Top skills for software engineers
There is an often-repeated story about a ship, and the repairman hired to fix it. The shipowners had sought out the best engineers in the field, but none of them could fix the broken engine. Then suddenly came an old man who had been repairing ships for many years. Upon inspecting the engine thoroughly, he tapped just one part of it and brought it back to life.
The next day he sent a bill for $10,000. Surprised by the large sum, the owners asked for an itemized bill, which read— $1 for tapping with a hammer and $9,999 for knowing where to tap.
While amusing, this story also points to the importance of having the right skills for the right job. This is particularly relevant for industries like software engineering, where the skillset is specialized for each role. For example, front-end engineers are skilled in ReactJS, VUE, and JQuery, whereas back-end engineers are experts in Python/Django, SpringBoot, and Ruby on Rails.
Here at FloCareer, we have completed 300,000+ interviews on our platform. Based on our conversations with numerous employers, here are the top five most in-demand skills for software engineers in 2022.
Java microservices
Java is a popular object-oriented programming language that finds use across various platforms, from smartphones and gaming consoles to scientific supercomputers. Once written, Java code can be run across all platforms with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
On the other hand, Java microservices are software applications written in the Java programming language. They are typically designed to work in tandem with other programs to solve bigger problems together. These microservices have the ability to create modularized overall architectures where each program is an “expert” in its field.
These applications are found in a number of different areas, such as reporting retail store sales, data collection and enrichment, and creating machine learning (ML) algorithms. Its granular nature makes it easy to track any backflows and identify points of failure.
Front end development
React.js is an open-source library built from JavaScript that mainly finds use in building UI for single-page applications. Designed in 2011 by a Facebook software engineer, React has fast grown to become one of the most popular front-end libraries. In 2021, React was downloaded over 11 million times.
Angular.js is similar because it is also built using a JavaScript framework and is mainly used by front-end developers. However, while ReactJS is used to develop user interfaces on apps, Angular is used to build complex structures like single-page and progressive web apps. In 2021, Angular received 4.3 million downloads.
Here are some of the advantages of these two popular libraries:
- Easy to grasp for those with a background in JavaScript
- Lightning speed and a vast collection of developer tools make them highly competitive vis-a-vis other languages
- Highly scalable and already being used by large companies at scale
Companies such as Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb are using React, while PayPal, Upwork, and Samsung are using Angular.
Cloud engineers
The global cloud computing market is expected to be worth $832.1 billion by 2025. Cloud engineers are professionals who handle every technical aspect of cloud computing, starting from cloud architecture and planning to maintenance and support. ‘Cloud engineer’ by itself is an umbrella term that encompasses a number of different roles under it. These include cloud architects, cloud developers, cloud systems engineers, and cloud security engineers.
These professionals need a diverse range of skills to satisfy their job requirements. First, they need to have a good understanding of Linux and database management skills (MySQL and Hadoop.) Secondly, cloud engineers should be proficient in programming languages such as SQL, Golang, Python, PHP, and Java. Finally, they should be able to operate a number of web services and APIs such as XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI.
DevOps
DevOps implies an amalgamation of development and operations teams. Under this model, engineers have to work throughout the application development process— from creation to deployment. Therefore DevOps implies better speed, more reliability, improved scale, and stronger collaboration.
Quite naturally, this also involves a wide range of skills. Software engineers in DevOps need to know about continuous integration, continuous delivery, microservices, infrastructure as code, and possess good communication skills. Many companies like Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, and Target are leveraging the use of DevOps.
Software development engineer in test (Quality Assurance, Automation)
Traditionally quality assurance testers focused on using the black box testing method. This means that the QA tester used the app as a normal user to check if it worked well with every possible input combination. However, this wasn’t the most efficient solution, and it led to the birth of software development engineers in test (SDET).
SDETs need to check the outward functionality of the application along with its inner workings. This results in better quality check standards and stronger products.
SDETs reduce the dependence on manual testers by using automated scripts for repetitive testing tasks. This greatly diminishes the possibility of human errors and offers a more comprehensive analysis of the app. However, it is important to note that an SDET is not the same as an automation engineer; SDETs need to have a thorough understanding of quality check procedures.
A good SDET should have a solid technical background and should be proficient in HTTP, APIs, cloud platforms, and know at least one programming language. Lastly and most importantly, SDETs should be able to write performance testing scripts using Gatling or JMeter.
If you are looking to hire for any of these roles, we invite you to try out Flocareer. We are an interview as a service platform and can help you speed up your hiring process, all while saving time and resources. So if you are looking to turbocharge your growth, sign up for a live demo now!
