Data developer thinking

Having spent plenty of years wearing the hat of a data developer, it makes sense to start out here with a few quick comments about data developers.

In some circles, a database developer is the equivalent of a data developer. But whether data or database, both would usually be labeled as an information technology (IT) professional. Both spend their time working on or with data and database technologies.

Your typical data developer will primarily be involved with creating and maintaining access to data rather than consuming that data. He or she will have input in or may make decisions on, choosing programming languages for accessing or manipulating data. We will make sure that new data projects adhere to rules on how databases store and handle data, and we will create interfaces between data sources.

In addition, some data developers are involved with reviewing and tuning queries written by others and, therefore, must be proficient in the latest tuning techniques, various query languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL), as well as how the data being accessed is stored and structured.

In summary, at least strictly from a data developer's perspective, the focus is all about access to valuable data resources rather than the consumption of those valuable data resources.