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Developer

Plain English

the product.

Definition

A developer and maintains the technical implementation of a product, writing code, integrating , and making a design work in practice. Much of the role is judgement about details no specification covered.

In practice

Writes code, integrates , and ensures functionality works as intended.

In context

The most useful thing to give them is not a finished design but the reasoning behind it: the constraint that produced the decision, so they can make the right call on the details you did not cover.

The reality

Often constrained by technical debt and .

Compared with

Developer vs Engineer

The titles are used interchangeably in most organisations. Where a distinction is drawn, engineer implies responsibility for design and beyond implementing a defined piece of work.

FAQ

Common questions

A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.

What does a developer do?

They and maintain software.

What skills are needed?

Programming and problem solving.

What challenges do they face?

Technical complexity and .

Why are developers important?

They turn ideas into working products.

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Previous feedback

I had a fantastic experience working with Andy. One of his most impressive achievements during our time at NHS HEE was masterminding a deeply complex information architecture for a new platform that brought together a large number of legacy websites.

Will Parkhouse

Senior Content Designer