Stephen Hawking said “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” Unfortunately, having the illusion of knowledge seems to be the ethos of the day. And some presumably knowledgeable reports prove very damaging, indeed.
Fortunately, software developers are not in the 'illusion of knowledge' category.
Stack Overflow, a knowledge-sharing website for developers, recently conducted a survey. They found that over 45% of professional software developers have an undergraduate degree and nearly 23% have a master’s degree. Less than 1% of developers have no formal coding or web design education.
Stereotypes aside, nobody could say there's any such thing as a typical software developer. But this survey proves that developers likely studied software development. And probably more than one programming language, too. That’s all well and good, but how do they find work? And how much can they expect to earn?
In this article, we'll be looking at software developers' career prospects. We'll show you how to become a software developer, build your career in information technology, and where the best jobs in software development are. We'll also talk about whether developers should freelance, and how much money professional software developers stand to make.
What Does a Software Developer Do?
Software development is a broad field. You can design programs, build websites and/or get into coding video games, mobile apps, etc. Aspiring software developers choose the kind of development they want to do while still in class; often before they learn their first programming language. That's because some languages are better suited to specific tasks and applications than others.
That suggests that, the broader your skillset, the more chance you have to build a satisfying and lucrative career as a developer. So you can't just take a Python class (for instance) and expect to gain full access to every opportunity:
- Video games: coding games for consoles, smartphones, tablets, and computers.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): creating programs that use artificial intelligence.
- Machine learning: This uses AI to develop programs where the solution becomes more powerful as it gains more information.
- Cybersecurity: developing software to keep sensitive information safe, also testing (hacking) security systems to ensure their effectiveness
- Virtual Reality: coding programs for use with virtual reality. This may tie in with video game development.
- Augmented Reality: creating visuals for programs and applications that virtually add things to the real world, much like the Pokémon Go app.
- Embedded Systems: coding computer systems for specific uses like washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, traffic lights, cars, etc.
- Web Development: designing and programming websites using various programming languages.
In the latter category, programmers may further specialise in front-end development and user interface (UI) development. A web designer will code the website and put all the necessary infrastructure in place.
This can include the navigation on each page, which may be done using programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. A back-end developer also works on websites but they focus on a lot of the things that the user doesn’t see like data storage, management, and security.
Integration entails bringing the backend, frontend and UI together. This involves bringing the site online and making sure everything works. The development team will make sure that all the website's features work before turning the system over to their client.
In some cases, the front-end developer would be in charge of all this, but with bigger projects, a specialist may be involved. Whoever leads the development team needs to be familiar with different browsers and web tools.
Those who work with both client and server software are known as full-stack developers. They will work on the site itself and also how it works behind the scenes. In partnership with a web designer, a full-stack developer can take a project from start to finish.
In larger companies, these tasks are split into front-end and back-end development as it’s a lot of work. For smaller companies and projects, a versatile full-stack developer will probably be used.
How to Become a Software Developer
Software development is a broad field and there’s a lot of work in different areas. Despite this, there are fields with more work than others, especially when it comes to web development. Web development has grown a lot in the last 20 years and is now an essential part of most businesses even if you don’t count mobile apps.
Tech-sector jobs for software developers include database management, telecommunications and industrial information technology (IT). Banking/finance industries, as well as insurance, rely heavily on software developers, too.
Digital marketing and e-commerce, the drivers of online sales rely on software developers to build and maintain ever-more engaging websites. And if it weren't for software developers, content creators of all types would have no place to upload their content.
Despite this abundance, it’s not always easy to find work in software development. You can increase your hiring chances by specialising in a given field, like learning Python for machine learning or C for robotics.
Aspiring developers should think about the type of programming work they want to specialise in. And then, they should take the courses and undergo training in the fields of their choice.
Should You Freelance?
As a software developer, you can work for a company or yourself. There are plenty of ways to freelance and work for a variety of different customers. You can also work for larger companies or even do a bit of both if your main employer allows it.
As a freelancer, you’ll have to find work for yourself. Clients may be smaller businesses needing software solutions like a website or they might contract with you to build an app. You can also work on various projects at once.
This is one of the benefits of freelancing; you’ll have a lot of different projects and jobs so you’ll never be bored.
You can also work with agencies. In this case, you’ll work as a freelancer, but the agency will find work for you. But this usually means they take a cut of your earnings or require you to pay them an agent's fee.
You might find that a small price to pay for access to steady work.
If you don’t believe freelancing is for you, you can simply hire on as an employee with a business. This will guarantee you a regular wage; freelancers' bane is no guarantee of a stable income.
A developer might work also contract (temp role) with a company or as part of a team, focusing on software development, e-commerce or website management. What software developers do depends on their specialisation and experience.
Working for a company or freelancing both require the same set of skills for the job, but each is suited to different types of people and the amount of control you want over your own software engineering business.
What Does a Software Developer Do for Money?
We've discovered lots of different ways to become a software developer. Now, it's time to ask the all-important question: how much does a software developer earn? Unfortunately, it can be difficult to say exactly how much you’ll earn as your wages can be affected by your specialisation, your level of experience, where you ply your skills and the projects themselves.
The average software engineer in Australia stands to earn between $80-110 thousand a year. Newly-qualified software engineers tend to earn a bit less, between $55-75,000 annually.
At the top end, a good software developer can expect to earn between $110-190,000 per year. As in any industry, once you gain experience and been around for a while, you can expect to earn more.
Your wage will also depend on your employer. If you work for yourself, you may need to negotiate your wage or fees. In this case, it’ll depend on the projects you have and who’s paying for them.
As a freelancer, you can set your rates, but you’ll also want to ensure that they’re competitive so that people will hire you. The more unique your specialisation, the more you can charge for your work.
Some experienced and specialised freelance software developers can earn hundreds of dollars a day. Someone new to the industry will probably need to ask for less money, though.
As a freelancer, you may benefit from certain tax breaks but you won’t get paid holidays. Since your earnings won’t be as stable as someone working for a company, you’ll also need to manage your money more carefully.
However, when done right, there’s less of a limit on how much you can earn. Are you ready to give it a go?
Start developing the technical skills you need for a career in software or web development with courses from a private tutor on Superprof.
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