Software developer in high demand in 2018

The demand for better software is growing and software developers are becoming more sought after than ever before.

“More jobs mean more competition amongst companies to hire the best and brightest, therefore software development jobs are paying better and often come with great benefits. The flip side of this is that many developers receive multiple simultaneous offers. As a result, making the right long term career decision can be difficult when evaluating several opportunities simultaneously.” – Kelvin Lau, Manager, Transactional IT&T Division, Robert Walters Hong Kong.

The characteristics of a great software developer

Being a software developer is an excellent career choice for a person who excels at both left and right-brained thinking - analytic and numerical skills in addition to conceptual problem-solving skills. Software developers are innate problem-solvers, good at collaboration and keen to see an issue through to successful completion.

To build and design better software, here are some key knowledge areas a software developer should be well-versed in:

Software developers are innate problem-solvers, good at collaboration and keen to see an issue through to successful completion.

• Coding and programming
• Computer science fundamentals
• Architecture and design
• Data structures and algorithms
• Information analysis
• Software debugging
• Software testing

Software developers aren’t just paid well because they have technical skills and remain productive when left alone in a corner. They must also have interpersonal skills and be able to communicate with users throughout the entire software development lifecycle. Often, they are involved from the conceptual stage of planning software through the analysing user requirement, development, testing, training before the solution is launching and provide subsequent support once the solution has been implemented.

Software Developing credentials

Most software developers have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or information technology along with very strong (and proven) programming skills. But having a degree is not essential, as the Mark Zuckerbergs and Aaron Levies of the world have taught us.

"Practical experience driven by vision, talent and a strong work ethic are fundamentally more important than credentials in this regard. Nonetheless, experience is key in proving one’s past successes in the field,” says Kelvin.

Exactly where to focus a job search

Typically employed by software companies, IT consultancies, electronics companies, telecommunication companies and government, in other words, organizations of all sizes, from start-ups to big business to the public sector - software developers are in demand everywhere.

Software developers, web developers, mobile developers, big data developers, DevOps developers and UX developers are most in demand, as well as those with experience in mobile apps, big data, cloud, gaming, SaaS and e-commerce.

Click here to search for all available technology jobs in the market.