Why Companies Should Consider Hiring a DevEx Engineer
Let’s take a closer look at why it makes sense for your company to hire a developer experience engineer.
As companies continue to explore opportunities for digital transformation, they do so with the understanding that their software products will become an increasingly important means of differentiating themselves from their competitors.
Companies invest in user experience designers and user researchers to help their users easily understand and use their products. They invest in user experience engineers, operational engineers, and other job roles that focus on software development practices. But what about a developer experience engineer? Is this role even necessary? Let’s take a closer look at why it makes sense for your company to hire a developer experience engineer.
What Does a Developer Experience Engineer Do?
A developer experience engineer is typically someone who specializes in understanding how developers use a product so that they can create an optimal experience for them. This includes understanding how developers work, what tools and resources they use, and what pain points exist for them when using a product.
A developer experience engineer then creates solutions for those pain points. They may do this by creating new tools or resources for developers to use, or by providing recommendations for product improvements. In their role, a developer experience engineer may interact with many different departments, including engineering, operations, product, and marketing. This is because the work of a developer experience engineer is not limited just to the product. Their work is often crucial to enabling the product and providing an optimal experience for developers.
A developer experience engineer is responsible for a wide range of activities, including: understanding and documenting developer workflows, defining and prioritizing product improvements, creating resources and tooling to support developers
The Value of a Developer Experience Engineer
A company that prioritizes the experience of developers is likely to see many benefits across its product development lifecycle and its company culture. If developers feel valued, they are more likely to remain with a company. They may even be more engaged than ever. This can be extremely helpful as a company scales, especially in a competitive job market. Retaining top talent is more important than ever in a digital economy that is increasingly driven by software products.
Part of creating a great developer experience is understanding the pain points of developers. This is where the role of a developer experience engineer can be extremely valuable. They can investigate and document the pain points of developers across the product lifecycle. They can then work with other departments to create solutions for these pain points. This allows the product team to more effectively prioritize and focus their development efforts, while also creating more value for developers.
Ways a Developer Experience Engineer Creates Value
Understanding and Documenting Developer Workflows
A developer experience engineer should be closely tracking how developers work within a product. This includes understanding how they use the product, how long certain tasks take, and any pain points that exist for them. From this information, a developer experience engineer can create product improvements that make developers more productive. This can be as simple as streamlining a process with a new feature in the product or as complex as creating a new system that allows developers to do certain tasks more efficiently.
Defining and Prioritizing Product Improvements
A developer experience engineer should be closely tracking how developers use a product. They should collaborate with customer-facing and other teams to get regular feedback from customers. They should also be closely tracking emerging trends in the developer community. They are in a great position to identify product improvements based on this information.
Creating Resources and Tooling to Support Developers
A developer experience engineer should be closely tracking tooling and resources that developers use within a product. They can also create new resources that make developers more efficient. This can help improve the experience that customers have when they use the product. It can even help reduce the amount of time it takes for customers to find value in the product.
Company Culture and Communication
A company that prioritizes a positive developer experience is more likely to have a strong company culture. A good developer experience engineer will help create a culture that makes developers feel valued and appreciated. This can go a long way towards retaining talent. The tools and resources that a developer experience engineer creates can also help improve communication with the developer community. This can help a company reach new developers and make it easier for existing customers to share their experiences with others.
Developers Are Tired of Re-writing Code
Part of a good developer experience is providing developers with the tools and resources that they need to do their job efficiently. This often means providing them with libraries and modules that they can use to build their product.
However, companies are increasingly re-writing their code to make it more modular. While this is a good practice, it can be frustrating for developers. Now, more than ever, developers are tired of re-writing code. A developer experience engineer can help avoid this frustration by working with the product and engineering teams to create a library of modules that can be used throughout the product. This can save developers hours or days of work, while also providing them with more consistent functionality across the product.
How to Find a Good Developer Experience Engineer
The best way to find a good developer experience engineer is to make sure that the job role exists in the first place. A company may be so focused on other priorities that it doesn’t even consider hiring a developer experience engineer.
You may want to consider hiring a developer experience engineer if you want to improve your product and make it easier for developers to use, improve your product team’s experience by making their tasks easier to do, and improve collaboration between teams and departments. Look for candidates who have experience in these areas. You may also want candidates who have experience working in the developer community. This will help ensure that they have a good understanding of the pain points that developers face.
Conclusion
The role of the developer experience engineer is extremely valuable to product companies. They can help create an optimal developer experience by understanding how developers work and what they need. They can also create new resources and tools that make it easier for developers to do their job. A company that prioritizes a positive developer experience is more likely to have a strong product, be able to retain its top talent, and reach new developers through their product.