With the current situation in many fields, we’re getting more questions than ever about switching careers to become a software developer. How do you know if software development is right for you? And how do you become a software developer?
What does a software developer do?
It’s pretty straightforward, but a software developer, also known as a software engineer or programmer, creates software (computer programs, applications, apps). They usually do this by coding. But coding isn’t all they do; they don’t spend the whole day coding for 8 hours straight. A lot of their work involves collaboration: understanding what needs to be coded, discussing how an application should be built, helping junior colleagues, assisting colleagues from other teams understand the piece of software you’re working on, and much more. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a profession where you closely work with other people. And of course, there’s still a big part of the day spent coding, but there are days when as a software developer, you hardly get around to it. In other words, making good software involves so much more than just coding.
Is software development right for me?
To enjoy software development, you should enjoy problem-solving and creating things. Plus, you shouldn’t mind spending a lot of time in front of a computer. What I find super fun about software development is the puzzle-solving and the many little successes you have in a day when something works, and you see that you’re making progress with what you’re coding. I also love sitting behind a computer, and the combination of working with others while coding in my own little world. What I don’t enjoy as much is being interrupted when I’m deep into coding, but that’s part of it because you usually work with multiple people on a product.
How do I become a software developer?
Becoming a software developer isn’t easy, especially at the beginning, but after a while, things start to click. The key here is to not give up. So where do you start? Well, it depends on your interests. As a beginner, there are roughly two paths to choose from: frontend and backend. Frontend developers mainly focus on the user interface and how the website works, while backend developers deal with the logic and fetching and storing data. Some people believe that backend is more difficult than frontend. In my opinion, it’s not that one is harder than the other, there’s just a bit of a difference.
Once you’ve decided what you want to do, frontend or backend, you need to start with a language. For frontend developers, it’s pretty straightforward at first: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to start with. Then you choose a framework, like React, Angular, or Vue. I think it doesn’t really matter which one you choose; you’ll really learn it once you start working. And if you understand how Angular works after a few weeks of studying, you’ll quickly grasp how Vue or React works too.
For backend, there are even more options, but again, it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. Java, Python, C#, PHP, Ruby… All of these are good languages.
The most important thing, for both frontend and backend, is to start somewhere. And then, it’s important not to get discouraged when things seem overwhelming at times. The good news is that this is very normal; the bad news is that you’ll sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed later on too, just like all of your colleagues do when they realize how much they still don’t know. And that’s okay and completely normal for software developers.
So where do you start? I recommend just starting with one course. Don’t stress too much about which one exactly. You can follow an online tutorial. Spend one day on a beginner’s tutorial in frontend or backend and see where you are at the end of the day. If you’re stuck, there are plenty of beginner courses available to get you started. And once you get going, that’s when it really gets fun.
And here’s some more good news! In this field, it’s really not hard to get a job without studying it at a vocational school/college/university. If you can show that you’ve got a handle on software development, you can generally find work pretty easily. There are also plenty of IT traineeships for career switchers. Especially after your first job, you’ll have plenty of options. After a few months at your first job, or possibly even when you just mention on LinkedIn that you’re learning to becoming a software developer, recruiters will come at you from all sides. Still, my advice is not to get too overconfident. The learning curve we usually see goes something like this:
- Super difficult!
- Wow, that’s a lot
- Hey, I’m starting to get it
- Ha, I can do this
- Oh no, there’s so much I don’t know
Once you reach step 5, you really start to get the hang of it 😉
If you have any questions, feel free to send a message!
