Software Engineers get to apply lots of different areas of study into their everyday work. Whether it's science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, or even design, these engineers are able to use lots of different methods and techniques in their line of work.
Essentially, software engineers design, develop and test software applications for computers. They usually work in offices or labs during their average 40-hour workweek. Even though they use a wide range of study, typically software engineers only require a Bachelor's degree, although a Master's degree is appealing to most employers.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a software engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.42 an hour? That's $86,157 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many software engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, creativity and problem-solving skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a software engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.4% of software engineers included python, while 8.9% of resumes included java, and 8.7% of resumes included software development. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the software engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most software engineers actually find jobs in the technology and telecommunication industries.
If you're interested in becoming a software engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 47.8% of software engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 44.4% of software engineers have master's degrees. Even though most software engineers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a software engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a software engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on software engineer resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a software engineer. In fact, many software engineer jobs require experience in a role such as software developer. Meanwhile, many software engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as senior software engineer or programmer analyst.