A software developer writes logic for a living. This in most cases ends up influencing their day to day philosophies. We live what we do and it is possible to tell our designations just by looking at us; literally. Our dress codes sell our specialties. Understanding how we think might save you headache. Key word is save. Some friction is expected if you are talking directly to one as prospective client.
Software differs according to purpose and so does the type of challenges experienced. As a general example;
→ Some solutions require more of display than logic. So these will tend to have more front-end work and will subsequently require more developers of the kind.
→ Likewise, some might require more of logic than display. This kind will have a bias toward back-end developers.
Now, it is prudent to note in advance that the above might work in the same environment, feed from the same place but they are in no way like creatures. This is quite crucial. Partners brave enough to settle with these creatures do not share stories. Now that the distinction has been made, I will tone down and call these strange humans; developers.
As an example scenario, I’ll hypothesize a project requiring most of the developer types in a very complex web project. This being a hypothetical, real life scenarios might vary in detail but they largely follow suit.
Front end developers:
- They develop what we see in applications in terms of presentation. Colors, fonts, graphics, buttons and the like.
- They probably have a good handwriting as this benefits them if it is their nature. They stand out because they dress; orderly. Coordination is their base philosophy.
- In meetings, it is typical of them to ask detailed questions. It is usually wise to bear the triviality of the whole situation if it may seem so to you. The details they care about generally make every one look good.
- They love work that involves teaming up. Say with content creators and work out presentation details. They love interaction, meetings and such. They probably invented ‘team-building’.
Back end developers:
- They develop the logic running what we see. How the information you see is stored as data and translated to stuff we can understand. The functionalities linking to the pretty front end buttons.
- They dream, eat, think, play and do logic. Function over appearance. They probably have handwriting only they can understand. Its for efficiency. Some of the things they jot down as notes are actually symbols that save then entire sentences. They love hoods.
- In meetings, they rarely ask questions and when they do; it takes a while to get the right answer. In a perfect world, they’d prefer reading the documentation and doing the work but since nothing is ever exact; meetings have to happen.
- They prefer working alone in environments of their own making. Some prefer total silence while the other lot prefers their music banging. It is preferable if they only met and made friends (this is rare) with people they deem functional to their purpose.
Developer Operations Engineers:
Logically speaking, they are in charge of keeping whatever was made by the front-end and back-end teams; alive and usable. This involves; maintaining the project code in repository, uploading the code to a server (Hosting), making it publicly accessible or usable (Networking) and securing it all.
To be in this category means fluency in the aforementioned categories. Ideally, this is the person responsible for order. The repository will often have changes from developers of whom each will be at different stages of the build unless teamed up. The DevOps engineer has to decide what works and push that to the publicly accessible side of the project.
Management has to have these people on board as they are responsible for the live promises they make. Usually; management comes up with a task, DevOps makes an estimate (which is almost always mistaken for the factual task duration) then the engineers in turn turn to their teams which almost always ask for more time. Software timing is not an exact science and that’s probably why they are so good at creating patience out of thin air.
It is almost impossible to spot them as easily as you would the front-end or back-end crowds. These people sit with management so often they have to look like management. All managers look the same across careers. So if you spot a management looking person who is proficient with code; said person manages other teams code then it will follow that your specimen is DevOps.
Code wars do happen between teams, actual office wars also happen but such incidences are rare. When they do happen, the DevOps person in charge must posses enough people skill to evade damage. Developers are a vindictive lot.
Product Managers:
They represent the product owners. They hum the ground listening for user experience while simultaneously reporting back to the development team. The documentation used in the project is also crafted by this crowd.
Programming skills are not necessary at this level as feedback is done in office documents; the spread sheets and word documents. A stand out trait is their proficiency in administrative suits. Wonders are performed. Presentations and documentations from the crowd deserve special appreciation.
They are indistinguishable from the managers and DevOps in a crowd. Their tell tale is the consistency within which they get seen. They are either in or out for extended periods of time.
Common Traits:
We sit at the same table at meal times talking shop. The conversation is rarely about the project at hand but we talk shop anyways. We get to transmute out experiences this way; its quite fun an experience. An exception has to be made for the back-end developers who will only make appearances if they find you logical; they know no culture but their own.
No body understands JavaScript. We all share that.
Most of us prefer coding on dark themes. It reduces glare thus prolonging work time. Nonetheless special characters exist but are rare. When you spot one, count yourself lucky. Try shouting programming buzz words, see if they wag their tails.
Conclusion:
We need to retain our characteristics if at all we need to grow them deeper. They are a reflection of our habits. Habit is work. Habitat is where we work so there are differences in that too. To everyone out there, we are nerds not geeks.