So, you’re interested in becoming a software engineer? If code is your language of choice, then you’ve chosen an awesome career path with high earning potential. But what does a typical day actually look like? Let’s take a closer look at what you can expect in the day in the life of a software engineer.

What is a Software Engineer?

First, the basics. Software engineers apply engineering principles and practices to design, develop, test, and maintain software systems. They analyze user needs, collaborate with other programmers, consult with designers, and use mathematical models and coding language to do so.

They are the creative minds behind every computer program, website, game, operating system, and mobile app that you encounter.

There are many kinds of software engineering specialties. Video game designers, quality assurance engineers, CRM project managers, security engineers, front-end engineers, full-stack developers, data scientists, mobile developers, and more. This career in computer science is ideal for analytical thinkers who are problem-solvers at heart.

What Do Software Engineers Do?

Depending on the specialty, the responsibilities of a software engineer may vary a bit. However, the core role tends to be similar, no matter the specific career choice.

Main Role & Responsibilities

Nearly all software engineers have some fundamental duties that span the job title, no matter their specific position (junior or senior), job title (full-stack or front-end), company (office supplies distributor or tech startup), or industry (medical or industrial). Here are the primary roles of a software engineer and what they will experience day-to-day, across the board:

• Software Development: as outlined previously, one of the most notable tasks for a software engineer is designing, coding, testing, and maintaining software applications. This entails writing clean, efficient, and scalable code using various program languages, such as Java, Python, C++, and more.

• Analysis of Requirements: Before and throughout a project, software engineers will work closely with clients or other stakeholders to analyze the project’s requirements and ensure their solutions will meet the outlined objectives.
• Discussion and Collaboration: they’ll also work directly with collaborative departments to help define the overall structure while considering both short-term and long-term goals with consideration for scalability, performance, and security.
• Coding: now comes the fun part! Software engineers write the code based on the design specs previously outlined. To ensure a clean, functional, and well-documented code, they may use standardized best practices or even start with a framework.
• Debugging and Testing: throughout the coding process, engineers will test their work by identifying and fixing bugs and errors. Unit testing, integration testing, and sometimes automated testing can be used to help locate and correct these issues as they come up.
• Meetings: some may picture coders spending most of their time at a screen. Some also spend time in meetings, however, with cross-functional teams for team connects, code reviews, and feedback.
• Continuous Learning: as with most technologies, near constant evolution plays a part in a software engineer’s day. That’s because they need to stay on top of the latest updates, new programming languages, and industry trends. Ongoing learning is one of those crucial components to ensure relevancy and savviness.

Other Possible Duties

Apart from those primary responsibilities, there are various other tasks that software engineers may perform based on their specific role, company, or industry. Additional possible activities may include:

• Managing Client Relationships: some software engineers may interact directly with clients through the initial data-gathering stage, deliver progress reports, and address concerns or questions as they arise.
• Team Collaboration: software engineers often work on teams that may have designers, developers, project managers, and more. Team environments are conducive for sprint planning of rush projects, feedback, progress meetings, and more.
• Code Reviews: one of the crucial steps in defining and refining code is through peer review where software engineers can gather feedback and suggestions from other sets of eyes. This can contribute to better quality, efficiency, and insights.
• Deployment: involvement in the deployment process means software engineers will configure servers and set up environments that help ensure a smooth deployment of a new system.
• Maintenance: While some software engineers are hired to develop and deploy only, others stay on board to allow for continuous maintenance so they can troubleshoot issues, apply patches, and update code as needed.
• Performance Optimization: another possible responsibility is to optimize the performance of the code as time goes on. Whether this is through identifying areas for improvement or optimizing algorithms to meet the latest trends or updates, performance is an important part of software engineering.
• Documentation: knowledge sharing, onboarding new coders, and maintaining a system long-term requires thorough documentation of system architecture and development processes

Specific Types of Software Engineers

Ready to get started as a software engineer? What specialty will you choose? As previously mentioned, there are various specializations within the field. Here we’ll touch on the most popular kinds of software engineers and their primary focus that affects what their days look like.

Web Developers

A web developer specializes in building applications designed for the web. Within this field, there are front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers. Front-end developers focus on the user interface (UI) and interactive elements of a web page by using coding languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Behind the scenes, we have back-end developers who focus on the server side of things, including programming, database maintenance, and APIs. They work in complex systems behind the user interface to create a smooth front-end experience. Java, C++, Ruby on Rails, Python, Scala, and Go are some common languages they use.

Full-stack developers are trained in both front- and back-end technologies so they can work on the entire breadth of web development, without limitations. They often have skills in UX and UI frameworks, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Ruby on Rails, Python, and much more.

Learn More About Becoming a Web Developer:

• The Best Programming Languages for Web Development
• The Best Programming Languages for Back-End Web Development
• The Best Programming Languages to Learn for Front-End Development

Mobile App Developers

This specialty is designed for building applications for phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. They often create native mobile apps using coding languages such as Swift for iOS or Kotlin for Android devices. Some cross-platform frameworks may also be utilized to help apps run better on other platforms. Examples of these include React Native and Flutter.

Learn More: The Best Programming Languages for App Development

Video Game Designers

With specialized knowledge in designing and implementing gaming systems, video game designers use creative storytelling to build worlds within program environments. Often seen as one of the most creative avenues within software engineering, game developers use skills such as OpenGL, DirectX, Unity 3D, WebGL, Java, Swift, HTML5, and more.

Learn More About Gaming Careers for Programmers:

• Best Jobs for Gamers
• How to Become a Game Developer
• The Best Programming Languages for Game Development

Data Scientists

Taking the analytical side of things are data scientists. This specialty focuses on extracting and statistically analyzing large datasets. They may use tools for machine learning and data visualization to help draw and present conclusions to stakeholders. The most common programming languages used in this field are Python, SQL, and R while the most popular frameworks are TensorFlow and PyTorch.

Security Engineers

This exciting field of software engineering is often lovingly referred to as ethical hacking