The IT industry is vast, highly complex, and dynamic. Software app development is an indispensable part of the industry and influenced directly by various factors, such as the conditions in the market, growing complexities, changing trends, and the escalating challenges in development.
Before we dwell on the challenges that software developers have to face these days, let’s review what software development is all about. It’s actually a collective process of several computer science activities aimed towards the development of software apps. Some examples of software development include software tool development, app development, web development, mobile development, data management software development, and so on.
Software developers are the creative minds behind the process or those who are involved in the complete process of developing a software solution. Simply put, a software developer is someone who develops computer software.
Different Types of Developers
Here, I broke down the different types of developers that you often see and a bit of information about what they do.
Front-end developer
Called as a client-side developer at times, builds what a user sees, as well as interacts with. The job requires an understanding of human-machine interaction, creativity, and technical skills. The work of a front-end developer includes a user’s interaction with a website, such as scrolling down the page and managing the navigation bar at the top. Responsive web design is the consideration for every front-end developer, or how the web page elements function across various screen sizes and devices.
The Back-end developer
The front-end developer is the interior designer in charge of everything you see on a site. The back-end developer on the other hand does the construction. This kind of developer creates server configurations, build the system architecture, data structures, database, APIs, as well as any complex algorithms. It’s critical for back-end developers to work with the business team in order to comprehend the goals and requirements of the company, and accordingly lay the programming architecture.
The Mobile developer
Mobile developers build apps for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Moreover, they must have a deep comprehension of the various OS used by mobile devices, particularly Android and iOS. Furthermore, they have the tendency to specialize in a specific system, since each varies in the core language.
Data Scientist
A data science developer in a software development company, design systems for calculating and analyzing huge data sets to achieve the specific goals of the customer. The job requires one to have robust analytical skills, and often are in charge of making data visualizations and statistical analysis.
Take for instance in a healthcare company. The data scientist could utilize big data to comprehend the risk factors of specific diseases. Furthermore, data scientists could also work on AI, predictive modeling, and machine learning.
The Full-stack developer
This type of developer combines the roles of front-end and back-end developers. Moreover, he or she works across the code’s ‘full-stack’ and could thus build a thoroughly functional app by himself or herself. Full-stack developers make use of various languages, such as those used by front-end and back-end software developers.
The Inevitable Technical Challenges
These are what you normally face while associating software development core coding.
- Failure to understand the project: Users may have their own viewpoint to build software, but for a developer, it creates difficulties since they barely are able to interact directly with them. There are instances when developers get some complex projects, and coping and working on every part of it single-handedly is difficult. This could cause problems, particularly for new developers.
- Project planning: One of the critical parts of software development is code planning. To create a great product requires proper planning. Because there are times when you might not get the output expected after code execution.
For startups, here are a few tips:
- Always begin by putting ideas on paper instead of carrying them inside your head. It helps to focus on what you’re about to code.
- Once you figured out the idea, start to address the issues that the product would solve.
- Consider the solution to those issues.
- Debug: Failure of software to properly execute means a developer would have to debug it to determine and analyze the bug to be resolved. Since errors must be resolved at all debugging stages, this is considered as the most complex part.
New programmers usually find bugs from QA, but some are not easy to debug, which could lead to a lost time of development and frustration. A wonderful idea to comprehending errors is reproduction. It gives developers an idea of how to resolve them and the tester who found the problem could help reproduce it.
- Integration: So many systems, technologies, and apps are integrated into a third-party app. The biggest problem in Integration however remains hidden during development, thus leading to delays, more expenses, and even project failure in some instances. Developers should bear in mind the keys to doing software solution, such as:
- Proper understanding of the requirement of a user
- Research and discover new technologies, design, and develop a new solution
- Allocate more time for doing research, development setting, and prototyping
Security Challenge
One of the valuable and critical elements of any organization is data, and some people may attempt to steal it. Today, breaches in security are extremely high, and almost every app contains some sort of vulnerability. A few key points to remember:
- Look further than technology to boost software security
- Do all the core activities to build an app that’s secure
- Use the latest version of a programming language all the time
Operational Challenges Being collaborative:
A very common issue among new developers is poor communication. Think about being stuck somewhere while coding and you could not explain the problem to the team that could impact the time, the cost, and productivity. This would become more challenging when you need to work with various teams. Even with a sharp deadline, you must deliver a project on time while fixing bugs and issues that happen during testing.
Keep on Learning New Technologies:
This is all about learning new frameworks, programming languages, algorithms, and systems. As technology continues to expand and update, developers should keep updated because, in time, all the tools, languages, libraries, and frameworks would become outdated. Updated versions are always better than the old ones, and come with new features, making the job easier. Developers should be able to adapt to them fast.
Conclusion
For a new developer or programmer, everything, from code to communication with colleagues could be overwhelming. Fortunately, the challenges are not insurmountable, and other developers could help in overcoming them.