Near Term Predictions of a cyborg-infested world in the near future are probably overblown. While humans have made great strides in using technology to solve medical conditions due to disease or damage, we haven’t quite reached the stage where silicon-based implants are readily available to enhance physical or mental performance in a fully-functioning developer. As of this writing, there aren’t enough silicon chips to keep up with automobile production due to supply chain issues caused by COVID! While not widely available, cyborg technology is steadily advancing in research labs and is reaching limited commercialization. Technology aside, what will the profession [...]

Overview DevOps has become a force in business and the development community because it’s designed to break down silos in a business enterprise between developers, functional business groups, and IT. Designed to counteract “throw it over the wall’ handoffs between groups, DevOps is a bridge meant to increase efficiency and create a robust Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) strategy. DevOps has specific segments designed to address lifecycle management, and from this structure, specific tools have been developed to facilitate development efforts. DevOps Methodology and Tools DevOps is designed to be a continuous process, allowing iterative improvements throughout; a key to [...]

Newsletters remain one of the best means of communicating with your developer audience.  They should be an integral part of your communications campaign, along with email, blogs, and offers. Newsletters are trusted by developers who opt-in, and they opt-in because they enjoy the content you provide. With so much potential, newsletters should be an area where you devote a significant number of resources to ensure quality and relevance. Take Me To Your Reader Newsletters are a significant commitment in that they must be maintained as an ongoing effort. They should be planned in advance using an editorial calendar. Support will [...]

What Are the Odds… …that anyone under the age of 60 will answer a call from an unknown caller? With that in mind, before we delve into specifically contacting a developer, let’s face facts: Based on a study done by Hiya in 2020, only 6% of calls from unidentified callers are answered, primarily because of robocalls and scam callers. Analyze your own behavior —  do you answer calls from unknown callers? The same study found that despite widespread fraud and robocalls, people still prefer voice calling over other methods of communication, including texts and email. Most unknown calls go to [...]

The View from 30,000 Feet Working in the cloud offers unique challenges to developers and unique opportunities for software tool vendors looking to address this market. What was a new frontier has quickly become an accepted and established market as more apps, programs, developers and businesses have migrated to internet-based cloud computing. Working in the cloud involves thoughtful development and management to ensure that the cloud user is maximizing efficiency and resources. What Developers Want According to the DeveloperMedia User Survey, independently conducted by Evans Data Corporation, developers are highly influential in the decision-making process on which tools to use [...]

The Year The Earth Stood Still When COVID-19 hit in 2020, it would be an understatement to say the world was caught off guard. Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the pandemic — especially how we work and conduct business. In general, many of the major impacts of COVID are related to isolation and social distancing, especially in the work environment. Many industries, including tech companies and higher education, quickly adjusted to the conditions enforced by the pandemic. However, isolation created social interaction challenges even where adaptation was successful. Software development is a unique profession in that [...]

Why Email Now? Believe it or not, email is 50 years old this year. Back in 1971, an engineer named Ray Tomlinson sent the first email, unknowingly starting a communications revolution. Billions and billions of emails later, email is still an effective advertising channel for targeted audiences. While it’s an attractive communications channel because it’s universally accepted, cheap and flexible, not long ago, email got a bad rap because of overuse. It became ubiquitous and easy to ignore (spam didn’t help). Anti-spam regulations and respect for customers now makes spamming practices less popular. Even developers respond well to direct email, [...]