How to Become a Software Engineer

Today, technology has evolved a lot and has a significant impact on the future of people's jobs. The development of technology has happened because of the development of software. The development of new software and products requires coding and programming. Therefore, programming languages and programmers are the most important part of software development technology. In this post, you will learn the characteristics of coding, its relation to technology and its outlook. You will also learn about software engineering and popular jobs in this field. You will learn ways to code better. I hope you enjoy reading this post.

Definition of software engineering

Every day, you probably visit different web pages and use web and mobile apps.

These modern tools have hundreds or even thousands of lines of code behind them. And these lines of code were written by a software engineer.

A software engineer is someone who is in charge of designing, building, testing, deploying and maintaining software products, complex computer information systems and useful tools. Software engineers do this using software engineering methodologies, computer science principles, and programming languages.

Software engineers write code for hardware, operating systems, embedded systems, networks, enterprise applications, websites, or video games.

They provide strategic solutions that meet the needs of end users and the business they work for. The code they write solves a specific real-world problem.

What does a software engineer do?

In general, here are some of the duties and responsibilities of software engineers on a day-to-day basis:

• Gathering and analyzing users' needs and wants and understanding how they use the software
• Organize user requirements into separate categories to implement user suggestions and feedback
• Using programming languages to design and build systems and software programs that meet user needs
• Creating efficient, reliable, secure, accessible and easy-to-use software.
• Testing, debugging, troubleshooting and maintenance of existing software systems
• Code optimization to improve quality, performance, speed and scalability
• Solving problems that arise to help businesses achieve their goals
• Create flowcharts, documents, and specifications that outline the entire process from start to finish to help share findings and solutions with other team members
• Consultation with members of different teams of the organization
• Providing new features and updates to stakeholders and customers

Duties and responsibilities depend on the area in which the software engineer specializes.

Why should you become a software engineer?

First of all, technology evolves at a rapid pace and is constantly changing. There are new developments almost every day.

Software engineers are constantly learning new things to stay up to date with the latest changes. They should be lifelong learners.

If you are curious and enjoy learning new skills and ways of doing things and don't like to stay still and do monotonous things, you might enjoy playing around with new technologies and tools that emerge.

Another indicator that software engineering could be a good career choice is that you enjoy solving difficult problems.

Software engineers are problem solvers. They use logic and creativity to solve their employer's or client's problems.

If you are logical, analytical and follow the latest methods and methods, you may enjoy the process of solving complex logical problems and building useful things.

You may also want to choose a career in software engineering as software engineers are in high demand.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 25 percent growth for the job outlook through 2031, which is much faster than average.

Many industries need software engineers, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, startups, consulting firms, educational institutions, financial and healthcare companies, as well as commercial and entertainment businesses. Today almost all companies are technology companies.

Software engineers also usually have good salaries. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for software engineers is $109,020 per year.

That said, salary depends on your location and years of experience.

Google the average salaries of software engineers in your area who have the same experience level as you to get a better idea.

Another reason you might want to pursue a career in software engineering is that it allows for remote work, workplace flexibility, flexible working hours, and a good work-life balance.

Software engineering requires a lot of study and learning. So, the first step to becoming a software engineer is to think about your education options and the path you want to take.

One of the more traditional options for becoming a software engineer is to earn a four-year college degree with a major in computer science.

A computer science degree from an accredited university is highly respected by employers and is considered an impressive (and for some still necessary) credential on your resume.

That said, getting a degree is an investment and an expensive path. College degrees are not cheap.

But according to the 2022 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, the majority of developers (87%) have a high school or college education or more.

Of course, please note that this issue has faded over time, but suppose you have a degree in computer engineering or computer science from Sharif University or other prestigious universities in Iran. This degree actually has a positive effect on your resume.

While you don't necessarily need a degree to become a software engineer, and employers care that you have the necessary skills and experience, it may be a worthwhile investment and open up more career opportunities.

Bootcamps are intensive training programs and learning environments that teach you the technical skills necessary to land a software engineering career. The average duration of a boot camp is about twenty to thirty weeks. Usually this learning is project-based and at the end of the program, you will have a portfolio to show to future employers.

However, it is still an expensive route. Some bootcamps charge a lot of money for just a few months of training and may not be the right environment for you and your life circumstances.

Self-reading coding

Another option is to learn to code yourself and teach yourself to code using free or paid resources such as books, video tutorials, and interactive courses.

Self-study is a great option if you are busy, have life responsibilities like taking care of your family, or can't leave your full-time job to pursue a career change.

You can learn at your own time and pace and create your own individual schedule according to your free time.

In short, while obtaining a formal degree has long been considered the standard way to work as a software engineer, these days there are other avenues to choose from, such as attending a bootcamp or self-study.

Learn how to learn

No matter what learning style you choose, you need to learn how to study effectively to get the most out of your studies and enhance your learning.

Learning how to learn allows you to learn and understand anything faster, which will serve you well as a software engineer. This feature requires continuous learning on the job.

There are learning techniques that, despite being popular, do more harm because they require little cognitive effort.

These ineffective techniques include passive reading, taking notes, and highlighting or underlining points.

Two strategies for effective learning are active recall and spaced repetition

Active recall involves asking yourself questions and recalling the main ideas of what you just read/learned. The brain makes stronger connections when it retrieves information, not when it receives it, enhancing the retrieval process of deep learning.

Spaced repetition is an exercise that smooths the forgetting curve that everyone has naturally. You will definitely forget what you learn.

Spaced repetition involves revisiting what you have learned. This will help build your knowledge over time.

Learning a programming language

As a software engineer, you need a deep understanding of at least one or sometimes two or more programming languages.

You should understand concepts such as variables, data types, conditional statements, logic, loops, arrays, operators, and input/output.

There are hundreds of programming languages to choose from. And each has its own uses.

The programming language you choose to learn depends on the area of software engineering you want to specialize in.

Learning data structures and algorithms

Data structures and algorithms are topics that are likely to come up during your software engineering job interviews.

A good knowledge of data structures and algorithms allows you to become better at problem solving, find the most efficient and practical solutions to problems, and write more scalable and maintainable code.

Data structures are storage locations for storing and organizing data elements so that computers can perform calculations with those data elements more accurately and efficiently.

An algorithm is a set of well-defined and precise step-by-step instructions. These instructions tell the computer how to do a specific task that solves a specific problem.

An algorithm takes some input and produces some output that solves the problem at hand.

Learning database architecture and SQL

Knowing how to store, maintain, manage and design the architecture of a database will be useful as a developer. You should know how to perform database operations, i.e. CRUD operations (which stands for Create, Read, Update, Delete) and write basic SQL queries. After all, complex and large-scale software applications must manage large amounts of data.

You may want to learn about the different types of databases, such as the differences between relational and non-relational databases (also known as NoSQL databases).

And you might want to study SQL too. SQL, which stands for Structured Query Language, is a query language for querying and manipulating data in relational databases.