FAQ

This page is designed to help you find answers for questions related to the IBM Developer website and related initiatives. For product support, check the product page for appropriate channels. For questions about technology, programming methods, and other topics relevant to the wider developer community, see IBM Support.

Frequently asked questions

Are you wondering about the evolution of IBM’s developer-related code, content, and community? Check out this FAQ list to learn more

• What is IBM Developer?

  IBM Developer is a global community of coders and developer advocates and digital resources focused on helping developers learn, build, and connect. We provide the resources, tools, and community that inspire you to further your tech skills. With technical articles and tutorials, step-by-step learning paths, instructional videos, open source code samples, and online conferences, we help developers tap into the collective, innovative power of open collaboration and stay up to date with ever evolving skills.

• What are the key topic areas for IBM Developer?

  IBM Developer provides rich, technical content on technologies, programming languages, development practices, and architecture & deployment models. Our most popular technologies include artificial intelligence and containers. Our most popular programming language is Java. Our most popular development practice is DevOps. And, our most popular architecture and deployment model is microservices.

  Our site map gives a high level overview of IBM Developer content and topics.

• What kinds of content can I find on IBM Developer?

  Our focus is on digital assets that are based on open source code and deployable to the cloud. The most popular asset types are:

  • Learning paths

    Learning paths are curated lists of content in a recommended progression to help developers learn about a technology topic or process. Learning paths contain short descriptions with links to a mix of IBM Developer assets (such as videos, blogs, tutorials, patterns and labs) as well as other IBM or non-IBM resources (such as open source assets).

  • Tutorials

    Complete step-by-step goal-focused learning that shows you how to complete one or more tasks or use cases. Our tutorials differ from code patterns in that they are usually for introductory education and granular technical tasks, while patterns are for more advanced, multi-branched coding tasks.

  • Articles

    Articles facilitate and reinforce new skills by explaining a concept in detail and showing examples. Articles are similar to tutorials, but they usually explain more conceptual information rather than provide procedural or task-focused content.

• Why are some content assets listed as "Archived"?
                   

  Our team continually reviews the content on IBM Developer to ensure that it is still relevant, accurate, and refers to a product or technology that is still available in some form.  If any of these criteria are not met, we may decide to archive the asset.

  Archived assets remain available on the site, but are no longer being updated or maintained. The content is provided “as is.” Please be aware that given the rapid evolution of technology, some content, steps, or illustrations may have changed in archived content.

  At some point, archived content might be retired and removed from IBM Developer.  When we retire content, we add a redirect to a suitable replacement asset or to a list of related assets.

   
• How can I follow IBM Developer on social media?
                   

  You can follow IBM Developer on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, or you can subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• How can I get IBM Developer content updates sent by email?

  Subscribe to any or all of our newsletters and get the latest content, events, and offers delivered right to your inbox.

• Can I link to or reference IBM Developer content from my personal blog or another web site?

  We welcome individuals referencing or linking back to IBM Developer content from their personal blog or other web site.  Please follow these best practices:

  • Summarize the content (do not replicate).  This is an SEO best practice.  Google devalues sites that simply copy content verbatim from the original source.
  • Add an attribution link back to IBM Developer source.  This ensures that your users find the latest version of the content, and you will be alerted via 404s if the content has been removed for any reason.. We suggest the following:
    
    "You can view the original (blog/article/tutorial/etc) as published on IBM Developer for the latest and most up to date version of the content."
• Why should I set up a profile with IBM Developer?

  Setting up a profile with IBM Developer allows you to:

  • Track your progress through learning paths
  • Follow topics that interest you and browse your personalized feed
  • Keep track of your upcoming events and conferences
  • Save your favorite tutorials, videos, APIs, and more to access any time
  • Manage your newsletter subscriptions and notification preferences
• How do I set up and access an IBM Developer profile?

  From any IBM Developer page, click on the profile icon found in the upper right hand corner.  Select "sign in" and from the overlay, select "Create an IBMid."  After setting up your IBMid, and validating your email, you are prompted to enter an IBM Developer profile display name.

  You can access and customize your profile by clicking on the profile icon and selecting "My dashboard."

• How do I sign into IBM Developer?

  From any IBM Developer page, click on the profile icon found in the upper right hand corner. "Sign in" is one of the action options in the dropdown.  Enter your IBM ID email and password.

• What if I forget my IBM Developer user ID or want to reset my password?

  The sign in overlay includes a link for help if you have forgotten or want to reset your password

• Who do I contact if I have a problem logging in to IBM Developer or have problems with my IBM Cloud account?

  For all other problems, contact the IBMid worldwide help desk.

• What happened to IBM developerWorks?

  IBM Developer was built from two legacy sites: IBM developerWorks and IBM Code.  IBM developerWorks' mission covered both open source technologies and IBM products.  IBM Code provided code patterns that helped developers solve specific problems or get started with new technologies and cloud services.

  In 2018, IBM Developer was launched as IBM's developer resource site focusing on open source, cloud-based technologies and services.  Relevant content from IBM developerWorks was merged with IBM Code and the resulting content collection was rebranded as IBM Developer.

  In 2021, we sunset the IBM developerWorks site to focus completely on the IBM Developer mission.

• Where can I find IBM product information or support?

  Use these resources to find information related to products like Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, or other older brands or to find similar information that was previously published on developerWorks:

  • IBM documentation
  • Lotus Product documentation (*Divested to HCL Technologies June 2019)
  • IBM Support
  • IBM Fix Central
  • Passport Advantage Online (PAO)
  • IBM Training
  • IBM Community