There’s a difference between user personas, buyer personas, ideal customer profiles, and, of course, developer personas. Buyers purchase the product, while users are the ones who actually use it (they’re not always the same person) – ideal customer profiles, or ICPs, refer to companies, not people.
Developer personas represent a subset of devs grouped by common interests, pain points, motivations, and goals. They could be a product’s buyers and/or users, and hail from a variety of backgrounds, job roles, and career experience.
It’s important to define these personas because developers are a varied bunch with many different needs, and understanding them will help your strategies.