What’s Next for the Sitecore Developer Community?

Sitecore has shaken up the content management industry recently as they’ve doubled down on their move towards composability. With the recent announcement of three new public cloud products, Sitecore Search, Content Hub One, and Sitecore Connect, the digital experience software provider has given businesses a few more options for content creation and delivery.

However, the recent moves have left many Sitecore developers in limbo, wondering what direction to take as Sitecore transitions away from being a .NET suite. At Oshyn, we’ve been helping customers understand what options they have at their disposal while navigating the Sitecore ecosystem. We also have some ideas about what’s next for Sitecore developers.

What Is a Sitecore Developer?

A Sitecore developer has extensive experience working with Sitecore products as well as .NET, .NET Core, and ASP.NET. Sitecore developers are familiar with the ins and outs of Sitecore and help companies with the implementation process and squeezing as much value as possible out of the platform.

Sitecore developers have traditionally been in high demand as any business that relies on Sitecore to manage their content experience or leverages other solutions such as Sitecore CDP, Sitecore Send, and others often need support due to the complexity of the platform.

Read More: 4 Things to Look For When Hiring a Sitecore Developer

The Future for Sitecore Developers

Sitecore has generally understood the value its extensive developer community offers, both to the platform and Sitecore customers. Sitecore offers a number of resources for getting started using Sitecore, training, documentation, and access to a community where other developers can interact.

The reality is that Sitecore has moved toward composability to keep up with headless CMS players who are siphoning market share. If you can’t beat them, you have to join them, and Sitecore has definitely seen the writing on the wall.

However, the downside of the composability move is that it could leave many Sitecore developers, who have spent years mastering the platform, in the lurch. Sitecore’s products, particularly its platform DXP, have been notoriously complicated for companies without training to implement on their own. Hence the value proposition of numerous developers.

But if you’re a Sitecore developer today, you need to consider whether or not your loyalty is to Sitecore or the .NET platform.

Option 1: Rolling With the PunchesDevelopers aren’t strangers to being adaptable, and Sitecore’s composable gambit will require Sitecore specialists to embrace that experience. If you want to continue working with Sitecore, then you will need to focus more on JavaScript frameworks like Vue, React, and Angular to adequately cater to the future needs of the Sitecore ecosystem.

Option 2: Stick With .NETIf you aren’t ready or willing to become a JavaScript developer and want to stick to working with .NET, it might mean pivoting away from Sitecore toward another CMS. Platforms like Optimizely still use .NET and need specialist developers. Alternatively, another .NET-based product may have to be considered as you move away from the content management industry altogether.

As the Sitecore ecosystem evolves, businesses and developers alike will have a lot on their minds about which direction to take.

Oshyn is a certified Sitecore partner with extensive experience working with the platform. If you’re a business and need a consultation about what changes could be on the horizon for your content management needs or your team of developers using Sitecore, contact us for a consultation.