The world of IT is one for the curious! It is a career with so many possibilities that if you enjoy it, you will never get bored in it. As all the other careers it divides itself into different categories, each of them consisting on a different focus. For the sake of practicalities, we will divide them into three areas, including tool developing, system analysing and customer support.
In IT developing tools consists of helping people see what they need to reach their goal and why they need it. It involves helping someone with a vision, learn how exactly they can get there through technological tools. These tools can go from mobile apps, to other computer software and websites, but it involves all kinds of different interactive information platforms. So let’s have a look at what are the basics of tool developing.
What do they need?
The first conversation a developer has with the client is all about WHAT is needed. What type of tool are they looking for? What do they want it to look like? What experience do they want people to have when using this tool? For companies, this might be creating a website with all the info about who they are and what they are about, it might also be a software they want to use internally to improve the job that they do and make it more effective.
This is a very important step in the process, since even though customer might know what they want, it is also a conversation with the developer to see if that is the best option available. Both parties exchange ideas and hopefully come out with the best possible solution.
Why do they need it?
This is also a very important conversation to have, in order to choose correctly what the client needs, the developer needs to know the purpose of the tool, what it will be used for and WHY it is important. The why will always define the what, it will define the way in which things will be done, the language used and the chosen visuals.
Your client might be after an app for online shopping, why is an app better than a website? Because you can easily access everything and find things more easily. For this to happen, you will then have to create an app with different categories and possibly a search bar for customers to find the product they are after easily. In this case it might also be good to include pictures. This is a clear example of the why of the development of a tool and its shape.
Who is it for?
The audience you are creating for is also very important, your client will want to make sure that whoever is the user of the tool you are creating is happy with the result. Depending on the age, accessibility and social/cultural group you are creating for it might be a more demanding job or a simpler one.
For example, the client might be a dance academy in need of a website, knowing that this site will be mostly for parents and adult dancers, they developer will make it attractive enough for both audiences but with enough information easy to access for people to easily understand what they are about. On the other hand if what is needed is an internal software for employees to do their tasks upload files and exchange information a private platform that is understood by all workers will be needed. WordPress plugins are a great example of software that is useful yet reusable on many websites.
From Scratch or Re-using
The world of technology is so advanced nowadays that sometimes developers don’t even have to start a tool from scratch, there are already websites that provide us with a template to create a website easily and sometimes even for free if you don’t want to buy the domain. There are also programs available with templates to create a mobile app (Both for android or apple) or to create a computer software for different kinds of operating systems.
The good thing about starting from scratch is that you can be the pioneer of something completely original and creative, but when it comes to practicalities, sometimes re-using a template might be the best option.
Being a developer will help you use your creativity in order to develop innovative solutions that will continue to help the business world move forward. So in general this job is perfect for someone who is organised but at the same time loves to think out of the box helping people see the possibilities ahead.
What else can you say about the developing aspect of an IT career? Let us know!
