I too want to be cloud developer

In last few years cloud was one of those word which we developer hardly spend a day with out listening. In fact its becoming quite louder and in future we will see more software run in cloud. As a developer I always wonder cloud means what change in my design and coding. Any way my java program need a JVM whether its on premise or in cloud how does it change. Users will see my web app through a browser what changes if it served from a on premise web server or a cloud web server at the end we need a Java servlet container to run our server side code. So how will I adapt to this cloud computing ?

As I started seeing cloud from more close quarter, I can say with some minor tweaks we can leverage the power of cloud computing. While talking about the cloud the next word come to my mind is "elasticity". It means our IT resources like computing storage etc can seamlessly expand and contract based on the need. With out upfront H/W cost we will pay as we use and we will use as we need. This particular things bring down the cost of IT. So for a developer like us increase the scope of further imagination. We can have more storage and compute as we need.

To appreciate the elasticity nature of the cloud our software design should be truly distributed and loosely coupled. If the software is segregated in different independent component then its very easy for a particular component can scale to meet demand, which will be the most efficient use of resource. All these things are also popularly known as micro service architecture.

Another good thing is cloud vendors provide a lots of standard software building blocks and technique. So we can quickly turn around new features and software.

I believe that cloud will make software more affordable so that more people can use the power computing.

Automation is boon or bane

"Automation" dictionary meaning is "the use or introduction of automatic equipment in a manufacturing or other process or facility. And the next line is ‘unemployment due to the spread of automation’. This word is quite old probably its in practice from 1940. So when we read lots of stories like impact of automation and job loss because of it, I wonder how this problem is not solved yet.
If we look back Human evolution, apart from the biological changes we are continuously improving tools and adapting to use them. So we invent and discover something lets say motor car. then we try to produce them in scale by setting up factory and establishing process. And slowly we delicate these task to different tools which are machine, robots and computers. In this process we force our fellow human from one form of job to another. So we always move to more productive things.

I belong to digital industry which thrives on the possibility of automation. Computers and software are catalyst for automation. After automating different industry now we are looking inside. It means IT will be more efficient in term of economy more people can afford and use.

For a developer perspective if we look beyond job risk, there are lots of possibilities are in horizon. Now all the development platform or systems are automatically provisioned. So we can have more servers, compute more storage to write and test our code. With test automation we will be more confident on our changes and quality. With automatic monitoring the health of our production system and software our systems will be more reliable. We are having smart editor which generate some part of code to assist developers. So in less time we can code more features.

My point is automation is a contentious process and an ultimate truth. The one who adapts it open to learn new productive way of doing always thrive.

Magic with Computers

The expectation from a computer is always to do something which surprise us, which complement human brain in terms of memory, processing, decision making, thinking and imagining. When I say computer, it includes smart phone, tablets or wearable devices. When we compare it with washing machine, refrigerator or lift, we always expect more out of a computer.
First time when ATM machines were introduced,  people were amazed how banking can be experienced seamlessly. You can deposit money in one location and withdraw from a different location instantly. When we first time sent an email, or did video chat all were magical experience.

But Now a days all these look normal and nothing great about it. So for a programmer whats next ?
what are the things or feature will get that "wow" from the user, keeping in mind now a days almost every one has been introduced to Facebook and google.

I feel below points will help to do the magic.

Simple UI

Its very easy to say simple ui, all of us know and its a quite old rule. But still it holds good and the people consciously or sub consciously decide whether to use or not based on user experience.

There is no rule or some way you can measure whether the one design is better than other. But certainly there are lots of good practices. I believe deeper understanding of the problem and solution based on user perspective, knowing different attribute of your target audience like region, language, age group, popular culture of target audience will certainly help enhance for better user experience.

User experience is so important that, if you skip reading the below points from now, still you can get a wow from the user.

Input / Command

We appreciate some one obey the commands and do our work, But we love and addict to those who do the required task with out the command.
The less input,intervention is required for system to work enhance user experience . While designing system we can follow some philosophy like  don't ask for explicit input, rather than observe it from the environment or historical data.

Prediction

Dare to predict and suggest and improve your prediction based on time. Always try to add some more value to the user.

Its a continuous process, reiterate the above point  time to time.

Let me know your thoughts how to get a wow ....