Types of Developers Explained

Developers are mainly responsible for creating or building on the development of a product or an application or even a service

Types of Developers

Types of Developers Explained

You see this text you’re reading on your mobile app or website? That computer game that you’re hooked to for days? Or even that app on your phone that helps you keep track of things like drinking water every day or even waking you up in innovative ways in the morning?

Yes, they were all made by software developers.

Therefore, developers are mainly responsible for creating or building on the development of a product or an application or even a service.

First of all, the software department is incredibly dynamic. It’s prone to change at any time or even in any way. There are always newer specializations, technologies that one can use and processes that one can follow that come up in this industry. Hence, describing the specialized types of developers becomes essential to understand where which skill is required and what one does and how it affects the industry.

Here are the 19 types of developers:

1. Front-end Developer

Also, known as the client-side development, front-end developers produce HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a website or Web application, so that a user can see and interact with it directly. They apply visual elements that the users can see and interact with on the website/web application.

2. Backend Developer

A backend developer is one who creates the logical and core computational logic of a website, software or even an information system. They are responsible to create components and features that are accessed through a front-end application, mainly accessed indirectly.

3. Full-stack developer

Basically, these developers do both front-end and backend development for an application or website. They have the necessary skills required to run an application or website to its fully functioning state.

4. Middle-tier developer

The middle tier is the layer that exists between what is presented and the data layer. The responsibility here, lies in safely retrieving and placing the requested data from the user and then send it to the data layer. These developers are not specialized in the front-end or the back-end but can do a bit of both.

5. Web developer

A web developer specializes in the development of World Wide Web applications. These applications run over HTML from a server to a browser. These developers can either be front-end, backend or even middle-tier or full-stack developers.

6. Desktop developer

Also known as desktop applications developer is one who is used to working with applications on a desktop like a MacOS or Windows or Linux.

7. Mobile developer

Mobile developers primarily focus on applications that run on a mobile device and write code for them. This is a relatively new field that boomed after the growth of smartphones. This was considered a subset of embedded development, but now has an area of its own.

8. Graphics developer

A graphics developer is someone who is required to make a complete visual of the mathematical processes that occur at a lower level. They integrate tech in gaming and video production.

9. Game developer

As the name suggests, a game developer writes games. They are software developers who create video games and are involved in the various aspects that make a game. This can be from the concept of its creation to writing the story or even the necessary coding required.

10. Data scientist

 A Data scientist writes software to analyze data sets or databases. They are responsible for statistical analysis, machine learning, visualization of data and artificial intelligence.

11. Big data developer

Another type of developer is Big data developers who build big data solutions. They develop, maintain, test and evaluate big data solutions within a company.  Furthermore, they help store and retrieve data stored in systems such as data warehouses, extract transform load systems, relational databases, etc.

12. CRM developer

A CRM helps collect user data. They help improve user satisfaction and sales by improving the tooling used by customer support representatives, account managers and sale representatives.

13. DevOps developer

DevOps developer focuses on deployment and network operations. They build systems to integrate and administer back-end software systems.

14. Embedded developer

These developers work with hardware not related to computers. For instance, they work on real-time systems, electronic interfaces, set-top boxes, etc.  Also, they work on devices that function on the internet of things.

15. Software development engineer in test[SDET]

An SDET  is someone who can work both in development and testing. While they write software that helps validate the quality of software. They also make tests to make sure that the product functions as expected.

16. WordPress developer

A WordPress developer is someone who can make custom modifications for WordPress. They help design and develop themes around WordPress. They basically help administer the WordPress sites.

17. Low-level developer

Low-level developers usually work with languages and systems that do not abstract from the hardware. Often, they have embedded developers, but not always.

18. High-level developer

A high-level developer writes code that abstracts from hardware. Moreover, they focus on languages such as PHP, Perl, and Python for example, and are usually web developers.

19. Security developer

A security developer creates systems, methods, and procedures to test the security of a software system and exploit and fix security flaws. They work has ethical hackers and help penetrate systems to expose vulnerabilities in the software.  

As specified above, there are several paths a developer can choose from. With a formal computer science degree, if you happen to stumble into any of the above streams that interest you, you can start to build from there and move up in a fashion you administer.

Once you choose your field, you can change and develop your skills as needed and even move to different paths if the mind be. Hence, technology is dynamic and bound for eternal development. And this title suggests, change is the only constant.

If this interests you, check out Udemy’s web developer bootcamp!

Find Out About Salaries Across Various Companies
Find Now