Why everyone should know about Developer Experience
Developer experience (DX) is a beautiful concept, learning about it opens a new chapter of innovation in software development
“Developers are the new King Makers”, and their experience must be well taken care of.
I was introduced the term ‘Developer Experience’ few weeks back, which initially I took as ‘yet another jargon’.
Upon giving it a little more attention, it caught my interest, as it highlighted not only the solution to the common problems faced by developers, but also making their work super fun & loving.
So I wanted to highlight the common things that every ‘developer’ experiences everyday. Also want to put those experiences under the umbrella of “Developer Experience” to raise awareness about why it matters, so that every tech company should start considering it.
Who is a developer ?
Someone who develops a solution for a given problem.
What is Developer Experience ?
How a developer is feeling when they are doing active development. Things that make developers more productive and efficient while performing a job / task improve developer experience.
Creating and maintaining a great Developer Experience, there are numerous contributors down the lane. We’ll talk about most important ones, for now.
People / Team :
It is people who provide other people, the experience that they remember and enjoy while working. These people can be in different roles and responsibilities. Helping each other, and working as a team creates a very friendly environment.
If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go farther, go together.
Typically, a developer interacts with various internal team members (of the tech team), some members outside his team.
Following factors play a crucial role in great DX for a team:
- Clear & standardized communication
- Similar workflow for the same task within a team
- Similar tool set for all team members
- Documentation for software, alongside workflows & processes.
- Easy and clear on-boarding
- list goes on …
Tip: Just try improving other developers’ DX, and it will ultimately come back in return soon. Never stop.
Tools / Tech:
Tool is a generic term used here, that refers to many stuff developers would want while working. It includes :
- Development Machine (with the best configurations)
- Accessories (Extra Screens, Headphones, etc)
- The Software Development Tool Kit, from IDEs, to other software.
- Tech Stack with a great community & support.
- Defined communication tools.
- A reliable and fast internet connection :)
- List goes on ….
With the fast paced software development and delivery methods, tools play a huge role. Imagine if you have everything, but not a good internet connection, it will ultimately make you wait, and go slow.
There are tons of things that come under this “Tools” category, and one can identify easily what is making it slower, and keep on improving.
What you should do now ?
After reading this, in whatever capacity you contribute within your team, you have now understood that a great developer experience can make your team more efficient and productive.
Be that magician in your team and contribute towards a better Developer Experience
This was just an introduction, we’ll deep dive into specific topics of “Developer Experience” soon, and discuss about those solutions :)
