Apigee is a full-featured API platform offered by Google Cloud, designed to help organizations manage and secure their APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). It provides a range of tools and services for API development, analytics, security, and traffic management. If you’re interested in becoming an Apigee developer, here are some key concepts and skills you should be familiar with:
- API Fundamentals: Understand what APIs are and how they work. Knowledge of RESTful and SOAP APIs is essential.
- API Design: Learn how to design APIs that are user-friendly, efficient, and follow best practices. This includes defining endpoints, request and response formats, and versioning.
- Apigee Platform: Familiarize yourself with the Apigee platform, including its components like Edge UI, API proxy, developer portal, and analytics.
- API Proxies: Understand how to create, configure, and manage API proxies in Apigee. API proxies are a core concept in Apigee, serving as intermediaries between client applications and backend services.
- Security: Learn about the security features in Apigee, such as OAuth 2.0, API key validation, and how to protect your APIs from various security threats.
- Traffic Management: Understand how to manage and control the traffic flowing through your APIs. This includes rate limiting, caching, and request/response transformation.
- Analytics: Apigee provides extensive analytics capabilities. Learn how to monitor and analyze API traffic, performance, and usage.
- Developer Portal: Apigee’s developer portal allows you to create a developer-friendly interface for your APIs. Learn how to set up and customize developer portals.
- Integration: Apigee often works in conjunction with other Google Cloud services or external systems. Know how to integrate Apigee with other tools and services.
- Scripting: Apigee allows you to write custom logic in JavaScript or Node.js. Learn how to use scripting for various tasks like request/response transformation, data manipulation, and conditional routing.
- Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Understand how to automate the deployment and management of API proxies using CI/CD pipelines.
- Version Control: Manage your API proxy configurations using version control systems, such as Git.
- Monitoring and Troubleshooting: Be skilled in monitoring API traffic, diagnosing issues, and troubleshooting problems that may arise in the Apigee environment.
- Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for your APIs, including API specifications, usage guides, and developer resources.
- Testing: Develop a robust testing strategy, including unit testing, integration testing, and load testing, to ensure the reliability and performance of your APIs.
Becoming an Apigee developer may also require working with various programming languages, understanding networking concepts, and having knowledge of the specific APIs and systems you’re managing with Apigee.
It’s important to note that Google Cloud offers comprehensive documentation and training resources for Apigee, which can be a valuable source of information as you start your journey as an Apigee developer.