs specific interpersonal and technical skills to be successful — a mix of “soft” and “hard” skills. They need to understand and know how to utilize the following:

Communication and collaboration skills
Version control
Continuous Integration servers
Configuration management
Deployment automation
Containers
Infrastructure Orchestration
Monitoring and analytics
Testing and cloud quality tools
Network protocols

Desktop Application Developers

For many high-end tasks, only desktop applications are powerful enough to meet a specific need. For others, a desktop application is required because the software needs to be isolated from the internet. The point is: that desktop development is still relevant.

Desktop developers typically use C++, Java, and C# all of which have different libraries for developing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for desktop applications. However, it’s now possible to create full-featured desktop applications using web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Capabilities

Technologies