The changing role of developers

MUMBAI, INDIA:

The world is undergoing an Application Economy revolution due to the increasing number of interactions taking place in the digital world aided by applications.

Application success is not limited to only writing application code. It’s about making sure that the code runs smoothly in production. With the growing business complexity, enterprises nowadays seek IT professionals who are not only technical experts but are also business savvy. Being a master coder doesn’t cut if you’re looking to advance your career as a software developer.

In the not so distant past, software developers worked independently to code and test software apps. Today, there’s a new movement – known as DevOps–that fosters collaboration between IT and operations. Now more than ever, enterprise IT leaders realize adopting the best practices that embrace collaboration among the teams that create, test, run, and manage applications will improve their software quality and enrich the customer experience. Putting a DevOps culture in place—and then leveraging and investing in the tools needed to support it, will enable businesses to better compete in today’s app-driven, cloud-connected, mobile-everything world.

Developers who lead the charge in their organization and adopt a DevOps methodology understand the importance of process improvements and collaboration across departments. Not only that, but they are also able to articulate the business and potential revenue implications of IT transformation to those up the food chain.

It is heartening to know that a recent study commissioned by CA Technologies highlighted similar facts. Seventy percent of Indian enterprises expect to commit more budget dollars to training both- development and operations staff on the tenets of DevOps. This brings us to the key skills one needs to harness in this application driven world. The top skills required for DevOps are knowledge of business strategies and an understanding of current business processes. There are those who leave this up to senior management, but given the current dynamics, they will lag behind the rest of the competition.

The next generation of developers can transform the business–and their careers–by embracing their role as a business liaison. For example, educating and familiarizing themselves with business finance terms. Knowledge of the overall priorities, strategies and metrics of the business is one of the top three skills many corporations look for now.

According to the survey, the biggest obstacle in the implementation of DevOps is organizational complexity. Too many people or departments are involved. However, true IT leaders who can see the bigger picture across IT domains, including application development, quality testing and IT operations, are setting the tone for all of the departments involved to make sure they are aligned and working together efficiently.

Today, customers are demanding new applications and a different experience, and employees require new tools to succeed and be productive. This is compelling CIOs to evolve the existing role of IT. Hence, the need of the hour for Indian CIOs is to become senior advisors and business enablers that leverage new technologies to win in this complex business landscape. Given this scenario, IT leaders find themselves at an important junction wherein their role is not limited to managing an organization’s investments but also influencing and guiding the organization towards the achievement of their goals. DevOps is, therefore, important to enable IT leaders to deliver new services with faster innovation, faster release on the go.

The article is authored by Sunil Manglore, Managing Director, CA Technologies, India, and views expressed are personal