Career Path Series: Tips on How to Become A Good Software Engineer

Despite the ill effects of the pandemic, Singapore remains the top Asian base for the world’s biggest tech companies and startups. As a result, Software Engineers are in constant high demand. According to the Singapore Economic Development Board, they expect about 50,000 more ICT jobs available over the next few years.

If you’re in the programming field, then you should find what makes software engineers effective, especially in Singapore.

As one of the leading regional technology hubs in Asia, Singapore is being projected to be the next Silicon Valley. A recent industry survey even predicted that it will be the leading innovation hub over the next four years.

Capitalise on this tech momentum and set yourself apart from the crowd.

Finding ways to gain a competitive edge could help you get your foot in the door of this industry.

What Makes a Good Software Engineer?

The scope of work of software engineers can be pretty broad. However, you can classify the field into two categories: applications software developers and systems software developers.

Applications software developers are more client-focused. Their work revolves around design applications that the end-user can use. They are responsible for designing, building, installing, and maintaining these applications.

Meanwhile, systems software developers work more on the back-end. This career path might even lead them to become IT managers or systems architects. They are primarily responsible for creating and maintaining an organisation’s computer systems.

Ideally, you’d want to be proficient in both categories to be qualified for more positions. However, to eventually increase your value, you need to have at least one specialisation.

You can also consider the following tips to improve your skills:

Equip Yourself with Necessary Skills

If you’re building a software engineering career, then you must start with a well-rounded foundation. That said, you should develop your technical skills in the following fields:

• Data Structures and Algorithms
• Programming Languages
• Source Control
• Text Editors
• IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)
• Databases
• Operating Systems
• Networking Basics
• Basics of Testing
• Cross-Platform Software
• Encryption and Cryptography
• SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)
• Microsoft Excel

The specialisation will help advance your career, but the diverse field makes it difficult to choose which one you should pursue. Knowing how both the front and back ends work with these skills and gaining experience working on them can help you filter out your passion. From there, you can decide which area to focus your development on as you work your way up in the industry.

Don’t Be Afraid to Learn New Things

With such a wide range of specialisations, it is close to impossible to be proficient in everything. However, this means you must be open to learning. Your ability to learn, adapt, and grow will help you maintain a competitive edge over other talents. Here are some ways to help you do this:

• Stay up to date with trends and developments – subscribe to a resource, whether it’s a website or a magazine, and attend seminars or webinars. By knowing what’s going on and where the industry is going, you can prepare yourself better. Who knows, maybe it could help you explore an emerging skill before everyone else does.
• Upskilling and training – adding new skills and improving old ones show how adaptable you are to inevitable changes. The global pandemic only showed further proof of this. In a snap, jobs that we thought were secure were taken away. According to the latest JobStreet report, 37% of jobseekers in Singapore were negatively impacted by the pandemic. With technology and its uses improving rapidly, being adaptable is important to stay relevant in the industry.
• Mentorship and coaching – learning by yourself can help you reach short term goals, but having a good mentor can help guide you in the greater scheme of things. Be open to hearing about their experiences, as they too started on a journey similar to yours at one point.

Develop Skills for Collaboration

Even if you’re capable of working from end to end, you can still learn a lot through collaboration. After all, your ways of working may not always be the only way to work efficiently. Additionally, your peers may be more knowledgeable in some specialisations with which you’re not familiar.

Developing skills for collaboration is vital in achieving the best results. These are excellent skills to build as they are applicable at any stage of your career.

• Communication skills – Clear communication can help prevent minor errors. As we grow more dependent on technology, small errors in our systems could have a massive impact on operations. It is why communicating effectively through written or spoken means is an important skill to have.
• Teamwork – A cohesive team can work more efficiently, produce more creative work, and inspire innovations. With new trends like DevOps and agile development requiring collaboration, your ability to work well with others is a highly desirable trait for most tech companies.
• Openness to Criticism – Working with other people often leads to clashes and possibly varying opinions and judgement. However, these varying opinions usually fuel creativity and growth. As such, accepting new ideas or criticism shows your desire to learn in this fast-paced and constantly changing industry.
• Leadership – No matter where you are in your career, the ability to lead can help move things forward. You don’t have to be a manager to display your leadership skills. Being proactive and being willing to help struggling teammates are just a couple of examples of how you can show this quality even at the entry level. Later on, this ability can transform into delegating and mentoring which will improve a team’s ability to produce better results.

Add Software Security to Your Proficiencies

We are increasingly becoming dependent on technology to make our lives easier and more efficient. However, while engineers tirelessly develop new applications and systems, some people work to break into them.

The demand for cybersecurity will only grow as our daily lives become more digitised. In a 2019 study on cybersecurity by Kaspersky, 66% of companies expressed their plans to increase their investment in specialist IT.

The same study also revealed that having an internal Security Operation Center cut the financial impact of data breaches in enterprises by almost half.

Here are a couple of points to consider:

• Get Inspiration – find out how others prevent security threats in their companies. Thankfully, the Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM) offers extensive data on software security practices of companies around the globe. It won’t tell you exactly what to do, but you can combine the best practices that you can apply.
• Know Your Enemy – try putting yourself in the shoes of potential attackers to fill the gaps in your work. This way, you can find ways to secure and protect your work.

Being a software engineer can be a rewarding career, and the industry is showing no signs of slowing down. According to the latest Jobstreet Salary report, it enjoyed the highest increase in the average salary of entry-level positions between 2018 and 2019.

However, competition may be challenging, so standing out is imperative. You can visit JobStreet’s Career Resources page for more expert tips and insights to help you be more prepared for this.

Once you’re ready, it’s time to update your JobStreet profile and start looking for #JobsThatMatter!