One of the greatest investments any organization can have is its employees. The success in organizations is determined by the kind of employees that they have. Experienced, skilled, and talented employees who know what they are doing will most definitely contribute a lot to how successful an organization will be. On the other hand, organizations that do not spend enough time getting the right hires have high chances of failing to achieve their objectives.

Similarly, the success of an API is determined by how skillful the developers that build it are. If they know what they are doing and have the right skills, the chances of that API failing will be very minimal. However, there are those that do not have the right skills, and this means that the APIs they build have very high chances of failing. So, what skills should one have for them to be a great API developer?

What is an API?

An API (Applications Programming Interface) is a set of instructions that dictate how applications communicate and share information with each other. They have made it possible for developers to build applications within a short period of time by just implementing an API that has the functionalities they are looking for.

However, for API to meet all their set requirements, they have to be developed well. API developers need to be keen when building APIs. They need to understand a number of things such as the differences between the client and server-side, which is the model through which APIs operate. There are a number of skills one should have for them to be a great API developer. They include;

Good Programming Knowledge

The most important thing that every great API developer needs to have is good programming knowledge. They need to possess the right skills that are needed to understand the software framework that their organization chooses when building APIs.

Great API developers need to understand and use different programming languages effectively. They also need to know how API management tools work, help organizations in choosing the right tools, and train other stakeholders on how to effectively use them.

API developers also need to have the right skills to understand the style of architecture employed by APIs. This does not mean just understanding the REST API framework, but also the role played by data, services, and messaging.

There are many great examples of this out there like the shipping API integration.

Fluent Communication

When an API is released in either private or public programs, they come with information that explains how the API and the entire software application works. This is important for API consumers because they are able to effectively use the APIs with ease.

It, therefore, means that a great API developer needs to be very fluent in communication since they need to document all the decisions they make when building the API. The documentation should be clear enough to paint a picture of the API operations to its consumers.

Apart from the API documentation, developers need to be able to write about the functional specifications of APIs, product information, and the API’s operational procedures. All this means that a great API developer needs to be able to effectively write about the API. They need to have the right and fluent communication skills, spoken and written.

Knowing What and When to Reuse

Some organizations might argue that every developer needs to be able to reuse code, but this is quite different for a great API developer. A great API developer needs to be able to know when an existing API – no matter if it is an internal, public, or external API – has a functionality they are looking for in their new API. In such a situation, the developer should be able to reuse the functionality from the existing API.

However, even though an existing API might have the functionality an organization is building, there are times they should not implement it to their new API. A great API developer needs to understand all this, and only reuse functionalities in an existing API when everything matches what they are looking for.

Conclusion

Finally, organizations need to make sure that they keep their employees happy, including API developers. This contributes a lot to motivating the API developers and making sure that they do what they are supposed to do.

APIs are driving operations in most organizations today. They have made it easy for organizations to come with innovative solutions that digitize their operations. It is, therefore, important to make sure that they have the right set of skills among their developers when building APIs.