When APIs are available for consumption by developers, one of the first points to be considered is the developer onboarding flow, thus making the user experience of the available APIs clearer and more objective. In the Developer Experience team, which supports customers and partners in this initial contact with the APIs, we have as an overview the following flow for an initial understanding of the user journey:

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Each of these pillars reflects a developer action, either through the use of the Developer Portal or in the initial process of using the actual APIs.

Developer Onboarding

In this first step, it is the time to recognize and read information and inputs for better understanding, such as:

– Portal access.

– Documentation analysis.

– Developer registration on the portal, to access potential restricted documentation and start the second step (below).

Consumption

It is the first experience of the developer using the available APIs and the moment to validate the understanding of what was initially verified, focusing on the usability and accesses of:

– Access key creation (app and token).

– Execution/use of the available APIs, both directly through the Portal (if applicable) and starting your own development with tests.

– Control on the API Calls dashboard. So, the developer can identify calls made in a specific period on the Portal and support themin identifying and validating their own development.

Run

From this point, we understand that the developer is already able to start the user flow for the APIs and fully understands the use and well-designed internal standards according to the rules of use.

Support

In addition to mapping all the user experience, including support information and development guides, it is also necessary to provide a support channel. Hence, at any time (both on the developer onboarding and later in production use), the developer will have a direct channel with specialized API support to answer questions and/or deal with problems/difficulties that may appear during use.

In addition to these points, it is important to always be in line with new APIs developments and bring these issues to the onboarding and developer use processes.

Changes may reflect the need for a new perspective to understand the developer onboarding flow, in addition to identify efforts in potential adjustments.

Thus, there is a need for:

– Constant improvements in the Developer Portal along with the documentation.

– Swagger updates and development guides.

And if there is any change in APIs already used, it is also necessary to pay attention to the need for communication. So, be in contact with the developers to align the use of new revisions, versions or implemented changes for processes.

We have already spoken in other posts about the importance of ensuring a good experience for developers; after all, they are also part of your customer portfolio. The onboarding process is extremely important for developers to start their journey with the best impressions. It’s like the saying goes: “First impressions are lasting impressions”.

If you want to learn more about Sensedia Developer Experience, contact us. Our experts are here to answer all your questions.