Software engineer/developer/programmers may work in one major industry or in a vast array of different industries. Some may work for companies that produce and sell exactly what they work with. Many others work in other types of industries that do not sell these products but make use of their own. So, one could work for Microsoft designing computer programs to sell, while another may work for a large business and be responsible for designing the private computer programs that employees use within their office.
Software engineer/developer/programmers may work alone or with a team. It depends on the size of a company and the computer programs and networks they use. If it is an office with just 15 employees, there will probably only be one person working in this field. If it is an office building with hundreds of employees, there will likely be a team of people working in this position. People who work in this field must be trained to read different computer languages that are made up of mathematical symbols and different letter sequences or algorithms. It is completely different from any language people speak. Software engineer/developer/programmers must be very intelligent and are required to specialize in a field about which outsiders usually do not have any knowledge. The working environment for a software engineer/developer/programmer is in an office setting. Most software engineer/developer/programmers work Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. They use computers, software, telephones, pens and paper, and other typical office supplies. Some serve a dual role as an information technology specialist and are also required to fix any computer or network problems within an office. Workers of this position report to an information technology manager when in a team, or to a general manager when working the lone position of its type in a company.
A bachelor's degree in computer science, computer programming, or information technology is required for this position. Several years of experience in this field are also required by many companies.
Software engineer/developer/programmers work to develop technical tools to make everyone else's job easier. Without their expertise, people would be much more reliant on more difficult manual methods to complete a job. Computers are everywhere these days, and these are the people who develop the tools that computers use.
Software Engineer / Developer / Programmer Tasks
- Write code to create single-threaded or user interface event driven applications, either stand-alone and those which access servers or services.
- Use source debuggers and visual development environments.
- Test and document software for client applications.
- Write, modify, and debug software for client applications.