Today
there are more requirements for entry level jobs especially in the roles
of a developer, networking specialist, tester or support engineer.
Choosing a career path in software industry is a tough decision. This
article will assist fresh engineering graduates to understand some of
the roles and responsibilities of various career options in software
industry. This article also describes the skills that need to be
developed for various roles.
1. Software Programmer
- A Software Programmer understands the business requirements and
writes code for the given business requirement. A software programmer
must have an in-depth understanding of the software development life
cycle stages. A software programmer may use various dynamic programming
tools and languages to develop applications, enhance and modify the
code.
| Skills | Programming | Testing | Problem solving | Deductive Thinking and Logical Reasoning | Communication |
|---|
| High | Yes | | Yes | Yes | |
| Medium | | Yes | | | Yes |
| Low | | | | | |
2. Software Test/QA engineer
- A Test engineer evaluates the quality of software developed by
software programmers. The key responsibilities of a test engineer
include understanding the requirements, writing test cases, testing the
software application, filing the defects and ensuring the defects filed
are tracked to closure.
| Skills | Programming | Testing | Problem solving | Attention to Details | Deductive Thinking and Logical Reasoning | Communication |
|---|
| High | | Yes | | Yes | Yes | |
| Medium | Yes | | Yes | | | Yes |
| Low | Yes | | | | | |
3. Network Engineer
- The network engineer's role in the IT industry is very crucial. The
responsibilities include monitoring the application/web server to ensure
that the application is up and running, handle user/customer issues and
assist the developers in deployment/maintenance of the application.
| Skills | Programming | Troubleshooting | Problem solving | Attention to Details | Communication |
|---|
| High | | Yes | | | Yes |
| Medium | | | | Yes | |
| Low | Yes | | Yes | | |
4. Software Support Engineer
- They provide desktop support by assisting employees with their
desktop/laptop setup/Server Support, maintain the servers in data
centers and provide hardware/software assistance in case of system
breakdown.
| Skills | Programming | Troubleshooting | Problem solving | Attention to Details | Communication |
|---|
| High | | Yes | | | Yes |
| Medium | | | | Yes | |
| Low | Yes | | Yes | | |
5. Technical Support Engineers
help in the examination of network server equipment and it's
maintenance, networking and connecting computers within the same
organization to enhance communication, handle network, virus, malicious
software, and hardware support issues.
| Skills | Programming | Troubleshooting | Problem solving | Communication |
|---|
| High | | Yes | Yes | |
| Medium | | | | Yes |
| Low | Yes | | | |
(The
author is a Career Counselor and trainer who head's PurpleLeap, a
Pearson - Educomp company, that works with colleges to make students
employment-ready.)
