Blog Layout
Authenticating.com API Experience Review
Bill Doerrfeld | May 10, 2020
I was recently tasked to audit the Developer Experience of the Authenticating.com APIs, a suite of low code APIs for developers to add trust and safety to their applications.
More Info: Developer Experience Reviews
My goal was to provide actionable insights to improve the DX and marketability of the service. The project culminated in a 14 page report and 1-1 consultation.
Overall, though I found developer experience hangups with Authenticating.com, the core service has strong market potential.
Certain API design incongruities were found while testing. Certain API calls didn't match documentation in practice. Error handling was inconsistent. No sandbox existed, no developer account dashboard was live, and doc design looked like a basic template. I also found endpoint naming inconsistencies, and other style issues.
My recommendations included standardizing API design and style elements, and improving documentation to be more explicit for more use cases and circumstances. I recommended adding an OpenAPI specification as a source of truth, and a sandbox for API testing.
As the API landscape grows, developer experience is becoming more of a top concern, especially for newcomers trying to get a foothold in the market. I really enjoyed this project and hope to do more developer experience reviews in the future!
I caught up with CTO Itiel Shwartz about leveraging finely tuned models like Komodor’s KlaudiaAI agent for ultra-specific DevOps challenges, like Kubernetes error diagnosis and remediation challenges.
Rolling out AI is all about framing it in a positive light, says GitLab's CTO, Sabrina Farmer. I interviewed her for the latest edition of DirectorPlus for LeadDev, which is out today.
Surmounting risks are encouraging CIOs to future-proof and update their resilience strategies. My latest feature for CIO.com explores resilience head-on.
Today, DX debuted a new developer productivity framework, DX Core 4. Excited to break the news with LeadDev, interviewing one of the designers of the framework.
In this issue of DirectorPlus, Gus Fune shares the story behind reverse engineering a monolithic e-commerce platform following MACH principles, which stands for microservices, APIs, cloud-native, and headless.
Having good API documentation is one thing. Being specification-first is next level. Here are the benefits a specification-driven, git-based approach to documentation can bring to partner API integrations.
75% of APIs stray from their OpenAPI specifications. My feature explores why API drift is so common and how engineering leaders should mitigate this issue.
At the latest KubeCon, Kubernetes maturity, AI workloads, platform engineering, open-source funding, and WebAssembly were recurring themes.
My latest feature for InfoWorld explores where WebAssembly (Wasm) shines and where containers can't be beaten, featuring perspectives from a cast of industry experts.
My keynote from Platform Summit 2024 walks through API economy trends like AI, description languages, spec drift, unbundling, developer experience, governance, and more.
