Software development is an in-demand IT field with exciting rewards. The industry is fast becoming competitive and is currently the number one best career in the United States based on career reviews, job demand, and salary expectations. The rate of employment in the industry is expected to grow by 30% by the year 2026.
While software developers are in high demand, the job they do is diversified. And if you possess advanced skill sets, you will have more opportunities to work in different fields of software development. You can visit https://www.thehighereducationreview.com/news/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-having-a-career-in-software-engineering-nid-880.html to learn about the benefits of becoming a software developer.
Fields of Software Development
The basic fields in this career path are:
1. Mobile Development
This is a recent aspect in the industry, but it is making waves today. We can better describe it as the development of apps. It involves creating apps that can work on a mobile device like the android, iPhone, and the recent Windows 10 device. Most of the operating systems use the programmer’s preferred programming language.
Mobile development is versatile. It allows everything from games that require consoles to Candy Crush. However, there are other things that this field focuses on apart from games. There are different apps for almost anything.
For instance, you can find a restaurant, catch up with the global news, get a reminder to drink a glass of water all through the day, or morph your photograph into an alien. The skills required here are C#, Java, HTML5, Objective C, Swift, and Android.
2. Application Development
The field of app creation is the original field of programming. It involves a standard application that performs its duties solely on the operating systems of the traditional desktop. The operating systems are Linux, Windows, and Mac.
App dev is often regarded as a program that a user executes on demand. Also, its interface opens within the limits of the operating system on which it runs. Basically, it involves creating programs that assist a business or any user in their daily functionalities. The skills required are Python, C#, C++/C/ VB.NET, and Java. You can read this article to learn more about developing applications.
3. Web Development
This is the golden egg of today and tomorrow’s coders. Web dev involves coding various web pages that people browse through every day. It is diverse and its complexity is in levels. You can start from a simple <h1> “Hello World” </h1> to multiple interconnected files that only the developer knows the best way to organize.
The field of web dev is exploding today due to the advent of modern web tech and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). They allow websites to access many useful features. Today, the web can present apps that are native to users because browsers have become more than URL bars and ad-blockers. The skills you need here are Rails, Ruby, Python, PHP, ASP.NET, C++/C, Django, Javascript, HTML, and so on.
4. Data Science
This is another type of gold because more businesses are becoming data driven. Large sets of data are useless except you can make meaning out of them. This is where the data scientists are useful. They help to bring out the value in data just like people find value in precious stones.
To get valuable and actionable insights from data, data scientists mine through, as well as manipulate various data sets through analytical approaches. They literally crunch large data, potentially use certain cluster-computing methods, and develop a science-based app based on their findings from the data.
You may wonder how this applies to real-life situations. Well, the applications are even cooler than anyone can imagine. It is how and what machines think. This is where we talk about the Internet of Things, where machines are given large data sets to learn so they can make decisions on their own in various situations.
The job of the data scientist is to ensure the data appears in the correct format such that AI applications can use them. The skills you need are Python, MATLAB, C++/C. You can check out this complete guide on what is software development to learn about the other aspects of the career.
Conclusion
We have discussed 4 basic fields of software development, including the skills you need in each aspect. The industry is lucrative, and you can tap into it if you love tech, as it offers a promising career prospect.