Look up developer or developers in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Developer may refer to:

• Software developer, one who programs computers or designs the system to match the requirements of a systems analyst
• Game developer, a person or business involved in game development, the process of designing and creating games
• In real estate development, one who builds on land or alters the use of an existing building for some new purpose
• Photographic developer, a chemical, often a mixture of metol and hydroquinone, which converts the latent silver halide image in the exposed photograph material into reduced, opaque, black silver metal
• Developer (album), the fifth album by Indie rock band Silkworm

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A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software.^[1] A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management. They may contribute to the overview of the project on the application level rather than component-level or individual programming tasks. Software developers are often still guided by lead programmers but the description also encompasses freelance software developers.

In the US, a software developer is classified into one of 3 titles (all under the 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations Major Group):^[2]

1. 15-1131 Computer Programmers^[3]
2. 15-1132 Software Developers, Applications^[4]
3. 15-1133 Software Developers, Systems Software^[5]

A person who develops stand-alone software (that is more than just a simple program) and got involved with all phases of the development (design and code) is a software developer.^{[citation needed]} Some of the notable software people include Peter Norton (developer of Norton Utilities), Richard Garriott (Ultima-series creator), and Philippe Kahn (Borland key founder), all of whom started as entrepreneurial individual or small-team software developers before becoming rich and famous.

Other names which are often used in the same close context are programmer, software analyst, and software engineer.

According to developer Eric Sink, the differences between system design, software development and programming are more apparent. Already in the current market place there can be found a segregation between programmers and developers,^{[dubious – discuss]} being that one who implements is not the same as the one who designs the class structure or hierarchy. Even more so that developers become systems architects, those who design the multi-leveled architecture or component interactions of a large software system.^[6] (see also Debate over who is a software engineer)

Aspects of developer's job may include:

• Software design
• Actual core implementation (programming which is often the most important portion of software development)
• Other required implementations (e.g. installation, configuration, customization, integration, data migration)
• Participation in software product definition, including business case or gap analysis
• Specification
• Requirements analysis
• Development and refinement of throw-away simulations or prototypes to confirm requirements
• Feasibility and cost–benefit analysis, including the choice of application architecture and framework, leading to the budget and schedule for the project
• Authoring of documentation needed by users and implementation partners etc.
• Testing, including defining/supporting acceptance testing and gathering feedback from pre-release testers
• Participation in software release and post-release activities, including support for product launch evangelism (e.g. developing demonstrations and/or samples) and competitive analysis for subsequent product build/release cycles
• Maintenance

In a large company, there may be employees whose sole responsibility may consist of only one of the phases above. In smaller development environments, a few, or even a single individual might handle the complete process.

Separation of concerns[link]

In more mature engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil and electrical engineering, the designers are separate from the implementers. That is, the engineers who generate design documents are not the same individuals who actually build things (such as mechanical parts, circuits, or roads, for instance). In software engineering, it is more common to have the architecture, design, implementation, and test functions performed by a single individual. In particular, the design and implementation of source code is commonly integrated.^{[citation needed]}

This resembles the early phases of industrialization in which individuals would both design and build things. More mature organizations have separate test groups, but the architecture, design, implementation, and unit test functions are often performed by the same highly trained individuals.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

Steve Ballmer
Ballmer in 2010.
Born	(1956-03-24) March 24, 1956 (age 56) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Residence	Hunts Point, Washington. U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University (A.B.) Stanford University (Dropout)
Occupation	CEO of Microsoft
Home town	Farmington Hills, Michigan, U.S.
Salary	$1,351,121 (2010)[1]
Net worth	US$ 15.7 billion (2012)[2]
Awards	Legion of Honour[3]
Website
Steve Ballmer - Microsoft.com

Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer (born March 24, 1956)^[4] is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000.^[4] As of 2012^[update], his personal wealth is estimated at $15.7 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.^[2]

Early life[link]

Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to a Swiss American father and a Jewish American mother.^[5] He grew up in the community of Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1973, he attended college prep and engineering classes at Lawrence Technological University and graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, with a perfect score of 800 on the mathematical section of the SAT. ^{[6] [7]} He now sits on the school's board of directors. In 1977, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a A.B. in mathematics and economics.

At college, Ballmer managed the football team, worked on The Harvard Crimson newspaper as well as the Harvard Advocate, and lived down the hall from fellow sophomore Bill Gates. He then worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, who later became CEO of General Electric.^[8] In 1980, he dropped out of the Stanford Graduate School of Business to join Microsoft.^[9]

Microsoft[link]

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates.^[10]

Ballmer was initially offered a salary of $50,000 as well as a percentage of ownership of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, Ballmer owned 8 percent of the company. During the subsequent 20 years, Ballmer headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In January 2000, he was officially named Chief Executive Officer.^[4] As CEO, Ballmer handled company finances, however Gates still retained control of the "technological vision". He served as President of Microsoft from July 1998 to February 2001, having previously served as Executive Vice President, Sales and Support since February 1992. Ballmer led Microsoft's development of the .NET Framework.^[11]

In 2003, Ballmer sold 8.3% of his shareholdings, leaving him with a 4% stake in the company.^[12] The same year, Ballmer replaced Microsoft's employee stock options program.

In 2009, and for the first time ever since Bill Gates left Microsoft as full-time chairman, Ballmer made the opening keynote at CES.

Ballmer has also served as Director of Accenture Ltd. as well as a General Partner of Accenture SCA since October 2001.

Persona[link]

Ballmer is known for his energetic and exuberant persona, which is meant to motivate employees and partners.^[13] His flamboyant stage appearances at Microsoft events are widely circulated on the Internet as viral videos.^[14][15][16] One widely circulated video, captured at a developers' conference, features a perspiring Ballmer chanting the word "developers".^[17][18]

Bill Gates steps down[link]

The Wall Street Journal has reported that there was tension surrounding the 2000 transition of authority from Bill Gates to Ballmer. Things became so bitter that, on one occasion, Gates stormed out of a meeting in a huff after a shouting match in which Ballmer jumped to the defense of several colleagues, according to an individual present at the time. After the exchange, Ballmer seemed "remorseful", the person said. Once Gates leaves, "I'm not going to need him for anything. That's the principle," Ballmer said. "Use him, yes, need him, no."^[19]

On competing companies and software[link]

Apple[link]

Speaking at a conference in NYC in 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer criticized Apple's pricing, saying; 'Now I think the tide has turned back the other direction (against Apple),' Ballmer said. 'The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment — same piece of hardware — paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be.'^[20]

Free and open source software[link]

He has referred to the free software Linux kernel as a "cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches."^[21] Ballmer used the notion of "viral" licensing terms to express his concern over the fact that the GNU General Public License (GPL) employed by such software requires that all derivative software be under the GPL or a compatible license.

Google[link]

In 2005, Mark Lucovsky alleged in a sworn statement to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon hearing that Lucovsky was about to leave Microsoft for Google, picked up his chair, and threw it across his office. Referring to Google CEO Eric Schmidt (who previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer vowed to "kill Google" in an expletive-laden tirade^[22] then resumed trying to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described characterizations of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place".

During a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco(2011) he said: "You don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone and you do to use an Android phone…It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones." ^[23][24]

Sports[link]

Steve Ballmer taking a seat at the KeyArena to watch the Seattle SuperSonics

On March 6, 2008, Seattle's Mayor announced that a local ownership group involving Ballmer made a "game changing" commitment to invest $150 million in cash toward a $300 million renovation of Key Arena and were ready to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics in order to keep them in the City of Seattle. However, this initiative failed, and the Sonics have since relocated to Oklahoma City, now performing as Oklahoma City Thunder.^[25]

Media portrayals[link]

• Bad Boy Ballmer: The Man Who Rules Microsoft (2002), Fredric Alan Maxwell, ISBN 0-06-621014-3 (unauthorized biography)
• The 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley features Ballmer as a major character; he is played by actor John DiMaggio.

Wealth[link]

Ballmer was the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. Ballmer is the 44th richest person in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated wealth of $15.7 billion.^[26] While CEO of Microsoft in 2009, Ballmer earned a total compensation of $1,276,627 which included a base salary of $665,833 a cash bonus of $600,000, no stock or options, and other compensation of $10,794.^[27]

Personal life[link]

In 1990, he married Connie Snyder. They have three sons.^[28]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steve Ballmer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Ballmer

• Corporate biography
• Forbes World's Richest People listing
• South China Morning Post audio interview
• Steve Ballmer Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show February 23, 2005
• Forbes.com's Billionaire List