What are the essential tools and skills for product software development?

To be able to develop a new software product, the person, in this case a developer or software engineer, must have the necessary technical knowledge, one that is acquired through several years of study and even several years of experience.

Developing a software product requires several steps, it requires the person doing the work to also handle a diverse set of modern technological tools, for which they must have knowledge of the official documentation.

In this blog we will describe the skills that a software developer must have in order to develop a product successfully, in addition to the tools that must be used, so that the client can know which team or software agency to hire.

Essential Skills for Product Software Development

Knowledge of language and code

It seems obvious, but it's worth remembering: any person or development team looking to create a new software product must have expert-level knowledge of programming languages, such as Java or Python, and the ability to write clean, robust, and reliable code. Writing code demands from the developer to have a keen eye for bugs to keep the application or website flowing effectively.

Architecture design

It is important that, in addition to the ability to write programming codes, the person in charge of new product software development has knowledge of how to put together a logical architecture. There are basic parts of the architecture that must be understood by the developer, such as: the language that best suits it, its functional routines and modules, and the most used options to execute.

Security and networks

The developer in charge of creating the new software product must also know how to implement security systems in the project, protecting it from the thousands of cyberattacks that can occur daily, leaving customer and user data vulnerable. In addition to this, many of the applications and websites operate within large and complex networks, so the developer must know how to encrypt the data, as well as how these networks work.

Database integration and management

If you are developing an enterprise software product, you may have to integrate and manage a massive database, so it is advised that a member of the development team has the skills and knowledge to do this. It may be necessary to create code to read a data set and perform calculations, this will require an understanding of data structures, algorithms, and read and write operations.

Knowledge of database languages ​​and types such as SQL and NoSQL, as well as cloud computing services such as AWS, Redshift, and Cloud SQL, is also recommended for developers.

Knowledge of testing and monitoring

The application or website that is being created must be constantly tested to verify that the code is well written, and all the functions are executed correctly, this must be done by the developer in charge.

In addition, when the software product is created, it must be monitored for several months that it works correctly, this service should be offered by every software agency that is contracted to develop a new software product.

Essential tools for software development

• Code editors: essential for the creation of the software product. The most used are Atom and Komodo Edit.
• Debuggers: After the code is written, a compiler must be used to translate the written code into machine-readable code.
• Repositories: Github, Bitbucket and SourceForge are the most used repositories by developers, they store records, documentation and other resources related to version control.
• Automated Testing Tools: Modern applications, being more complex and larger, require automated testing tools to replace common manual testing. Among the most recommended are Selenium, Cucumber and Appium.

At Rootstack we have a team of expert developers who can help you create a software product from scratch, or update that technological project that has only given your company headaches. Contact us and let's start working together.

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