Introduction
A software developer is an individual who is concerned with the various aspects of software development. Importantly, a software developer is also referred to as a computer programmer. Some of the roles of a software developer include the installation, designing, maintenance, as well as, testing of any software system. Most programs created by software developers should play a substantial role in making businesses more efficient while providing similar services as well. On the basis on the requirements of a company, a software developer could be involved in responsibilities such as writing and the ability to create codes for a variety of programmes. Besides that, some of the firms require computer programmers to develop new software. Such individuals are employed across different industrial sectors such as finance, transport, engineering and public organizations amongst others. Thus, this shows that the projects that a software developer could vary intensely. Some of the tasks undertaken by individuals in those careers include the reviewing of the available systems, working together with other staff, designers and analysts as well, presentation of new ideas on the various ways a particular system can be improved, writing of program codes and testing any product before releasing it or utilizing it. For the individuals seeking to become software developers, various requirements are essential. The software engineering process of research often takes a consideration of a variety of factors that have an effect on their project outcomes in their processes, in the tools they utilize and the various language of programming as well (Hussain, Mkpojiogu & Abdullah, 2016). However, most of the scholars do not consider the crucial components of software engineering. The question the various factors that make a software developer great remain exhaustively today. In the development of software, several requirement s are considered that will be analyzed in this paper. The question the various factors that make a software developer great remain exhaustively today. Therefore, this paper will focus on the requirements of a software developer that includes technical, architectural and user documentations amongst others.
Methods
A study of the expertise of the software developers would sample various software products, company cultures, software development rules and the software products as well. Some of the methods conducted that would help in leading a reader to the conclusion comprehensively include the consideration of interviews with powerful companies that contain diverse software engineers (Huckabee, 2015). The type of interview conducted in this report is a semi-structured interview that was conducted face-to-face. Lists of various attributes and understanding its meaning as well characterized the interview questions. The key decisions that led to the choice of this method were to determine the credible subjective opinions concerning the software developers. The approach used in the definition of software developers was based on the approach and technique utilized by most of the individual expertise. Further, in this study, engineers that were above the level two in their projects were considered since they were at higher levels and could be likely to provide relevant information. Their colleagues, through the processes of promotion and hiring, reaffirmed the selected engineers be experts. Contrary to that, research from other scholars was used in this genre analysis on a report for the requirements of a software developer. Most of the scholars have focused on software development career due to the rising changes in technology. Thus, it was quite easy to find the relevant information for this job.
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Results
Software requirements overview
According to Huckabee, (2015), a specification of software requirements can be defined as a comprehension of the software system requirements and its dependencies before the actual design. The software requirements specification (SRS) states precisely the functions and the capabilities of any software system. Moreover, SRS functions as blue prints used for the completion of a project with minimum costs. Importantly, the SRS consists of the functional and the non-functional requirements as well. The functional requirements are the actions that should take place in the process of software development. Such requirements often provide on the functioning of a system and its interaction with the different databases, as well as, other systems. Any software that has been developed must meet the functional requirements. The statements of the functional requirements are often highlighted as the “shall” statements since each of the requirements indicated often starts in a standardized way, which is, “the system shall” (Huckabee, 2015). In most scenarios, the functional requirements usually include a variety of elements such as checks of inputs, operation sequences and responses to a variety of unusual operations. As seen, the statements of functional requirements are often complied into a document, which is commonly referred to as the software requirements specifications (SRS). Importantly, most of the SRS tend to analyze and highlight all the technical, as well as, functional specifications of a system. Mostly, the SRS are provided as baseline to the office of program management (Huckabee, 2015).
Well-designated Software Requirement Specification aims towards the accomplishments of certain goals that include the generating and the provision of feedback to a client. The SRS are some writings that assure customers that the organizations are familiar with the problems that require solving. The SRS tends to decompose an issue into various components. The ways in which the software specifications are indicated tend to break down a problem into several parts. Further, the SRS often serves as an input to the specifications of design and a validation check of a product.
Technical documentation is a documents code that is associated with the source of a code that may include files such as README and API. Testers and developers, as well as, the final users of a software application use the technical documentation of software. Importantly, the documentation has become quite significant within various organizations and changes with time as the architecture design changes. Technical documentation that exists in the source codes are often used in the process of the generation of the code documents. The auto-generating idea attracts the computer programmers since it is extracted from a source code.
Another requirement in the software development is the user documentation that comprises of the use case and the user stories. The use case often allows the solicitation and the documentation of the relevant requirements from clients. The main goal of the intended procedure is the fact that it helps in the describing of typical use case with every factor of interaction with the software. Mostly, the use case supports the process of software development by allowing most of the analysts to solicit a feedback in an early cycle of development (Huckabee, 2015). Besides that, a use case if helpful in the definition of the procedure required to use a system for a user to achieve a particular goal and hence describe the various results of the attempt for the accomplishment of the designated purpose. Further, the main purpose of a use case is to ensure that a system is used in the right way since it indicates what a system will do and what it will not be used to accomplish. In the traditional processes of software development, individuals would often wait for the process of requirement specifications to be complete before generating feedback. In the iterative process of software development, most businesses prefer the soliciting of early feedback from users hence showing the differences between the two processes of use case. The main difference between the two processes is the involvement of a customer that could help boost the success of any software development program. On the contrary, the user stories is another software requirements that helps in the eliminations of any formality that is linked with any typical requirement activity of engineering. The user stories define the functional capabilities of a system but places focus on the business values. They often contain contexts that describe the way in which any requirement is developed by including the capability that is required, its functions, and features as well (Huckabee, 2015). Some of the advantages of the user stories is the fact that they provide effective means allowing customers to link to the mission of a system required to meet the goals of an organization by the help of the office of programming in a business.
Further, user stories are indicated as statements that are significant and helpful in the indicating the user needs in a coherent manner and could serve as the starting point of for a relationship between a client and a software developer. The main difference existing between a user case and the functional requirements is the fact that the functional needs often pay attention to the single tasks that requires accomplishments. On the contrary, the user story serves as an interaction between a system and its user while focusing on the value of the intended business. Moreover, the user stories are often told from the viewpoint of an individual requiring new functioning and ability. In most cases, the stories are informal and are stipulated in a commonly understood language. The stories often focus on the roles of a user since it gives a sequential process of using a system to achieve a desired business value. The stories can further be broken into various units of development that could lead to the increase in accuracy and slope estimation as well. One of the most critical features that every user story must contain is the way in which it is used in the promotion of collaboration between a customer and a software developer concerning the capability of a system and a need as well. In most agile-based software programs, user stories are quite effective since they help in the creation of a good relationship between a client and a computer programmer.
Each user story is often accompanied by a criterion of acceptance. Importantly, the acceptance criteria often define the day in which development was successfully completed (Hussain, Mkpojiogu & Abdullah, 2016). The criteria do not have any defined contents or formats as well. However, it should be understood since it contributes in the sharing of the comprehension of the success of designing any software. Besides that, software developers should familiarize themselves with the fact that acceptance criteria, which accompany the user stories, should include the requirements for using a system, the performance measurements and the validation of data. Such information is helpful in the definition process of measuring criteria. Notably, more detailed acceptance criteria often limit the collaboration resulting in the misinterpretations of a requirement. On the contrary, acceptance criteria that are less detailed often create scenarios in which a particular requirement is omitted.
The requirements documentation is a document of the various descriptions on the workings of the functioning of particular software. The requirement documentations are used throughout the development of communicating the way a software functions and the way it is designed to operate. In most cases, the software requirements are consumed and produced by people involved in the software production. The requirements are used as agreements that define the way in which the software will do. The software developers’ requirements often come in different styles and formalities that could be in form of goals.
Besides that, the complex nature and the variations of the software documentations could make it quite a challenge. Such requirements could be difficult to uncover. Moreover, requirements are needed due to the complex nature of a software product. In a case where software is quite complex and developed by a variety of individuals, the software developers’ requirement could be helpful in boosting the communication processes. Software engineers need the skill of creating shared context since they are involved in an activity and a task of motivating an understanding of another person thus requiring an effective communication skill. A great communication skill for a software developer would be the tailoring of a message concerning a system to the perspective and reasoning of another. For instance, in the designation of functional requirements, use cases and user stories, effective communication skills are required for a user to familiarize with a system. Moreover, software developers require communicating with other individuals that have no similar understanding to a concept but could contribute to the successes of their problems.
Another requirement for the software developers is the need for architecture documents that is a document of design. Such documents do not contain a description on how to program specific routines. However, they tend to outlay the requirements that motivate the existence of such routines. Mostly, software development requires an architectural document that is detailed in a brief manner but contains a significantly thick explanation. The document could suggest various approaches to the lower design levels. Another design required in software development is a comparison document that takes the nature of a white document. Besides that, it focuses on particular systems that tend to suggest the alternating approaches. The comparison document could be used at the user interface levels or in the architectural level as well (Hussain, Mkpojiogu, & Abdullah, 2016). A critical document in the software development is the Database Design Document (DDD). The document consists of formal information in which people interacting on a database require. Its main goal is to design common sources used by all the contributing factors to a success. Some of the potential users include database designers, administrators, and developers as well. Besides that, the application developers and designers could also be potential users of the database.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper focuses on software engineers and the requirements as well. A software developer is an individual who is concerned with the various aspects of software development. Importantly, a software developer is also referred to as a computer programmer. Some of the roles of a software developer include the installation, designing, maintenance, as well as, testing of any software system. In this report, some of the methods that were utilized to generate a conclusion include the consideration of interviews with powerful companies that contain diverse software engineers. The type of interview conducted in this report is a semi-structured interview that was conducted face-to-face. Lists of various attributes and understanding its meaning as well characterized the interview questions. The key decisions that led to the choice of this method were to determine the credible subjective opinions concerning the software developers. The approach used in the definition of software developers was based on the approach and technique utilized by most of the individual expertise. Further, in this study, engineers that were above the level two in their projects were considered since they were at higher levels and could be likely to provide relevant information. The requirements documentation is a document of the various descriptions on the workings of the functioning of particular software. The requirement documentations are used throughout the development of communicating the way a software functions and the way it is designed to operate. In most cases, the software requirements are consumed and produced by people involved in the software production. The requirements are used as agreements that define the way in which the software will do. The software developers’ requirements often come in different styles and formalities that could be in form of goals. Besides that, the complex nature and the variations of the software documentations could make it quite a challenge. Such requirements could be difficult to uncover. Moreover, requirements are needed due to the complex nature of a software product. One of the requirements in the development of a software is the need for architecture documents that is a document of design. Such documents do not contain a description on how to program specific routines. However, they tend to outlay the requirements that motivate the existence of such routines. Mostly, software development requires an architectural document that is detailed in a brief manner but contains a significantly thick explanation. The technical documentation are also another requirement in the software development process. Moreover, user documentation is required in the development of software that comprises of the use cases and the user stories that are writings containing the way in which a system should be used by a client. Lastly, functional requirements are also an essential factor in software development that are writings stating the functioning ability of a system. The functional requirements are the actions that should take place in the process of software development. Such requirements often provide on the functioning of a system and its interaction with the different databases, as well as, other systems. Any software that has been developed must meet the functional requirements. The requirements are often embedded in software requirements specification documentation.
References
Huckabee, W. A. (2015). Requirements Engineering In An Agile Software Development Environment. Defense Acquisition Research Journal: A Publication Of The Defense Acquisition University , 22 (4), 394-415.
Hussain, A., Mkpojiogu, E. C., & Abdullah, I. (2016). Investigation of the Current Requirements Engineering Practices Among Software Developers at the Universiti Utara Malaysia Information Technology (UUMIT) Centre. AIP Conference Proceedings , 1761 (1), 020045-1-020045-6. doi:10.1063/1.4960885
Maceli, M. (2015). What Technology Skills Do Developers Need? A Text Analysis of Job Listings in Library and Information Science (LIS) from Jobs.code4lib.org. Information Technology & Libraries , 34 (3), 8-21.
