When Youre Struggling Take Time To Appreciate The Unique Skills You Have That Computer Science Graduates May Not Have Yet
If youve attended or scheduled a work meeting, given tricky feedback at work, been through a performance review, or led a team, you already have valuable skills that recent Computer Science graduates may not have. You may be more at ease talking with stakeholders, better at meetings, planning and organization, simply through having more experience. Most importantly, you may have a better sense of perspective. After all, if youve previously worked as a nurse in an operating theatre, you might be more likely to stay cool, calm and collected when a bug pops up in production. After all, nobody is going to get hurt!
Embrace The Joy Of Coding
First and foremost, if youre planning to leave a career you dont like, make sure to find a new path that youll enjoy. After speaking to our career switchers, it was clear that all of them truly enjoyed coding and building things.
Dont get into something just because its shiny or youre excited about the money, advises Marcus.
If youre going to do this as a career, youre going to have to like it. While there are a lot of benefits to working as a software engineer, for example remote work and high salaries, these are side effects of enjoying your work and being good at what you do.That said, dont turn your passion into work! Coding is something I enjoy but its not necessarily something Im passionate about. Its important to have other hobbies too.
Masters In Software Engineering Key To A Successful Career Change
Villanova faculty were instrumental in helping to shape the career of software developer Matt Sisco 16 MS.
VILLANOVA, Pa. Matt Sisco 16 MS was toiling in a tight job market and faced an important decision early in his professional career: should he continue down his current path in retail management, in which he had already worked four years, or should he head in a new direction that could provide both personal fulfillment and higher income potential? In the end, he chose to invest in a masters degree at Villanova University that launched his new career.
Don’t Miss: My Computer Career Tuition Cost
Software Engineering Degrees & Careers
Software engineering degrees help prepare students for careers developing software. Find degree programs and learn about salaries for software engineers.
For those interested in a software engineering degree, there are many options to choose from on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Depending on prior work and educational background, as well as professional aspirations, one degree will probably make more sense than the other. Lets take a look at the software engineering degrees available.
- Matching Goals to Software Engineering Degrees
- Software Engineering Degree Levels
How To Become A Software Engineer In 2022
Software engineers are in high demand and have a good earning potential. you will need a computer science bachelors degree to enter into this rewarding field.
There are multiple organizations that offer these programs to students pursuing a bachelors or masters degree in software engineering or a related field to develop and expand their skills in certain areas including SQL, XML, and Java.
Once you have obtained a bachelors degree in software engineering, computer science, or a related field and also gained some hands-on experience through an internship, you can start applying for an entry-level position in software engineering. Although you may aspire to work for a major organization like Google, Microsoft, or another, dont get your hopes up just yet, as major businesses such as these require years of experience before you can even get your foot in the door. However, there are many small businesses that will hire individuals fresh out of school.
Read Also: Career Opportunities In Personal Fitness
How To Transition From Software Development To Cybersecurity
A career as a software developer can be very exciting from building apps that your friends and family use daily to developing systems that run devices and control networks. While this is a great career path, did you know that all the experience you have in software development can smoothly transition you into a cybersecurity career?
If you currently work in networking, software development, systems engineering, financial and risk analysis, IT support or security intelligence, youre in luck because CyberSeek has outlined cybersecurity career pathways that begin with these roles, called feeder roles. They have skills that overlap with those needed by cybersecurity professionals.
Becoming An Engineer After Leaving The Military
Its never too late to change careers. While some individuals may have had prior trade experience as an electrician, former members of the military may consider exploring a career in engineering as they move back into civilian life. You may have served in the military and picked up practical field expertise in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as a Navy submarine mechanic or Air Force turbine mechanic. Your years of practical expertise can make for a more seamless transition to the engineering field.
It may take a few years to earn your degree and get the required certification, but there are a number of programs available to veterans who want to pursue a career in STEM, including the GI Bill, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and tuition assistance for current and former members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, to name a few. As a Yellow Ribbon-approved institution of higher learning, National University offers a variety of scholarships and tuition assistance to active-duty members of the military, as well as veterans and their dependents.
Also Check: Us Career Institute Pharmacy Technician Reviews
What Does A Software Engineer Do
Computer software engineers apply engineering principles and systematic methods to develop programs and operating data for computers. If you have ever asked yourself, “What does a software engineer do?” note that daily tasks vary widely. Professionals confer with system programmers, analysts, and other engineers to extract pertinent information for designing systems, projecting capabilities, and determining performance interfaces. Computer software engineers also analyze user needs, provide consultation services to discuss design elements, and coordinate software installation. Designing software systems requires professionals to consider mathematical models and scientific analysis to project outcomes.
The demand for high-performing computer software engineers continues to grow. According to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics , jobs for software developers should increase by 22% between 2019 and 2029, much faster than the national average. Computer software engineers can find employment in almost any industry. In fact, over 530,000 new computer and information technology jobs are projected to be added to the workforce, according to the BLS.
Software Engineer Salary Information
Salaries for software engineers can vary based on the industry, location, and the employee’s years of experience. PayScale reports an average salary of $86,440 for software engineers. With significant experience, salaries can grow rapidly, with the average rising to $94,000 for those with 5-9 years of experience.
While the BLS does not distinguish between software engineers and developers, reports for these occupations highlight particularly lucrative industries and states in the field. Software developers earn an average annual wage of $111,620.
Silicon Valley’s home state of California ranked highest in the nation for software developer salaries, with an average annual wage of $134,370 as of May 2019. Washington is next on the list, with an average annual salary of $131,870. New York ranks third, followed closely by Washington, D.C. and Maryland.
Recommended Reading: Career Horoscope By Date Of Birth
Has The Software Engineering Industry Changed Post
There are two notable changes to the software engineering industry post-pandemic.
Many companies now allow their software engineers and developers to work remotely. Companies such as Twitter and Shopify, for example, announced during the pandemic that employees can permanently work from home. Companies that havent adopted such policies are now more flexible than they were pre-pandemic about where their employees live and work.
The other notable change is the increase in demand for software engineering talent. The pandemic fueled a digitization process across the country. More companies moved their businesses online, more organizations increased their cloud workloads, and many brick-and-mortar restaurants and retailers realized they needed a web presence. This has created more opportunities for software engineers.
Can You Determine Your Transferable Skills
Although making a career change can be intimidating, you may be surprised to learn that all of your previously acquired soft skills are still relevant in your new job and may even provide you with an unexpected advantage.
Everything you’ve done so far is still relevant and can give you an advantage over candidates who have only worked in the software industry.
Here are a few skills that have been discovered to be particularly beneficial and in high demand by tech companies:
You May Like: Is Stratford Career Institute Legit
How To Determine What Career Path Applies To You The Most
There are several career paths one can take in programming. Here are some of the leading career paths in software development:
Front-End Developer
Front-end developers must have a keen sense of aesthetics. These aesthetic-minded coders created all aspects of a website or app that users can see and interact with.
Back-End Developer
Back-end engineers develop a website’s underlying computation-based logic as well as any proprietary software required by their employer.
Full-Stack Developer
Full-stack developers, as the name implies, do everything. These adaptable programmers have extensive front-end and back-end programming experience and can seamlessly switch between the two.
Mobile Developer
As the name suggests, mobile developers create software specifically for mobile devices. Furthermore, these programmers develop apps tailored to the specific features of mobile platforms like Android and iOS.
** Tldr I Quit My Job And Am Pursuing A Career As A Software Engineer **
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are headed” – Oriental Proverb
Growing up, I was obsessed with video games and playing on the computer. I would play for hours trying to master whatever I was playing at the time and find new ways to accomplish things on the computer. My mother still tells the story about me as a 6-year-old when I figured out how to hook up both the PlayStation and the Super Nintendo to the same TV using a cable adapter. While in elementary school I was lucky enough to be in the gifted program where instead of going to class some days, they let me go to the computer room and play The Incredible Machine on a Mac Centris 650. The game consists of designing Rube Goldberg Devices in order to get a ball from one location to another. I loved it.
Recommended Reading: Career Step Dental Assistant Reviews
Do I Need More Education
Coding is a trade and like any trade, it requires, practice, diligence and focus to truly master the concepts. Online resources can help you get a leg up and get started. If you work through self-guided projects and tools, you can certainly start to think of yourself as a programmer in early stages of their career.
When thinking of programming as a trade, lets consider an example of different industry – building and construction. As an early programmer, think of yourself as a construction worker building houses. You can build the house, and build it well, and that’s very valuable. You can recieve instructions and specs and build something with the right skills
But perhaps you want to design houses. Or you want to understand the fundamentals of what makes a house work to make them more efficient or stronger? What do you need to do then?
In the case of programming, perhaps you want to design your own sofware, build the blueprint for a new feature, or be able to fundamentally improve systems in speed, efficiency, and accuracy.
These kind of goals is when pursuing a more formal education can give you an extra step to truly become a leader in the field. Pursuing a degree can help develop the kind of career and reputation that brings mid-level, senior or even executive professional opportunities to you.
There are two primary options for formalized education for career changes, bootcamps or Masters programs. Lets look at the differences between the two.
How To Build An Online Presence
You can build an online presence to make it easier for recruiters to find you. Build robust profiles with screenshots of projects and links to GitHub on the following sites:
- Personal portfolio
It’s critical to demonstrate the quality of your work to potential employers. Recruiters are more likely to take a chance on you if you have photos, videos, links to live projects, well-documented READMEs on GitHub, and clean coding practices.
You May Like: Air Force Pilot Career Path
Gain Momentum With Small Projects
For the vast majority of developers, programming revolves around the world wide web. A website that dynamically responds to input from the user may appear simple in your browser, but it takes a lot of skilled design and engineering to make it work the way it does.
There’s the part of the code that involves giving your browser information to display and receive input from you, often referred to as front-end development. There’s also the portion of the website that processes all this information and does the heavy lifting. Creating this is called back-end development. A large percent of modern developers work in web development, and the programming languages they use are designed to be easy to use, yet have the power to do what they need.
Learning how a simple website works is an excellent place to start your self-study, and there are countless resources online to help you.
Take The Odin Project, for example. The Odin Project is a free resource designed to introduce you to web programming as gently as possible. It introduces the languages used by many professionals in languages that are still simple enough for beginners to start with as well. You may have heard of JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, and HTML before. Theyre excellent places to begin your self-education, and could end up as the tools you use on a daily basis too.
The material is more important than the timeline, so its more important to start than to worry about not being able to commit the time he recommends.
Meet The Educational Requirements
Many hiring managers look for candidates who hold a bachelors degree in software engineering, computer science, information technology, or a relevant field. However, a growing contingent of software engineers is making inroads without meeting formal education requirements. In fact, many software engineers have built successful careers without a college degree. Course Report found that online courses and coding bootcamps require less time, less money and offer nearly equal earnings when compared to a degree.
With the democratization of skill training, its increasingly less about where you went to school and more about whether or not you can do the job well, according to the co-founder and chief executive of HackerRank, Vivek Ravisankar. Today, there are better ways to evaluate actual skills than whats on a resume. Its about skills first above all.
Also Check: Best Career Paths For Business Majors
Can You Become A Software Engineer Without A Degree
While the value of an undergraduate education is undeniable, a degree is not always necessary to succeed as a software engineer if you are willing to work hard and build up your skills and experience.. There are numerous alternative educational paths for honing your engineering skills and establishing credibility, including bootcamp courses and self-directed learning options.
What Exactly Is Software Engineering And What Do Software Engineers Do
Software engineering broadly refers to the practice of building, maintaining, and improving computer software and networking systems. Software engineers, in turn, have extensive knowledge of coding languages, software development, and engineering principles.
While software engineer job descriptions will vary across industries and employers, most professionals can expect to share the same core set of responsibilities. These include but are not limited to:
- Improving systemic operations by conducting system analysis and recommending procedural changes
- Investigating systemic, network, and product bugs
- Developing new software solutions that suit current business or consumer needs
- Documenting solutions for non-technical stakeholders via visualized charts, diagrams, layouts, and other illustrated materials
- Obtaining and licensing software as needed
As you apply to jobs, remember to tailor your resume and cover letter to the role specifications laid out in the role description!
Read Also: Free Assessment Test For Career Choice
Can Anyone Change Career To Software Developer
If you want a one-word answer, the answer is yes. Suppose youre wondering why. Its because software developers arent limited to IT. They can and do perform a role in a variety of other professions.
For example, if you were a doctor or a nurse and became a software developer, you could work in a healthcare firm. Since you have both the knowledge and experience of healthcare and software development, you can contribute more to the firm. The same case is for writers. You can become a technical writer and earn as much as a software developer by learning software development.
In addition to software development, any prior expertise is an asset, and you will have an easier time finding work.
Ace The Job Hunt & Progress As A Software Engineer
So, youve built up an arsenal of software engineer skills and made connections in the industry. Now, how to get a programming job without a degree?
Step #14: Master your pre-interview essentials
After starting to build connections with peers and influencers in the field, itll be time to get ready to apply to the jobs themselves.
But before sending out applications or asking for direct referrals, youll need to master three things: resumes, cover letters, and your online presence.
Even in a modernizing world, resumes are necessary. Hiring managers still look at them to get a snapshot of your skills and experience. Similarly, cover letters are needed when applying for jobs online theyre your opportunity to get someones attention and make an impression.
Those are basics across industries. But beyond resumes and cover letters, there is also your online presence to consider.
This is incredibly important for anyone in the tech industry, and its something you should be building and maintaining over time, especially as a self-taught software engineer. Your digital footprint matters because its what recruiters and hiring managers will see when they Google your name before inviting you in for an interview.
Your online presence, as a software developer, is made up of a few things:
Step #15: Ace your software engineer job interview
Step #16: Accept the job offer and officially become a software engineer!
Read Also: Day In The Life Career Videos
