Submitted by Jonah Sheridan Fenn on Tue, 2017-01-31 04:16
User Level: 
Advanced

So, you've decided to take the plunge into Drupal development.

By this point you've probably already realized that there are a few different Drupal levels to explore:

  • Content Strategy
  • User Management
  • Site-Building

When we start trying on developer hats on, though, we discover that there are a few different ones:

  • Feature Developers
    • Creates and packages Drupal configurations into shareable mini-modules known as "Features"
    • Strong entity and views configuration skills
    • Should have a fairly strong grasp of HTML and CSS
    • May or may not know other programming languages such as PHP
  • Front End/Theme Developers
    • Creates themes
    • Exceptional HTML and CSS skills
    • Has, at least, minimal PHP skills
    • Probably knows additional front end languages such as javascript, jQuery, Nodejs, etc
  • Module Developers
    • Creates new modules and fixes bugs in existing ones
    • Exceptional HTML foundation and is, at least, passable with CSS
    • Exceptional PHP and database skills
    • Probably knows at least a couple of additional programming languages
    • Has, at least, some familiarity with systems
  • Systems/Dev Ops Developers
    • Primarily works in the back end, keeping things up and running
    • Exceptional PHP and database skills
    • Deals more with servers and networks
    • Very involved with testing and continuous integration systems
    • Typically exists for very large/enterprise level Drupal installations

Most folks will lean heavily to one type of development and have some basic familiarity with one or two others, but there are a few rare people out there that are proficient in all types.