Since there\u2019s been hardware, people have needed software. Are software developers in demand? The short answer is yes, and the trend isn\u2019t going downwards anytime soon. As the world evolves, every business has gone digital. Banks need developers to improve their apps and create algorithms. Retailers are looking at ways to recommend the best products. Internal divisions like marketing need tools that\u2019ll make them more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as the industry grows, more and more people are also learning to program. So the big question is: Are there too many programmers? In this article, we\u2019re going to look at the reality and see where the opportunities lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s worth noting, while demand is high, there are more developers out there than ever before. So if you want to set yourself apart, you can\u2019t restrict yourself to a single language. It might be a good idea to take a course like Coding Dojo, which will teach you three full stacks. That way, you can adapt to the rapidly changing market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compared to other industries, software development is growing very rapidly. To give you some context, the average employment rate is expected to rise by about 5% between 2018 and 2028. Not a huge amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in software development is likely to grow a lot more. They think it\u2019ll be more like 21%, four times as much as the average total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the industry is growing that fast, it\u2019s inevitable that there\u2019ll be shortage of developers to fill it. We think that\u2019s a clear sign that there\u2019s going to be a high demand for programmers. It\u2019s a skilled profession, so it\u2019s not like companies can just grab anybody to fill those positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019d recommend learning now, while the industry is still growing. That way, you\u2019ll be able to build up the real-world experience you need to land a job. But we also imagine that, in the future, software development will become part of the standard curriculum at schools, which is going to make the market much more competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies need developers. As we\u2019ve said, there are apps, websites, back-end systems, databases to trawl through, software to create. It\u2019s also a very skilled profession. You can\u2019t just pick someone up off the street and teach them on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s reflected in the salaries. The average salary, according to PayScale, is around $85,000 a year for a software developer. Even a junior can expect to start at about $60,000. That\u2019s an average. Seasoned professionals make even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all know the reality of business. They only pay well when it\u2019s hard to find the people. You don\u2019t pay that sort of salary if there\u2019s a backlog of people applying. You pay it when you need to incentivise people to choose you over your competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that there were a total of around 2.5 million people employed in some kind of software development. That includes computer programmers as well as web developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re all very similar professions, but the title \u2018software developer\u2019 is definitely the most populous. Here\u2019s a snapshot of those figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Number of hired people in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, there\u2019s a severe lack of women in these statistics. Thousands, rather than millions. Is this because not enough women are applying, or an underlying bias favouring men? We\u2019re not sure, just from the data. But we hope that it means that companies will soon, if they\u2019re not already, start looking to make their teams more diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you\u2019re a woman, looking to break into the industry, we\u2019d say this is a great opportunity for you. This imbalance can\u2019t continue for much longer. Those figures will have to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While software development itself is in demand, it\u2019s worth considering the other avenues that\u2019ll be available to you. As you\u2019ve seen, there are multiple titles for similar jobs: web developer, programmer, system developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, in 2015, Burning Glass found seven million jobs that needed coding skills. Sometimes it\u2019s for data science, where you need to be able to analyse a vast amount of information quickly. Other times it might be in accountancy, being able to easily script a report every month. Or maybe you\u2019re one of the lucky ones who gets to create an internal game that teaches people how to work at the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Programming skills are fundamentally transferable. The more languages you know, the easier it is to use them in other roles and departments. So even if you don\u2019t land your dream job as a software developer, you won\u2019t be wasting those skills while you wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s clear from the numbers above that there\u2019s a huge demand for software developers. But there are more and more people getting into the industry. More and more are learning to program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means you still need to be able to set yourself apart from the other applicants. So we\u2019d recommend you do three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are so many languages these days. The most common, as we\u2019ve talked about before, are Python, the C languages, Java and JavaScript. It\u2019s worth learning any of these, as well as making sure you have experience with SQL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But knowing more than one language can really help make sure that you can move between roles and projects. Learning just one extra language can almost double the number of jobs you can apply for. Learning three? That\u2019s triple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll notice as you gain experience that a lot of companies are moving to a more agile work environment. This usually involves much speedier decision-making and short-term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Week by week, your objectives will change. And you\u2019ll be expected to solve new problems quite regularly. It\u2019s worth swotting up on the best practices, so you\u2019re not surprised when you\u2019re suddenly in one of these workplaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviews for programmers are quite different from interviews in other professions. It\u2019s much harder to find out whether someone can logically solve a problem, than to find out whether they\u2019re going to be calm under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you\u2019ll often find that interviewers will set you tasks. Some of these will be almost like solving a riddle. Almost certainly they\u2019ll involve some lateral thinking. Make sure you practice coming up with ways you\u2019d approach these problems. You don\u2019t want to be blindsided in your first interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOccupation<\/strong><\/td> Total employed<\/strong><\/td> Women employed<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Computer programmers<\/td> 454,000<\/td> 20,300<\/td><\/tr> Software developers, applications and system software<\/td> 1,815,000<\/td> 18,700<\/td><\/tr> Web developers<\/td> 193,000<\/td> 41,400<\/td><\/tr> Total<\/strong><\/td> 2,462,000<\/strong><\/td> 80,400<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s an opportunity for women here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not just development. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do you set yourself apart?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Learn more than one language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2. Learn how to work in a Sprint environment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Research and practice typical interview questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n