Careers as a Software Engineer

Introduction to Software Engineer

There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.

-C.A.R. Hoare

Software Engineering is an engineering study that focuses on the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of the software. Software Engineers need to be fluent in a specific list of computer languages in order to perform these tasks.  With the onset of trends like cloud and Big Data, Software Engineers need to be well versed with the latest trends and must be educationally strong in order to meet the standards of application development. If you are looking for careers as a Software Engineer in these cut-throat times, it is necessary to know more about this industry and the skills and opportunities associated with it.

Education Required to build Careers as a Software Engineer.

Software Engineering can be broken down in the following manner:

Software Engineering Task	Education Qualification needed	Skills Needed	Top 4 Institutions
Design	Degree Level: Computer Science, Information technology, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Business Information SystemsMaster’s Degree: Computer Science, Software Engineering Certification: Voluntary certification is required like Adobe Certified Expert, C and C++ certifications, CSSLP, Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer App Builder, Puppet Certified Professional etc.	· Driven by deadlines. · Ability to work in a team. · Work with software engineering best practices. · Participate in Source Code and Design Reviews · Knowledge of multiple coding languages like C/C++/C#, F#, Haskell, Java, Julia, Matlab, Python, R, SAS Scala, SQL and stata. · Ability to analyse technical information. · Problem solving skills.	The top colleges for studying Computers Science and Information Systems, according to World University Rankings, are: 1.       Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2.       Stanford University 3.       University of Cambridge 4.       University of California, Berkeley(UCB)
Development
Maintenance
Testing
Evaluation

Career Path in Software Engineer

Software Engineers are specialists at what they do and do not find it hard to build a career. The following are some career paths in Software Engineers.

1. Applications Development: It is a problem solving, non-web-based software development that includes programming languages such as Java and C#.
2. Systems Development: Designing and coding background software created to support application development and includes program languages like C and C++.
3. Web Development: Involves designing and creating software or applications to run in a web browser using programming languages such as HTML, JavaScript, and PHP.
4. Embedded Systems Development: Involves designing computing systems and software which work on non-computing devices such as automobiles, using programming languages like C and assembly languages. Careers shape out because of decisions made by candidates as to the kind of skills they acquire, the team they work for, and the people they work with.

The following are some guidelines for shaping careers:

• Move-in teams

It has been noticed that employees in computer science-related employment either shift from one job to another in a team or in a single file. Moving in teams is the best way of changing jobs. Getting onto a great team and working with a network of familiar people is the most efficient way of getting work done. If one person of good capacity changes companies and ten others follow, then with this network of people, the one person is more productive and achieves more.

• Join Start-ups  

Start-ups are a great place to learn. Since the team is small, an opportunity to see and learn from a variety of challenges is there. One can leverage on the previously acquired technical skills and accomplish upward growth in their careers as a Software engineer. To get into a start-up, one must first get in touch with an incubator, putting them into a start-up.  The exposure, environment, and learning will do loads of good to the career of the person.

• Start your own company.

If you are a risk-taker, then this option is a good one for you.  It is important to have the experience, team, and capital for this career path, but the long-term results are extremely satisfying and fulfilling. Couple the above factors with a great idea, and you are good to go. The downside of this career path is that it is very stressful, and the salary is not fixed.

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Application Areas

Following are the different application areas:

1. Embedded and Real-Time Systems

Embedded systems are non-computing devices like automobiles and aircraft, whose correct functioning does not depend on human guidance. Embedded systems are involved in safety-critical applications like automobiles and aircraft systems, systems of remote operation like satellites. Embedded systems are also used in mobile telephony and consumer electronics. They are resource-aware and real-time systems. That means that the computation must be done with the resources at hand and within the time constraints.

2. Safety-Critical Sytems

The software used in areas such as automobiles, aircraft, or in the control of nuclear plants, railway signals, etc., is of great importance, and a small mistake in execution even in the absence of human guidance can result in massive destruction and even result in loss of human life. Keeping this in mind, it is very important to build dependable software that is fault-tolerant and adaptable.

3. Security

As society is rapidly changing and becoming more dependent on information technology, it is important to build strong security software that is reliable and protect infrastructure, data, and applications.

Vertical-wise, Software engineers and their skills are mainly used in the Technology, internet-based, financial fields.[1]

Salary (US data and not India specific figures)

According to the United States Department of Labour, the job outlook for Software Developers between 2016-26 is 24% which is supposed to be much faster than average. The Bureau expects a positive employment change of 302,500 in the period 2016-26. Software Engineers are some of the most highly paid professionals of today. Salary wise in the US $, the United States tops the salary it pays its software Engineers, followed by China and India.

Conclusion or Career Outlook

Given the career paths, opportunities, and developments in the field of Software Engineering, it is one of the best kind of openings of today. It is very well paid, and according to the survey in Kaggle on Data Science and Machine Learning, most of the participants gave a 7 on 10 in terms of job satisfaction. They also say that learning is very important before and during your careers as a Software Engineer.

Recommended Article

This has been a guide to careers as a Software Engineer. Here we have discussed the introduction, Education, Career Path in Software Engineer, Job Positions, Salary etc. you may also look at the following article to learn more –

1. Careers in Machine Learning
2. Career in Java
3. Career in Business Intelligence
4. Career in Project Management