This post provides a comprehensive guide on the software engineer job requirements, to help you know what employers or hiring managers would expect you to have to qualify for employment as a software engineer.
Whether you are seeking an entry-level software engineering position or senior role, there are specific requirements covering skills, knowledge, education, and certification that you will have to fulfill to assure the employer/hiring manager that you will be effective on the job.
Now, let’s get into it:
Software Engineer Skills Requirements
The skills requirements that a software engineer needs to possess can be grouped into two, technical and soft skills.
Technical Skills
Software engineers are expected to possess strong skills and proficiency in the following areas: Programming Languages, Software Development Fundamentals, and Frameworks and Tools.
- Programming Languages
To be effective in their job, it is important for software engineers to be skillful and proficient in multiple programming languages, including:
- General-purpose languages, including JavaScript, Java, Python and C#, C++
- Languages used for database development, such as SQL and NoSQL
- Languages used forfrontend or full-stack roles, such as HTML, CSS
- Languages that can be applied depending on specific job needs, such as TypeScript, Go, Rust, Kotlin.
- Software Development Fundamentals
When hiring, employers usually look for software engineers with strong understanding and skills in Algorithms and data structures, Object-oriented programming (OOP), and Version control systems (e.g., Git).
Other areas that the software engineer should have profound skills and understanding are in debugging and testing techniques and software development life cycle (SDLC).
- Frameworks and Tools
Depending on the stack, the software engineer should have strong skills and proficiency in React, Angular, Vue.js for frontend; Node.js, .NET, Django, Spring for Backend; Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Terraform for DevOps; AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform for Cloud; and CI/CD and automation tools.
Soft Skills
The soft skills that employers look for in the software engineers they want to hire include:
- Problem-solving and Critical Thinking Skill
The job of the software engineer involves solving problems and developing effective and efficient solutions to the issue.
Software engineers need to have strong problem-solving skill and critical thinking ability to perform testing and debugging of software, as well as to do other tasks where it is necessary to identify a problem, proffer and analyze various possible solutions that can be applied and determine a solution that is most effective and efficient.
- Collaboration and Teamwork Skill
Sometimes, software engineers work in a team with other professionals on a project. In such instance, having a strong collaborative and teamwork skill will be vital in working effectively with others in delivering the project.
Having teamwork skills entails the ability to respect other people in the team and to accept criticism.
- Time Management and Organization Skill
Software engineers with strong time management and organization skill are able to use time and organize their work more effectively and efficiently, resulting in being more productive.
They are also able to reduce work stress on themselves, meet deadline in delivering projects, and achieve a good work-life balance.
- Adaptability
The software engineering field is one that is continually changing with new technologies, frameworks, and tools popping up all the time.
In addition to that, the demands by customers and project requirements are also changing fast.
To be relevant in this fast-paced environment, software engineers need to continue to learn the latest programming languages, frameworks and tools, and also be able to adjust to shifting project scope and timeline.
- Communication Skill
Software engineers need to have a strong communication skill to effectively collaborate with team members, project managers, clients, and other stakeholders for the successful delivering of products.
They should be able to communicate clearly with members of the team so that everyone understands their tasks and errors are removed, thereby eliminating time wastage and increasing productivity and efficiency.
Software Engineer Knowledge Requirements
Software engineers are also expected to have the knowledge of development methodologies, including Agile and Scrum frameworks, Kanban, Waterfall (still used even though less common), and DevOps practices and automation pipelines.
Also, depending on the employer, software engineers may be expected to have strong knowledge of a domain to be hired.
The various domains where software engineers can build strong knowledge and expertise are Finance/Fintech, Healthcare technology, E-commerce platforms, and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.
Others are Cybersecurity and Embedded systems or IoT.
Software Engineer Education Requirements
Bachelor’s Degree: Having a Bachelor’s degree is typically required by employers and hiring managers to work as software engineer.
A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, or Mathematics or related STEM fields is usually acceptable to be hired.
Master’s Degree: It is not necessary to have a Master’s degree; however it can be advantageous to have a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or Business (MBA with focus on tech), especially for senior or specialized roles in research, machine learning or management.
Software Engineer Professional Certifications Requirements
Although most employers don’t require software engineers to have a professional certification to be employed, however, having one is valuable as it shows that the engineer has great expertise and is committed to the field.
The various fields a software engineer can acquire a professional certification include:
- AWS Certified Developer/Architect: This certification shows enormous expertise of the AWS cloud ecosystem.
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate: This certification shows expertise in applying Microsoft Azure services for compute, security, troubleshooting, and storage.
- Google Professional Cloud Developer: This certification shows expertise in applying Google Cloud Platform (GCP) tools and best practices in designing, developing, and deploying cloud-native applications.
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD): With this certification, the software engineer is recognized as someone with expertise to design, build, and deploy cloud-native applications on Kubernetes.
- Oracle Certified Java Programmer: This certification confirms that the software engineer has huge knowledge of core Java concepts and APIs, such as data types, language constructs, operators, and basic API usage.
- Scrum Master Certification: A software engineer having this certification is recognized as someone with expertise in utilizing the Scrum framework, which is a well-known agile project management methodology.
Software Engineer Licensing Requirements
The software engineering profession does not usually require a license like other professions, such as medicine and law to work
However, in some instances, such as when working on software related to public safety or infrastructure, software engineers may be required to apply for a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) license.
Software Engineer Work Experience Requirements
Employers usually require software engineers to prove that they have some relevant experience for them to be considered for the role they are applying for.
The kind of experience usually required by employers depends on the level of expertise needed to effectively handle the position.
For an entry-level software engineering position, employers may require candidates to show they have some experience for the job with record of internship roles, open-source contributions, coding bootcamps, and academic projects.
For mid-level to senior positions, employers may require software engineers to have 2–5+ years of experience in software development, proven track record of projects, leadership, or product development, and experience mentoring junior developers.
Software Engineer Portfolio and Personal Projects Requirements
Employers don’t usually require candidates to show their personal projects and portfolio to be employed, however, it can be helpful as employers often favor candidates with GitHub repositories showing clean code, open-source contributions, personal websites or project portfolios, or mobile or web apps available on public platforms.
Background Checks and Legal Requirements
Some employers may require candidates for a software engineering position to pass a background check, especially if they are to work on finance, defense, or healthcare projects.
They may also require candidates to have legal right to work in the country.
Conclusion
To be qualified to work as a software engineer, you will need to fulfill certain requirements from employers/hiring managers, including skills, knowledge, education, and certifications.
This post has highlighted these requirements to enable you to better prepare for the software engineering career by acquiring them.
