With an average salary of over $106,000, a career as a
Software Engineer is an attractive option. In addition to the pay, software engineering is a valuable service that presents a stimulating challenge — and it can be a lot of fun. But can you become a Software Engineer without a degree? The answer is definitely yes. Like many tech careers, your skills and professionalism have more weight than a piece of paper with a degree on it. If you can learn what you need to bring to the table and deliver, you can qualify for many Software Engineer
jobs. If you’re wondering whether being a Software Engineer is the job for you and what you need to succeed, read on. We’ll share what a Software Engineer does, the skills needed, how to write your resume, and what you can do to build your software engineer portfolio. A
Software Engineer develops software and systems for organizations. The range of solutions a Software Engineer designs is huge: from video games to operating systems to web applications and more. In addition to writing the code and building solutions, a Software
Engineer has to work with various people who have a vested interest in the success of the solution. These may include managers, executives, and other team members. A Software Engineer may also interact with end-users or focus groups that represent their needs. At the end of the day, a Software Engineer’s job is all about designing software to solve problems. And the job market for Software Engineers promises to be strong for many years to come as the number of challenges that businesses
face continues to grow. This is true regardless of the kind of Software Engineer you want to become. For example, a Full-Stack Engineer designs everything needed for an application to work, including the entire front-end and back-end. But, you can choose to
specialize in front-end or back-end development. Our Full-Stack,
Front-End, and Back-End software development
Career Paths are good places to begin your journey as a Software Engineer. Xavier, a Software Engineer, outlines much of what’s involved in the video below: He sums up software engineering this way: “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to solve different problems with code.” What technical skills does a Software Engineer need?A Software Engineer’s toolbox is built on specific technical skills to create solutions and address challenges the team and the organization face. A Software Engineer needs to have or develop the following skills:
What soft skills should a Software Engineer have?Soft skills are those skills that, while not necessarily involved in coding, are still essential to the process of designing, producing, and presenting solutions. In many cases, soft skills involve interacting with others on your team or other stakeholders. Xavier mentions several soft skills involved in the day-to-day lives of developers. He notes that although people often think a Software Engineer spends all day writing code, they have to do a lot more. For example, he says, “You are reviewing other peoples’ code, you’re meeting with other people to talk about how to do things… and you’re relying on other people a lot to do your job.” All of this requires a full set of soft skills. CommunicationCommunicating — whether you’re absorbing the ideas of others or presenting your own — is pivotal to the success of a Software Engineer. A good communicator knows how to listen to the needs and ideas of others and incorporate what they learn into their solutions. Communication also plays a central role in conveying the effectiveness of your solution to managers and executives. Whether presentations or chats across a table, these discussions need to take place to make it easy for the stakeholder to understand what’s going on. And a good Software Engineer needs to be able to get their ideas across in a way that makes sense to people who don’t have a technical background. As Xavier points out, a Software Engineer has to work with “a Product Manager, a Data Scientist,” and others — all of whom “work together to build something for the user.” PatienceDespite processing times that can take only nanoseconds, the overall software development life cycle is often very time-consuming. Developing the soft skill of patience will help you:
EmpathyEmpathizing involves putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s different from sympathy, which involves merely understanding how someone else feels. So, an empathetic person can feel the emotions of others and imagine how their challenges impact them on a personal level. With empathy, you can understand why an executive feels pressure from stockholders to get a solution ready before the next fiscal year begins. You can also understand the feelings of someone else on the team who put in a lot of time and effort — only to have their solution fail, perhaps multiple times. You can also use empathy to understand the daily concerns and struggles your end-users are facing. This helps you better design your solutions as you focus on solving problems that will make their lives easier. Xavier explains it well as he notes that, “When writing code, you’re actually solving real problems in the world.” Understanding the emotional motivators at the core of these problems requires empathy. How to write a Software Engineer resumeYour Software Engineer resume, especially if you’re just getting started, doesn’t have to list a long history of jobs, and it certainly doesn’t have to have a computer science degree at the top. The purpose of your resume is to clearly present the qualities and skills you have that will bring value to the organization you’re applying to. So, it’s important to use verbs that convey the essential things you’ve done — either while working for another company or on personal projects. Some of the verbs to consider using include:
These kinds of verbs should begin the descriptions of what you have done in the past. Further, you will want to ensure the following elements are included in your technical resume:
How to interview for a Software Engineer positionThe process of interviewing for a Software Engineer position will invariably involve answering questions about what you will bring to the company and those designed to test your technical skills. In many cases, you may have multiple interviews, and one may be primarily focused on observing how you solve a problem presented by the interviewer. This is referred to as a whiteboard interview, and during your presentation, you write out your solution on a whiteboard — live, in front of your audience. Here are some things to keep in mind during the various phases of the Software Engineer interview process. Prepare to answer questions about what drives youYou may be asked why you enjoy being a Software Engineer. It would be best to answer this honestly, but be sure to highlight intrinsic motivations, such as the thrill of solving problems or helping people and organizations. You don’t want only to mention things such as salary, other opportunities it may make available (such as becoming a CIO), or being able to create your own schedule at times if you work from home. While these are all understandable reasons, they can change, depending on circumstances, and may come across as self-serving. You may also be asked questions about what drives you to work for that particular company. You can highlight things such as:
Answering these questions correctly will require a good amount of research. You can often find most, if not all, of what you need on the company’s website and other resources online. Practice and prepare for any presentations or whiteboard interviewsPresenting your work in front of people assigned to judge it can be nerve-wracking. The best way to shed some nerves and deliver a compelling presentation is to get lots of practice ahead of time. In the case of a whiteboard interview, it’s unlikely that you’ll know the question ahead of time. So, when you practice for this type of interview, it’s helpful to set up your presentation environment by testing out the technology and getting the right lighting. Also, during the whiteboard interview, remember to:
In some interviews, you may get the chance to present work you’ve done in the past or specific elements of your portfolio. While practicing for this, remember to:
We have courses specifically designed to help you perform your best during the interview process. As a Software Engineer, you can check out the following:
Building a Software Engineer portfolioYour technical portfolio is your chance to show off your best work and share some info about your interests. You could find a template online, but creating it yourself gives you another opportunity to show off your skills. Check out the video below to get started. And watch Part 2 to learn how to add interactive features. To build your Software Engineer portfolio, you’ll want to prioritize examples of your work that clearly convey your strengths that will be useful in the position you’re applying for. So, let’s say you’re applying to be a Front-End Engineer, you’ll want to position work you’ve done on user interface design higher in your portfolio than data analyst work. While your portfolio should still include some of the more tangential work you’ve done, you want someone skimming it to easily find what they’re looking for within a few moments. Here are some other guidelines that will help your portfolio shine:
How long does it take to become a Software Engineer?The time it takes to become a Software Engineer will vary depending on your circumstances. But, in general, you’ll learn the coding languages and technologies you need to engineer solutions. Then, you’ll start adding to your portfolio of work — even if that means taking on small or one-off jobs — just to build up your portfolio. The time it takes often depends on how much time you have in your schedule to learn the skills you’ll need and then build your portfolio. With our courses, you can obtain the skills you need and develop your portfolio at the same time. As you interact with teachers and fellow students, you get real-life experience you can use while searching for your first software engineering job and for many years into the future. Start learning with us today for free. Related CoursesGet more practice, more projects, and more guidance.Can I learn programming without a computer science degree?Are you interested in learning how to become a software engineer, but don't have years to dedicate to studying CS at university? Well, good news: you can absolutely become a software developer without a college degree!
What qualifications do you need to be a software engineer?Formal qualifications for software engineers
Building a career as a software engineer has a minimum entry-level education, which typically involves a bachelor's degree. The most common of these are awarded in computer software engineering or within the fields of computer science or mathematics.
Can you become a software engineer without a CS degree Reddit?60% of working software engineers do NOT have a CS degree, found a 2012 Microsoft report : r/programming.
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