IT professionals working with application programming interfaces (APIs) in 2022 might expect a focus on solving issues around greater standardisation and security.
Tyler Charboneau, writing for API-focused events management company Nordic APIs, said that SmartBear’s 2021 State of Software Quality report pinpointed key concerns for API practitioners.
“API design must be predictable and repeatable for greater scalability. These APIs existing in a microservices world must also be free from show-stopping vulnerabilities,” Charboneau said in his report summary.
He said that 61% of respondents think that microservices will strongly drive API growth, and 43% voted for devops as the second-biggest driver.
“Because the microservices trend is so new, lack of experience and skills are still problematic. The approach is still maturing and gaining steam,” he added.
About 35% of organisations in the survey that hadn’t made the switch indicate comfort with existing infrastructure.
However, SmartBear’s 2021 report — which Charboneau praised as “illuminating industry analysis” — found that those who work with APIs have a positive outlook on their organisations and relationships with such technologies.
“Companies are moving in the right direction — which is wonderful news for both providers and consumers,” he wrote.
“Evolving API trends have made an impact. SmartBear shares that APIs have become synonymous with many businesses and, therefore, drivers of brand awareness. It’s also crucial that these APIs meet or exceed customer expectations — especially as the software market grows more saturated.”
Charboneau said that SmartBear surveyed some 1,600 global API practitioners across 18 industries. Users of open-source tools like Swagger, Collaborator, SoapUI, and ReadyAPI were the primary focus, with 40% of respondents identifying as “multi-discipline” developers, 14% as architects and 11% QA professionals.
IT and service consultants were best represented this year (34%). Next came finance, banking, and insurance sectors.
Read the full blog post from Nordic APIs for more details.
SmartBear is holding a 60-minute webinar on Wednesday 16 December based on learnings from the report for code-review trends and best practice – click here to learn more and sign up.
