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Hidding a treasure and having someone who doesn't understand geography create the map doesn't seem logical to me, but I've seen worst in the industry.

Do you mean an HTTP API or a programming-language/library API? If the latter, definitely get a developer. If the former, they should at least be familiar with a formal language like SQL. They need to be thinking about the API in terms of the contract (preconditions etc.) it defines between the client code and the API implementation. That's rare if you never used a formal language.

Not a unicorn. What Microsoft calls “programmer writers” have always existed. They’re just more rare, and more expensive to hire.