The TIME magazine recently listed software engineering as the numero uno career for pay/stress load. No matter how much the media hypes the off-shoring scenarios, software engineering is still a rage and in high demand. Sow the seeds to be a great software engineer early on, and grow to see the high demand you will have in the job market –
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Go on to explore programming and fall in love with it. If you don’t find math and science interesting that wouldn’t be cool either, but you must grow to get addicted to programming, right from high school!
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Algebra, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, coordinate geometry, statistics, everything. If it is math, you need to be well-versed it. Try to get your hands dirty with advance level math right when you are in high school, because you will need a lot of practice in math to be able to ace any computer science program and engineering program.
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College drop outs may have become the biggest billionaire CEOs of software firms, the lure of ‘as long as I think outside the box, and have outstanding programming and problem solving skills, I don’t need to waste four years on a degree, but rather start my business in my garage!’ doesn’t always help. It is actually difficult for entry level software engineers to obtain any position without a four year degree and not everybody is an exception irrespective of how much a demand for software engineers there is in the market.
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If you love designing games, and would want to become a game programmer, then you will need a degree in computer science. If you would want to join biggies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Google, etc. then you will need a computer science degree too. If you are looking for a career in a non-technical corporation, then something on the Management Information Systems or SAP side would be better, may be even a business technical degree would work well. So look ahead on what you would want to do, and take your present steps accordingly.
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Keep browsing the job boards to know what hottest technologies are currently. Your colleges will not be able to keep pace with something so recent so it would be good for you to buy some books of the latest technologies and teach yourself.
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Nobody wants to take huge risks and hire a fresher for something really big. Internships generally solve this problem, but not everybody bags that great internship of their choice. So just go around and find some extra-curricular work to get some good projects under your belt, making some glorious entries into your resume and show your future employers that you know the job well enough.
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Connect with currently working software engineer, could be through professional networks, could be alumnus of your college or high school. Stay in touch with them and try working on some projects with them and under their guidance.
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Software engineering is not the same as software programming. Every software engineer will know how to program, but not every software programmer will know engineering. Software engineering is typically a group effort, with differing and often fluid roles and responsibilities for all the members in the group. Also software engineering projects have defined timelines, release dates and considerable interactions between members and teams. Software programming would be a part of the software engineering project.
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Whenever you have any leisure time on your hand, get onto the internet and search for the latest technologies that are doing rounds in the market. Look for what is being sought after in the job markets. Also study about the technologies of the future, the newer version of software that would be out soon, what are the developments currently ongoing, what are the problems being faced in various software, etc.
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The software industry in itself is very complex. Narrow down your choice and define in what direction or in what particular role would you like to develop your career further.
Software engineers apply the principles of engineering to design, development, maintenance, testing and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software work. Software engineering is a fast growing profession with a good-to-high salary earning potential. From computer operating to video games to phone apps to machineries in big industries, a lot of things in today’s times rely on software, making software engineers very high in demand. Start on early, research your aptitude and the career requirements well and make an informed decision!
