API developer experience refers to the experience of the software developer while working with an API in this context as per Bahaa Al Zubaidi. The experience involves the perceptions and emotions of the developer during the process of interacting with the API. We look at why this developer experience is important.
The importance of API developer experience
There are different touchpoints on your platform that include infrastructure, tools, support, and process. All these touchpoints have a role to play in ensuring a good experience for developers who integrate APIs into the application. User experience is a term that is well-known and very important. Developer experience also plays a key role.
APIs are increasingly being used, and the developer plays a key role in choosing the API. If a developer has a poor experience with an API, they are unlikely to use it the next time. This leads to business losses for the API provider. Not only does it lead to a loss of revenue, but also causes a loss to access to customers who use what the developer creates.
All the above explain the importance of ensuring a positive API developer experience. A company that creates API must have a clear strategy to enhance API developer experience. When a developer uses an API, there are 3 types of usage:
- Deploying APIs and managing them.
- Discovering APIs and testing them.
- Monitoring and testing APIs.
To build a great API developer experience there are some key considerations to keep in mind.
- Identify users
The users of the API must be identified. They include the developers who build and maintain the infrastructure.
- Define the functionalities
A good API is one that delivers value while integrating with services or data. Dependability is another key consideration. The API must be reliable, available, and also scalable. The API needs to solve the developer’s problem. It must also reduce calls and structure the data. The API must offer the functionality the developer wants.
- Usability
It is important to optimize the usability of the API. Some considerations here are:
- Allow simple signing up with SSO.
- Proper and effective documentation with code examples.
- Setup time must be fast, and the API request setup must not take more than 5 minutes.
- Improve the experience
The developer experience can be improved by offering support during the development. Forming communities on various channels ensure the developer gets support when needed. The overall experience must be frictionless, so the developer enjoys using the API.
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