10 Skills Every SharePoint Developer Needs (2024)
Discover the top 10 skills that every SharePoint developer needs in 2024 to excel in their role. Improve your SharePoint development skills with this guide.
10 Skills Every SharePoint Developer Needs (2024)
In this post, we will show you the most important SharePoint Developer skills you should look out for if you want to succeed (in fact, this expertise are non-negotiable)
SharePoint developers use their knowledge in writing codes to build websites and applications among many other responsibilities thus underpinning their important role to their team, clients, and an organization.
Looking for a SharePoint Developer?
A new report shows that many companies would struggle to find SharePoint developers who have both the right technical skills and personality to fill their positions. It’s just crazy that as more companies struggle to fill roles, the competition grows as well as the incidence of fly-by-night imposters.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, this is hard work. And with the marketplace full of businesses fiercely trying to outmaneuver each other, how do you get ahead?
By determining the expertise of the candidate. A good SharePoint developer should not be lacking in specific areas.
As you learn about the top 10 skills essential for SharePoint developers in 2024, understanding these proficiencies is just the beginning. If you're looking to hire SharePoint developers who embody these vital skills, our job portal is the perfect place to connect with such talented professionals.
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Now, let’s continue exploring each of these key skills and how they contribute to the success of a SharePoint developer.
So, what are these skills required for a SharePoint developer?
These are the 10 most important skills of Sharepoint developer you should keep in mind:
1. Mastery of SharePoint and SharePoint platform-specific tools
This is a no-brainer. Anyone who wants to work as a SharePoint developer has to have a solid understanding of SharePoint and its other out-of-the-box solutions and be able to combine them skillfully during ongoing projects.
Though considered a very nifty solution, SharePoint still requires a great deal of mastery combined with a robust strategy and planning on the part of the practitioner to get the most juice out of it.
“Without proper architecture and governance, I can guarantee you that SharePoint will fail” Mixon Consulting’s President, Bob Mixon, says.
The bottom line: SharePoint development requires a very good mastery of SharePoint and the other out-of-the-box solutions otherwise your project will fail.
So,
Very Important: The candidate you are considering should be able to demonstrate their knowledge of SharePoint. This is a must.
Measure their competence through their proficiency in the following SharePoint platform-specific tools: Visio, SharePoint Ribbon, SharePoint Designer, Visual Studio, and SharePoint Object Model (SOM). Others include Office 365, Web parts, SharePoint apps, User Store, Workflows, Master pages as well as Business Connectivity Services, Page Layouts, Windows Workflow Foundation, PowerShell, and others.
2. Proficiency in Programming languages and Framework
There are few skills to quickly determine the ability of a SharePoint developer faster than programming languages and their various frameworks. Anyone wanting to work as a SharePoint developer should be "both theoretically sound and proven in practice"
Here is something to note
Ideally, the prospective hire should have a suitable qualification in the form of a college degree in Computer science for example, or hands-on training in Programming, this should by no means downplay the importance of having relevant professional experience. We discovered that developers with at least 6 months' experience do better than those without.
So friends, if you really want to see results fast without having to worry about the quality of performance, we can’t impress upon you enough that it is a must demand that a SharePoint developer prove their prowess in programming.
What coding language does SharePoint use?
.NET
This is the basis of SharePoint and any custom development that needs to be done in this environment requires knowledge of the .NET syntax to make it work.
JavaScript
A SharePoint developer who really knows Javascript and its frameworks and libraries can not fail. Javascript is very valuable for running scripts that make light complex tasks and for customization processes.
C#
c# is “a general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language” that runs on the. NET. A SharePoint developer should have a good understanding of all its features, syntax, operatives, variables, strings, etc.
CSS and HTML
These languages are required to develop features that users interact with when using web applications. They influence the aesthetics and user experience of the product which then informs how the product will be perceived and received. It is, therefore, a must for the SharePoint developer to have more than solid CSS and HTML skills.
3. Skillful in highly functional UI/UX design processes
Remember, you are not in business for yourself alone – but for the satisfaction of the end-user.
Therefore, at the heart of almost all SharePoint development projects is user experience. The second one is solving problems for the end-user. The SharePoint developer should know this and demonstrate the ability in bringing it to life through their UI and UX skills.
SharePoint developers should have an eye for identifying problems end users are struggling with, combined with the ability to envisage the perfect solution and then build the most suitable features to alleviate the problems. This is one sure-fire characteristic of a great SharePoint developer - do well to add it to your ideal recruitment profile.
4. Testing and Debugging capabilities
There’s a great advantage in having a SharePoint developer with incredibly good Testing and Debugging skills (i.e having the nose to find bugs and errors during then the magic to fix them!)
A while back, we had a pesky SharePoint developer on our team. We remember him because he was a genius in finding and putting out small fires before they become disasters during software development. The result of his incredible skill was able to save us from a potential data breach caused by a seemingly good code one time. And down the road, we look back at how that act alone saved our reputation and of course money.
Now your goal is to find an individual with such abilities minus the pesky nature of our friend.
Knowledge in Incremental testing, unit testing, integration testing, alpha, and beta testing, Sanity checks, Traceback techniques, and a “fix the cause, not the symptom” mentality is a must. Additionally, the individual should be able to prove their ability to conduct Defect Analysis and report preparation. Plus, a good understanding of the common debuggers such as Radare2, WinDbg, and Valgrind.
If you find a SharePoint developer with these capabilities, it can’t hurt to make them an offer assuming other conditions are met.
Knowing efficient Testing and Debugging methods not only helps the SharePoint professional but also helps his/her colleagues who may be working on the same project as them.
5. A SharePoint developer should have excellent communication skills
Another great skill you should expect from a top SharePoint developer is communication.
There are all kinds of people that can collaborate on a project, and depending on what you hope to achieve and your target industry, chances are there will always be the need to work with people at different stages of a project.
So find a SharePoint developer that takes pride in sharing ideas, and enjoys communicating in different contexts, and with different people.
Your candidate of choice should be able to give and receive feedback. Being able to give honest feedback in a detailed, succinct, and professional way is important. Over the past decades working on countless projects involving tons of industries we can say with confidence that the ability to give and receive feedback is often what makes projects successful.
It is important to be able to handle clients, especially to be able to highlight the solutions that provide the most value to their users. Therefore a developer should be able to educate said clients on how software, features, or whatever that's been built works. The experts must be able to present their ideas, points, and work in an easy-to-understand way.
By asking questions during interviews, you can tell if your candidate is a good fit. A confident and competent SharePoint developer will glow when presented with an opportunity to educate and help their listener learn. Another thing: did he/she ask you questions? When an interviewee asks questions, it is a positive trait. These are signs that they’ll be great at communicating.
Finally, we live in interesting times driven by technology and the demands of the Covid-19 Pandemic. So it is more likely that teams would be remote and communication would be via tools like Skype, Email, and other electronic channels - there is no gainsaying a SharePoint developer should know how to use these tools effectively. The last thing you want is to be left in the dark because your SharePoint developer can’t use your company’s communication tool; that would be unfortunate.
6. Exceptional collaborative Skills
A SharePoint developer can be valuable even without being the sharpest tool in the shed when compared to the technical skills of others thanks to their ability to work effectively within a team. This is particularly relevant in SharePoint development which is a highly collaborative endeavor.
On several occasions, we have worked with developers who may not be the most skilled in their teams but end up being among the most valuable thanks to their attitudes. It is important to hire a SharePoint developer that is eager to contribute to the team and help their colleagues.
Some practical collaborative knowledge you should ensure they have include understanding how to use Microsoft Teams for conversation and collaboration. Another is using the document library to track changes as well as knowing their way around project management tools like a simple “My Work” dashboard which can be used to delegate duty as well as update their completed tasks.
7. Databases and Documentation Expertise
When you are looking to hire a SharePoint developer, go into the process considering the need to deal with data and documentation.
SharePoint developers should at least acquire a rough understanding of databases not only because of the hype surrounding big data and machine learning but also because application data is still stored in databases.
Additionally, document files and data need to be properly stored following the project cycle. It is crucial that they are properly categorized and primed for easy retrieval when needed.
At least the SharePoint developer should know how databases work. How is data queried, inserted, updated, or deleted? How are data sets combined and documented? It is important to know about all these.
8. Cloud Technology Experience
With an increasing shift towards cloud-based technology, a SharePoint developer lacking in knowledge in this area will struggle at some point. This is a handicap that is avoidable when you hire right.
Here is the fact of the matter:
Microsoft is steadily invested in building a swathe of cloud-based applications to support SharePoint and Office 365 environments. Examples of these applications include Yammer, MS Teams, MS PowerApps, MS Flow, and MS Planner.
With that said, it is, therefore, crucial that your hire is knowledgeable enough to not only choose the appropriate tools that can add value to your business, but the person should also be able to put them to good use for your business and staff.
9. Business Process Automation
A few years ago we had the opportunity to work with a client in a very demanding industry - Health. Guess what? Business process automation saved the day in a big way.
Business process automation is cool because it helps cut costs and increase productivity by automating common processes such as onboarding, reporting, accounting, billing, reporting, feedback, training, etc. seen in business. This is where SharePoint comes in. And a good developer should be able to customize it to perform this role. To that end, the individual must have an excellent command of SharePoint workflow elements.
10. Versatility
Even your superhero did need help at some point. As a business, you can ensure help is always close by on-demand by hiring a SharePoint developer that has lots of tricks off their sleeves.
In other words, who should give a nod to a professional that is comfortable working with different technologies and platforms.
We encourage you to pick developers who understand the importance of technology decisions from a birds-eye view and can quickly hold their own irrespective of the stage of the project or the technology being used. The result? They make the work of colleagues easier and also help teams to be small and efficient.
Fortunately, having a wide and eclectic range of competence is good for both startups with cash constraints and established companies looking to streamline their processes.
When considering an applicant, the individual in view should be able to convince you that they are familiar with a stack of technologies, and can prioritize, adapt to changes to deliver value.
Bottomline
By all means, the list is not exhaustive. However, they are the foundation upon which a great Sharepoint developer is built. Hire a top SharePoint developer on EliteBrains!
