IT specialists: types, distinctive features

[Man]

I admit that there have been, are and will be many similar articles, but I will still try to make it unique enough, maybe even useful

1. Introduction​

During the process of searching for my first job, and even now, after almost a year of commercial experience (although, perhaps, this is not much at all), I am sometimes stumped by questions about the differences between a business and systems analyst, the primacy of the Product Owner and Project Manager hierarchy, and some others.

And in general, it was interesting to briefly review the specifics of the work of the main groups of IT specialists, so that it would be easier to navigate the corporate environment. This article is the fruit of my attempts to delineate the theoretical spectrum of tasks for some popular positions.

Article format: compilation of data from university courses, other resources, my own speculations and requirements for candidates from HeadHunter vacancies.

1.1 Assumption about IT professionals​

In this article and in general, I include not only classic programmers in the category of IT specialists, but also analysts, testers, administrators, IT project managers and IT product owners who are closely associated with them. In short, those people whose work is related to the development, implementation and support of technological solutions.

1.2 Hierarchy​

The classic ladder, familiar even to people not directly involved in the IT sphere, from news, social media posts and job advertisements:

1. Trainee - a person who has a theoretical base, obtained, for example, at a university, but very little applied knowledge. He goes to a company to "finish his studies", possibly without pay.

2. Junior (junior, assistant) - a beginner specialist, not much superior to an intern (sometimes only in self-confidence), but already a member of the team, who, although supervised, is already accustomed to solving real work tasks. It is possible to make mistakes, ask a lot and work slowly, if this leads to rapid development.

3. Middle (simply a developer, analyst, tester,...) - a mid-level specialist who can already independently (for the most part) solve assigned tasks, decompose them, predict the deadlines for completing the task and meet them. Has already mastered most of both applied and theoretical knowledge.

3.5 Middle+, Senior- (probably not the most common group, I include the so-called "seniors" here) - I highlighted this because I encountered something similar in my company. Here, work with the "younger generation" is gradually beginning, and junior employees are independently assigned tasks.

4. Senior (leader, senior) - a strong specialist in the field, capable of not only completing assigned tasks, but also independently seeing “holes”, the needs of the company, project, team and finding ways to close them, breaking the task into subtasks, distributing them within the team if necessary.

5. Team Leader (TL, manager) — does not necessarily surpass a senior specialist in knowledge, but is a more experienced employee in the field of communications, organizing the work process, interacting with the company's management and distributing responsibilities. May do a little less manual work, but plan more, develop the competencies of colleagues.

We can end here, since already with TL the transition to management begins, which does not quite correspond to the profile of the article, so I recommend reading about C-level separately.

1.3 Profile (I-shape, T-shape, M-shape, flat)​

Before we finally begin to look at specific positions and their functionality, it’s worth discussing the terms we touched on earlier in a little more detail.

So, I-shape is the name given to narrow specialists who are very good in their particular field, but their “outlook” is limited by the framework of their position, project, company.

Generalists, on the contrary, are competent in various related areas to a certain extent, that is, they can understand the essence of the discussion of most of the tasks on the project, but they do not have any clear “strong” sides.

T-shape, as you probably guessed, is a combination of a broad basic outlook and expertise in one area.

M-shape (sometimes P-shape is also distinguished separately) already represents a rare combination of deep knowledge in several areas and an understanding of general concepts in many related areas.

However, although multifunctional specialists are of a higher class than highly specialized ones, due to the limited time in a day, one M-shape employee will not be able to replace the entire department

2. Managers​

First, let's look at the top, that is, the people responsible for a large block of work, but before that, let's define the terms:

A product is a means of delivering value. It has clear boundaries, known stakeholders, and clearly defined users or customers. A product can be a service, a physical product, or something more abstract.

A project is a temporary (limited by a start date and an end date) undertaking aimed at creating a unique product, service or result.

2.1 Product Owner​

The product owner is responsible for achieving maximum value from the product as a result of the team's work. And he achieves this with the help of Scrum - a framework for agile software development.

The product owner understands who is doing what on the team, manages the backlog, and works closely with developers and other stakeholders. They are responsible for ensuring that all team members have a clear understanding of what they are working on and in what order they will complete tasks.

2.2 Project Manager​

The project manager comes into play after the customer interacts with the business analyst.

The task is to provide the team with everything necessary (resources, well-coordinated interaction, information, time won from the customer) and remove obstacles to solving the problem. Creates a work plan, within the framework of which organizes and conducts meetings, sets tasks and monitors their implementation, documents the process and prepares reporting presentations for stakeholders.

2.3 Product Manager​

Product manager, product manager, PM is a hired entrepreneur within the company. He is aimed at developing a product that will bring the greatest profit with the least investment.

The product manager is focused on long-term strategy, is responsible for researching the competitive environment and their audience. Here we are talking about marketing tasks and interaction with clients.

Briefly:

Product Owner is a Scrum role that prioritizes the task list and advises the development team on goals, resources, and deadlines.

Project Manager is a position in the company. Ensures coordination of actions, carries out statuses, solves various organizational issues and documents the process. Equal to PO if the company works according to Scrum.

A Product Manager is a hired entrepreneur who focuses on the "take-off" and long-term operation of a specific product.

3. Developers​

Here everything is quite clear: a developer is a specialist who knows one or several programming languages, uses it to solve specific problems and create some other value, a software product.

For example, we can highlight :

1. Regarding the part of the project being implemented:​

- frontend developer - creates an attractive "shell": menus, buttons, forms. Everything that the end user interacts with;

- backend developer - “builds” the site. He creates server-side processes, thanks to which the application/page performs its direct functions;

- fullstack developer - combines backend and frontend functions to control processes, troubleshoot. He has full knowledge of both professions.

2. By field of activity:​

- DWH-developer - a SQL developer who is engaged in the construction, optimization and maintenance of the Data Warehouse.

- 1C developer - oddly enough, a 1C developer who develops and configures application solutions on the 1C:Enterprise platform.

- Game developer - creation, promotion of games. Most often specialize in specific platforms or genres of games.

There are quite a lot of developers - take, say, a combination of any programming language and the word "developer": here you have a vacancy on HeadHunter.

4. Analysts​

I move on to a topic that is more interesting to me (after all, I am a business analyst. But this is not accurate, since in the consulting sphere, according to my supervisor, we are universal soldiers. We can play both business and systems analytics).

4.1 Business Analyst​

A business analyst is an employee who understands a certain area of company development so well as to be able to identify the main requirements and wishes of the business. It is important not only to write down everything that the customer lists, but also to delve into the essence: is this really what is needed in this situation? Maybe it is worth delving a little deeper and finding out together which solution will be more successful/more profitable/faster?

The second stage is the formulation of the technical task for the development team, monitoring its implementation and... reporting A report on the progress of implementation, on the assessment of the achievement of goals is something that always needs to be compiled.

The goal is to improve business efficiency.

Requirements:

BPMN, UML, JIRA, Bitrix24, Excel and its advanced counterparts (Power Query, Power BI), knowledge of the company's field of activity.

4.2 Systems Analyst​

A systems analyst is a little closer to the development team than a business analyst, since at his level there is a thorough technical development of the technical specifications: to understand and avoid possible risks during development, to determine the requirements for the software, to decompose the task if necessary.

The goal is to optimize the system's operation.

Requirements:

BPMN, UML, user story, use cases, XML, JSON, understanding the development cycle and design methodology.

4.3 Data Analyst​

Data analyst as it is. With reference to a specific subject area according to the specified requirements, collects and processes data, conducts primary analysis and puts forward hypotheses based on it. If necessary, the obtained conclusions are transferred to specialized specialists who are interested in them.

SQL, Python/R, Power BI, A/B tests, mathematical statistics, sometimes requires understanding of basic ML concepts.

There may be some branches of Data Analytics, such as:

- Product analyst - a specialist in this profile monitors the state of the product and improves it.

Conducts a comprehensive analysis of data to identify and explain cause-and-effect relationships directly or indirectly related to the product in order to ultimately select the best product development trajectory.

Requirements:

SQL, Python/R, Power BI, A/B tests, mathematical statistics.

- A BI analyst (Business Intelligence analyst) ensures the collection, storage and analysis of data generated as a result of the company's activities. On this basis, formulates and tests hypotheses, visualizes results, automates reporting, helping the business speed up its work and see weak points.

- Data scientist - based on what I have read and heard at various lectures, such a person can be considered both a high-class Data analyst and a modern specialist in mathematical statistics and probability theory. Why?

The specifics of the work presuppose both the ability to understand data, find patterns, note key metrics, and build specific models that generalize these relationships, helping to assess possible further developments based on the available data. But, since all models, both classical (like linear and logistic regression, decision trees, support vector methods) and “modern” (neural networks, for example) are entirely based on statistical calculations and computing power, strong statistical training is clearly evident.

Requirements:

Python/R/C++, ML, DL, Hadoop, Spark, SQL, Git.

- A web analyst collects and analyzes all information about user behavior on a website (for example, the time of active page viewing, the sales funnel on the website (how many visited the website, how many chose a certain product, how many paid...). Tracks how well the work on the website was done by both the SEO and SMM specialist and other participants in the process;

P.S. An SEO specialist is engaged in the optimization and promotion of websites in search engines, and an SMM specialist is engaged in the promotion and maintenance of a profile in social networks.

5. Other specialists​

The three groups considered earlier did not include all the positions, but some of them are very interesting and deserve consideration.

5.1 Information security specialist​

An information security specialist is engaged in the implementation of mechanisms that help prevent data leakage at the stage of code analysis, error detection and correction. Including providing access to information to its owners or persons entitled to it.

5.2 System Administrator​

A system administrator is an employee whose job responsibilities include ensuring the regular operation of a software park. For example, he or she is involved in installing and configuring software and hardware, creating and updating accounts, and sometimes information security.

5.3 Tester​

The tester checks the functionality of the product given to him after development. Preference is given to automation and completeness of testing (what will happen if the client decides to go to the personal account from a link in Google with HTC Desire?), including the use of load testing (will the application or site cope with the simultaneous actions of many users?).

The detected errors are sent for revision, after which the cycle is repeated. That is what automation is for.

5.4 Data Architect​

A data architect is a specialist who designs and develops information systems. He or she defines its framework, determines what, where and how it will be stored, and is responsible for ensuring that the system is efficient, reliable and meets customer requirements.

Requirements:

SQL, OLTP&OLAP, data warehouse modeling and design, ETL, DataLake.

5.5 Data Engineer​

Data engineer, a specialist who is engaged in the construction (i.e. setting up data overload from sources) and maintenance of infrastructure for working with data, as well as their preliminary processing.

If an architect models, then an engineer creates. A data scientist reaps the fruits of labor - uses ready-made data.

Requirements:

Python, SQL, T-SQL, optimization, ETL, AirFlow, Spark

5.6 DevOps Engineer​

Development & operations engineer is a specialist who is engaged in the automation of development, testing and deployment processes, continuous improvement of tools and technical processes.

The profession became relevant with the advent of web services and the need for frequent and quick software updates, which is difficult to do with a step-by-step approach (development - testing - release), so this specialist combines all these processes and also manages the product versioning.

5.7 UX/UI Designer​

The main task of a designer is to create a visually interesting interface and provide excellent user experience.

UX (User Experience) is how the user interacts with the interface and how convenient the site or application is for them. UX includes site navigation, menu functionality and the result of interaction with pages, as well as dialog boxes, button functionality, search settings and forms.

UI (User Interface) is the design of a website: color combinations, fonts, icons and buttons.

The designer uses mockups (primary layouts) and wireframes (detailed black-and-white plans of website pages created by the client or business analyst) to develop layouts and design the software user interface that follows best practices and the latest trends.

The designer also creates a prototype that reflects the behavior and appearance of the future product and allows it to be tested on a real device before the development cycle begins.

6. Epilogue​

It seems to be asking for a structure, but what kind of conclusion is there if the "definitions" and skill requirements are scattered? But okay, let's assume this:

Depending on the size of the company, the complexity of the internal structure and the meticulousness of the organization of processes, many theoretically different roles can be combined in one employee. So, perhaps, all of the above remains only theoretical calculations and will not become a correct guideline in the near future.

Probably, when all these professions become commonplace, old, understandable to everyone, there will be a common understanding of the responsibilities that they carry with them, however...

When else will this happen?

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