If you are also a software developer or you have decide on initiate your career as Software developer then here are some words for you "As a programmer, you don't have a single 30-year career, you have 30 one-year careers". Being a software developer is not an easy job due to the constantly changing technology. You need to update yourself constantly. Sometime you may face that you are learning a technology for developing an application, but once you completely learn the technology and comes out after a one year, the technology which you was learning get obsolete. This is a matter of one year, then what can be happen after four years. The speedy technological updates hammering on the head of software developers, that what skills are employers looking then? When I asked this question to HR manager, he replied with a grin that “we don’t hire people for what they know, but what they can learn.” You won’t believe, but I was really rejuvenated with these words which have changed my perspective towards my career as a programmer which turns to: “I started to look forward instead of focusing on specific technology.” Perhaps the discussion continues about what skills employers want in software developers, which continues in the group of software developers as well as in the group of trainers who teach software programming. I have gone through both groups and bring out some questions that are repeatedly asked from students and programmers and have tried to deliver you that what skills the employers actually seeking. Simultaneously have gone through newspaper classified ads where they display programming job postings to see what they expect in software developers. Here are areas on which I thought, analyzed and have derived some conclusion which I have written here. What I Derived: Let’s focus firstly on the newspaper ads. What I have derived from newspaper ads is, they expect specific skills in software developers, for an e.g. strust2, Hibernate, Javascript/jQuery, Ajax, Html and Sql. What Students Believe? Students walk in the direction of new technologies by seeing such ads. They believe that they should focus on the skills that are hot technologies of today and enroll programs with that perspective to be a good software developer. What Should Do? Do you think this strategy works correctly? From my side, it is not going to work by looking at the technology changing speed as I discussed earlier. Again, I am repeating it like once you enroll with any technology and clear a comprehensive training within a year , there may chances that what you learn may replaced by another technology due to its advanced features or due to any other benefit that company acknowledge in new technology. You may think if learning a new technology is not the best strategy then what could be? From my perspective the educational path you select as a programmer depends on the context you find in yourself. You should recognize your context and join the program accordingly to that, rather than running behind hot technologies. To know more about it Contact Us and get a comprehensive guide on the suitable course program. What Are Employers Really Looking in Software Developers? My industrial and academic analysis simply makes me to state one sentence is that “programming is programming”, they are looking for your grip on your context while hiring rather than knowledge of latest technology. This is because any of organization never going to stick with the same technology for development. They are going to use, which is the best fit for their application development. At that time the employee should have the potential to cope up with that. This is why they focus on the context not on latest technology knowledge. Next comes to the how much potential employers seeking in the software developer? For deriving the answer of this question I have contacted companies and concluded, based on that which I have written here. For your better understanding I have categorized companies in three levels. Small Companies: 10 or less than 10 employees Medium Companies: 10 to 100 employees Larger Companies: More than 1000 employees
| Large Companies | Medium Companies | Small Companies |
| Questions. Important skills (soft skills and technical both) that they look in software developers. | ||
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| Upshot: For all three categories of company you need 4 year college degree, programming passion, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, team player quality. | ||
| Question: Is there any specific technology or programming language on which they are focusing ( for an i.e. are they select a good programmer by overlooking specific skill which is lacking in him/her which company uses). | ||
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| Upshot: Strong programming knowledge is must, ability to work on all environments or ability to learn to work in all environments. Specific technology preference is the least. | ||
| Question: How much importance they give to the soft skills (writing, presentation and other communication skills)?. | ||
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| Upshot: The significance of the soft skill exists in organizations, but it relies on position for what you have applied. | ||
| Question: Is there any specific degree or certificates which they are looking for software developer?. | ||
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| Upshot: The degree certificate is asked by a few companies, whereas they give more importance to what knowledge you have and demonstrate. | ||
| Question: On which strategy their company works. Like programmers create new code or they are working on the existing code implementing and implementing third party product. | ||
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| Upshot: Both are necessary. Companies seeking for programmer who can create a new code as well can maintain existing ones. | ||
