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10.20.08
SOA Skillset Platform Neutral Developers
 By Mike Kavis
I have discussed the role of the SOA Evangelist and the importance of the architects. Today I will discuss the different developer roles and the characteristics that make a successful SOA developer.
In a traditional 3-tier architecture it was common that there was a presentation layer, a middle tier or application layer, and a data layer. In some cases, a single developer role was responsible for all three layers. In larger companies, there may have been specialized roles such as a UI developer, an application developer, and a database developer.
In an SOA, the concept of an application is no longer relevant except from the standpoint of integrating to existing applications. With SOA, we should be building business services that are application independent. The following chart is one I have used in previous posts which shows a typical breakdown of some of the development roles required for SOA.
So let's talk about business services. A business service is the compilation of all of the work done by the collection of developers within each layer. For example, let's discuss a "Shopping Cart" business service like the one we use on Amazon.com. It is most likely made up of services and/or components that live within each of the various layers of the architecture. The presentation layer obviously contains the physical implementation which the user sees and interacts within the browser. The business process layer contains the logical flow of steps that walk the user through the checkout process from start to finish. The business rule layer contains rules about tax codes, discounts, memberships, etc. and the underlying data elements and structures are handled in the data layer.
In many instances, companies have multiple data structures that serve similar functions due to mergers, acquisitions, years of legacy systems, 3rd party application purchases, and many other reasons. To abstract these different data structures and present a common data interface that hides the complexity of the physical implementation of the data, the data services layer exists (think master data management).
So to develop this shopping cart business service, all of the people working within the different layers of the architecture must collaborate to deliver the service in a way that it both meets the business requirements and the technical requirements as defined by the SOA Governance model that the company has adopted. Examples of the technical requirements might be...
- Adheres to WS-* security standards
- Data encryption policies
- Platform neutral implementation
- Meets specific performance requirements
Why do I bring all of this up? Because developers that will succeed developing in a service-oriented architecture need to have the following characteristics:
- Flexible, open to change
- Collaborative
- Able to work in a setting with peers reviewing their work
- Able to see the big picture
- Not married to a certain technology
- Able to withstand constructive criticism
- Innovative
Continue reading this articles...
About the Author:
Mike Kavis is a veteran Chief Architect with over 23 years of IT experience including distributed computing, SOA, BPM, data warehouse, business intelligence, and enterprise architecture. Read Mike's blog at Enterprise Initiatives.
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