Introduction
Today’s Software Developer is shaping the economies and industries, altogether. They create, test and manage programmes that allow people to complete daily tasks, run services and make meaningful use of digital technologies and devices. From the phones in our hands to the smart TVs on our walls, the functionality of everything is being determined by software developers. Accordingly, it is essential to determine the skills needed for a software engineer profile. From having hands-on experience of coding to using frameworks such as React or Django, a field experts tests, debugs, maintains and collaborate to solve technical problems. In this high growth domain, the employment for software developers is also expected to grow immensely, in accordance with our reliance on technology. On average, the salary for freshers in this domain can be around £30,000 and for an experienced professional, this can go up to £75,000 per year. Factors such as the experience, specialisation, location and versatility my contribute to this number.
Moreover, the role of a developer may vary as per their skillset and specialization; one could be a Frontend Developer, who focuses more on user interface, overall client-side responsiveness and user experience by using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and such tools. Secondly, the option of establishing oneself as a Backend Developer is also available, where they are on the server side and handle database interactions, API integration, and other logical aspects using Python, Java, or PHP. Lastly, by starting your career as a Full-Stack Developer, which is a combination of the above-mentioned roles, you are expected to be an all-rounder.
From the roles available for Software Developers to the industries open for them, there is more to this field than one can imagine. These developers are significant in almost every sector, from finance and management to education and healthcare, as they don’t just streamline digital transformation of these industries but helps them adapt the global and competitive environment by implementing AI and automation solutions into the workflow.
Required skills for a software developer are as follows:
1. Programming Language Proficiency
The foundational skillset is developed by learning and practicing programming languages like C++, Java, JavaScript and Python.
To begin with, C++ is one of the most powerful and efficient programming languages, known for overall performance and control over system resources. It is an extension of C with object-oriented features and has now become the backbone of many high-performing applications, operating systems, and even modern video games. Despite the steep learning curve, developers prefer its unmatched speed and efficiency, especially in systems programming, real-time simulations, and embedded systems. This flexible and fast language supports both procedural and object-oriented programming and a vast standard library. Its extensive use in high-frequency trading applications is based on the reality that milliseconds can mean millions. Other than that, it is prominently used in game development, operating systems and drivers. Note that it is not an easy language to master, but the control and efficiency it offers make it an invaluable skill for those aiming to work on performance-critical software.
Secondly, an old gold is Java, which continue to power millions of applications, enterprise systems and cloud solutions. The philosophy “write once, run anywhere” runs deep within Java, marking its cross-platform capability. This secure and robust language is behind the many large-scale applications and is the primary language for Android App Development. Popularly, it is being used for backing enterprise applications, financial and banking systems and cloud-based applications. Java’s consistency, speed and adaptability make it central for programming education and professional development.
Internet’s heartbeat is powered by JavaScript; this very programming language is the foundation of modern web development as we know it, dominating both the front-end and back-end development. It is mostly used alongside HTML and CSS, breathing life into web pages that we regularly use. Whether it is the animations and interactivity at the front or the creation of robust single-page applications, its application is vast. The frameworks that run within are React, Angular, and Vue, and Node.js even brings JavaScript to the back end. This language is supported by all the major browsers, as it enables full-stack development of Web and Mobile Apps, Games and Backend APIs. Its major features make it one of the most in-demand languages globally.
Lastly, the versatility of Python is above all. This beginner-friendly language has simple syntax and readability, making it a go-to choice for beginners and experienced developers both. The usage is everywhere, from data science and machine learning to web development and automation. Its extensive libraries like TensorFlow, Pandas, and Django, empower developers to build almost anything with ease, which marks its huge community and rich ecosystem as well. Python’s cross-platform compatibility also plays a crucial role in the development of new-age technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and IoT (Internet of Things). Accordingly, this popular language is adaptable, simple and essential for developers who seek to stay relevant in the transforming tech space.
2. Data Structures and Algorithms
Demand for data is everlasting, with people and their preferences, industry trends and competition changing at a continuous pace. Data, however, is never alone; it got relevant support and backing that can be defined as per the data structures such as arrays, linked lists, binary trees and hashtables. These structures then go through further sorting and thus refined and modelled as per the need.
Firstly, one of the basic data structures is Arrays, which store elements of the same type in contiguous memory locations, allowing fast access using an index. They have a fixed size, though dynamic versions exist in some languages. Arrays can be single-dimensional (lists) or multi-dimensional (like matrices). Herein, accessing and updating is faster, whereas tasks like insertion, deletion and traversal may take time due to shifting elements. Arrays are memory-efficient, cache-friendly, and support random access, but they are inflexible in size and inefficient for frequent insertions or deletions. They assist with storing data, lookup tables, implementing other data structures, and algorithms like sorting and searching.
Secondly, among the many data structures, there is Hashtables that helps store key-value pairs and allows fast insertion, deletion and searching. It uses a hash function to convert a key into an index in an array where the value is stored. The efficiency of a hash table depends on how well the hash function distributes keys. Initially, collisions occur when two keys map to the same index. These are handled using collision resolution techniques such as chaining, where each index stores a list of values and open addressing, where the table searches for another empty slot using probing methods. The quality of the hash function, users’ collision resolution strategy, load factor and resizing policy influences the overall performance. Majorly, its application is prominent in database indexing, caching, sets, maps, and many internal data structures in programming languages. Various modern programming languages (Python, Java, C#) provide built-in, optimized hash table implementations.
Thirdly, for searching, sorting and organising data, a binary tree is used, which is a data structure made of nodes, where each node can have at most two children: a left child and a right child. Its common variants include Binary Search Trees (BSTs), balanced trees (AVL, red-black trees), and heaps. Some of the key components of a binary tree are the root, parent and child nodes, leaf nodes, depth, and height of the tree. Binary trees can be full, complete, balanced, or binary search trees, depending on their structure and rules. Depending upon if the tree is balanced or unbalanced, tasks like search, insertion, and deletion may take less or more time. Their usage is linked with searching, sorting, priority queues and heap sort, databases and file systems, and data compression algorithms like Huffman coding and the efficiency depends on the tree’s structure and balance.
Lastly, nodes are prominently used for making linked lists as well, wherein each node stores data and a reference to the next node. Unlike arrays, nodes are not stored in contiguous memory, which allows efficient insertion and deletion. It is of three types: singly linked lists (one forward pointer), doubly linked lists (forward and backward pointers), and circular linked lists (last node links back to the first). Its size is dynamic, and unused memory is not wasted. Commonly, its application is in implementing stacks, queues, hash tables, polynomial arithmetic, and some garbage collection algorithms. However, linked lists do not support random access, and they require extra memory for pointers.
3. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
Core principles: Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction; Design patterns (Singleton, Factory, Observer); Clean code practices
When organizing code or structuring it, Object-Oriented Programming is at play. It helps make a programme reusable, easier to manage by combining data, its attributes and its functional and methodological behaviour. The focus remains on what the object do and it does that by using core principles of Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Abstraction to model real-world entities and create flexible, maintainable code.
One of the principles, Polymorphism, simply refers to the fact that one entity can take many forms. Depending on a project’s runtime, in Java, polymorphism allows the same method or object to behave differently based on the context. There are majorly two types of Polymorphism in Java, one is Method Overloading (compile-time polymorphism) and the other is Method Overriding (run-time polymorphism).
Furthermore, Abstraction in Java is the process of hiding internal complex details and showing only essential functionality to the user. It focuses on what an object does rather than how it does it. Initially, by abstracting functionality, implementation changes do not affect the overall code that depends on the abstraction. Java, primarily, provides two ways to implement abstraction: first by Abstract Classes and second, through interfaces, which ensures 100% abstraction. One of the real-time examples of its application is television remote control, it simplifies the interaction with a TV by hiding all the complex technology.
Moving forward, the principle of Encapsulation helps keep things organised and secure by combining data and the functions working on that data into a single unit, like a class. This class can hide the implementation part and disclose only the functionalities required by other classes. By making class data and methods private, representations or implementations can later be changed without impacting the code that uses this class. Overall, it enhances the maintainability, readability and usability. Additionally, the implementation of Encapsulation in Java helps declare data as private, use getters and setters and apply proper access modifiers.
In terms of the principle of inheritance, this is a Java-based mechanism by which one class is allowed to inherit the features (fields and methods) of another class. In Java, Inheritance means creating new classes based on existing ones. A class that inherits from another class can reuse the methods and fields of that class.
If one is trying to find standard solutions for common problems that occur while designing software, then the solution is design patterns. They don’t give you exact code, but they show you how to structure your code so that it’s easier to build, change, and maintain. To learn about design patterns, prerequisites include a practical understanding of basic programming constructs, core OOP concepts, common data structures, modular code principles and problem-solving skills. Design patterns are used to avoid repeating the same mistakes, write cleaner and more organized code and build flexible and reusable software. They are grouped into three main types such as Creational, Structural and Behavioural. They are mostly used in Game development, GUI applications and web servers and system software.
4. Web Development Fundamentals
Websites are a key aspect of the virtual world that we know today; we want to buy, sell, explore or find something; we refer to a website. However, to build even a single web page, there goes web designing techniques, inclusive of programming and database management tools. It is further divided in two parts: Frontend – what we see, and Backend – the code that runs in the background.
Frontend Development is about how web pages are structured and made interactive, with the assistance of tools like HTML (HyperText Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JS (JavaScript). By using tags and attributes to organise text, images and links, HTML creates the basic structure and content of web pages. To style this content, CSS is used, as it controls colors, fonts, layouts, and how the page looks on different devices. Lastly, the entire web page comes to life by using JavaScript, as it handles buttons, animations and form checks.
Backend Development is a picture of the server, where the website is running and storing information. Accordingly, server side programming languages are used to write the backend code, which deals with data processing, database management and controlling how the website works. The programming languages that assist with the process include JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, JAVA and C#.
Another important aspect of web development is the Database and API. Because user and product information is a key aspect of a website, and part of the backend, which manages and keeps the information safe. The databases which organise data in tables are called relational databases, like MySQL, and when is data is being stored in flexible formats, it uses NoSQL databases, like MongoDB. Further, when a website is being developed, several software components and web applications interact and share information; this communication is done through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and standardized Data Formats.
In the context of web development architecture, the style REST uses multiple endpoints and HTTP methods. On the contrary, GraphQL operates over a single endpoint, allowing one to request for exact data requirement. A developer chooses between them on the basis of specific projects and team expertise.
5. Frontend Frameworks and Libraries
As a key skill needed for a software developer, one is not just writing code, a developer can rely on a collection of pre-written and standardized code, which would provide a structured framework for building dynamic user-friendly websites and web applications.
Key components of the frontend framework and technologies are as follows:
React: Component-based UI – an open-source JavaScript library used to create user interface (UI), developed by Facebook first to help create reusable UI components. It uses virtual DOM to improve app performance. Based on a component centric approach, it can be easily integrated with other front-end frameworks, which makes it a good choice for developers.
Angular – a full-fledged, TypeScript-based framework developed and maintained by Google. This is a solution for building client-side applications and enterprise-level projects. It does two-way data binding by automatically syncing the UI and the underlying data model. There is also dependency injection, a design pattern that makes components more modular and easier to test. Based on the integration of TypeScript integration, it provides static typing and improved code quality. It also includes built-in routing, form validation, HTTP request handling, and testing utilities, meaning fewer third-party libraries are needed out of the box. Lastly, due to server-side rendering (SSR), it’s easier to improve initial load times and SEO-friendliness.
Vue.js – It was developed in 2014 by Evan You, who had previously worked on AngularJS at Google. His goal was to create a framework that combined the best parts of Angular’s templating system with the simplicity and flexibility of modern JavaScript libraries like React. It’s a progressive tool, which means developers can incrementally adopt its features without having to completely rewrite an existing project.
In terms of overall performance, Vue’s reactivity system provides a highly efficient way to track changes to data and update the DOM only when necessary. Its virtual DOM implementation is lightweight and fast, making Vue a strong performer for both small and large applications.
6. Backend Development Skills
For a developer to create the server-side logic, database and APIs, the assistance of key languages like Python, Java and Node.js, and other substantial tools like SQL/NoSQL for database management are exclusive. Whereas the technical skills required for a software developer are needed for API development, version control and security practices.
For developing web applications and APIs, one of the popular Node.js web application frameworks is Express.js (or simply Express). It’s often called the de facto standard server framework for Node.js. Some of its characteristics are its flexibility, unopinionated structure, fastness and lightweight. This design is also extensible through middleware and have Huge ecosystem of plugins and extensions.
Furthermore, a popular language, Python, comes with frameworks like Django and Flask, which have made web development easier and more efficient. While both are used to build web applications, they take very different approaches. Django is a high-level Python web framework that follows the “batteries-included” philosophy, offering built-in features like authentication, ORM, and admin interface—ideal for large, full-featured applications. Additionally, Flask is a lightweight and flexible Python web framework that gives developers full control over structure and components, perfect for smaller projects or custom solutions.
Software developers require a robust set of skills, other than the basic programming, as they also need to use Spring Boot and Jave to design system, security infrastructure and deployment practices. Altogether, a strong foundation in Java fundamentals, including Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles, data structures, the Java Collections Framework, and exception handling, is essential. Alongside that, understanding of core Spring concepts like dependency injection (DI) and Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) is crucial, as Spring Boot is built on top of the broader Spring ecosystem. This ecosystem simplifies setup by providing default configurations, pre-configured project templates that bundle necessary dependencies and built-in endpoints for monitoring and managing the application in production.
Essentially, expertise in designing and building RESTful APIs is a primary skill. This involves using HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) effectively, handling JSON/XML data formats, and implementing validation and exception handling.
Once developed, securing applications is also paramount for developers. This includes implementing robust authentication (verifying user identity) and authorization (controlling access to resources) mechanisms. The de facto standard for securing Spring-based applications, providing protection against common vulnerabilities like CSRF and session fixation. For the same, common methods include username/password authentication, OAuth2, JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for token-based security, and basic authentication.
Along with security, managing user state across stateless HTTP requests is a critical backend task. For this purpose, some of the methods include Spring Boot supports in-memory sessions, JDBC-based sessions (storing in a relational database), and Redis-based sessions (for scalability). Although Spring Security automatically handles session creation and management upon successful authentication, storing user details in the HttpSession.
7. Database Management: SQL and NoSQL
When online, there is a constant collaboration of data and developers, which is supported by tools like MySQL, which serves as the primary relational data store for many popular websites, applications, and commercial products. It is a reliable, stable, and secure structured query language (SQL) database management system, which makes it suitable for a wide variety of use cases, including mission-critical apps and dynamic websites. Application developers gain an engine with a simple client-server interface and faster onboarding, while organizations save costs on training.
AWS supports MySQL in a variety of ways, including a fully managed database service, Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for MySQL. Amazon Aurora MySQL-Compatible Edition is also built using MySQL, and Amazon RDS supports the popular MySQL fork project, MariaDB.
An advanced enterprise-class open-source relational database that supports both SQL (relational) and JSON (non-relational) querying is PostgreSQL. Being highly stable, it shows a great level of resilience, integrity, and correctness. It is used as the primary data store for many web, mobile, geospatial, and analytics applications.
Cassandra is a distributed No-SQL database that feels like DynamoDB’s robust cousin. It boasts similar scalability and fault tolerance, and is tailored to writes, but with a more structured approach. Cassandra uses a wide-column store model, allowing for flexible data structures within a defined schema. This provides a good balance between performance and data organisation. However, setting up Cassandra clusters can be more complex compared to DynamoDB’s managed service approach.
MongoDB have a document-oriented model, which allows a developer to store rich JSON-like documents with ease. This makes it perfect for scenarios where data structures can evolve rapidly. Additionally, it offers a rich query language that feels familiar to those coming from a relational database background. However, its scalability can be a concern for extremely high-volume applications.
Redis is popularly known for in-memory caching. Its blazing-fast speed and diverse data structures made it a game-changer for caching frequently accessed data. Need to implement a real-time leaderboard or a high-performance session store? Redis makes it possible. However, its in-memory nature means data persistence needs careful consideration.
Database normalization – a process that organizes data into specific table structures, thus improving data integrity, preventing data anomalies, minimizing data redundancy and bolstering query performance. Normalization optimizes tables in database management systems (DBMS) to meet what are known as normal forms: sets of rules governing how attributes are organized within a table. These rules are based largely on relationships between attributes (columns), including keys used for uniquely identifying rows.
8. Version Control with Git
Git fundamentals, branching strategies, pull requests, code reviews, resolving conflicts; GitHub/GitLab collaboration, CI/CD basics
Aiming to be a software developer, think of tracking changes, managing various versions of code and collaborating smoothly for projects, that is what Version Control Systems (VCS) make possible. In this regard, one of the most widely used VCS is Git, which helps developers work on both personal projects and large team-based codebases.
The strategies and approach used in this context by different teams to manage the complexities are designed to balance stability and flexibility, depending on the team’s tolerance for risk, the regulatory requirements, and the trade-offs between rapid development and long-term reliability.
Accordingly, the role of branches in collaborative development, to enable parallel development and keep the main codebase stable, teams use a branching strategy. With branching, each developer works locally in a separate branch focused on a specific task. It also streamlines code review by isolating each change. If something breaks the code, teams can roll back to a previous version.
9. Cloud Computing and DevOps
In today’s virtual realm, one needs access to their lives and work all the time, older pictures and projects, plans and analytics and an unnumbered software and web resources. All this is available on the cloud, which delivers on demand IT resources, whether servers, storage or database and software on the internet. As a user, one can access these services from AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and others on a pay-as-you-go basis. As a Software Developer, on focuses on the benefits of this technology, which includes flexibility, reduced costs and faster innovation.
In terms of service providers, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has rapidly evolved to become the backbone of cloud computing and plays a pivotal role in supporting DevOps practices. With a vast global infrastructure, AWS provides the scale and reliability that DevOps teams require to ensure consistent and efficient operations.
Microsoft Azure, another cloud heavyweight, plays a significant role in the DevOps landscape by offering a comprehensive ecosystem that supports agile software development, continuous integration, and continuous delivery (CI/CD). As organizations increasingly embrace DevOps, they find that Azure provides unique advantages that enhance their DevOps practices.
Docker is the containerization platform that is used to package your application and all its dependencies together in the form of containers to make sure that your application works seamlessly in any environment whether it is developed or tested, or in production. Docker is a tool designed to make it easier to create, deploy, and run applications by using containers. It is written in the Go language and benefits both developers and system administrators, making it a part of many DevOps toolchains. Sysadmins need not worry about infrastructure, as Docker can easily scale up and scale down the number of systems. Docker comes into play at the deployment stage of the software development cycle.
Kubernetes Orchestration is like a symphony conductor that provides a host of dynamic services for running, connecting, scaling, and managing complex, multi-container workloads. It provides an alternative: instead of building custom scripts, monitoring, and other facilities to manage each application component.
Lastly, CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (or Deployment). It’s a DevOps practice that automates building, testing, and deploying code changes, enabling faster and more reliable software releases. It is basically an automated workflow that replaces manual steps with pipelines that build, test, and deploy software reliably. If the developer get CI/CD right and downtime is minimized, code releases happen faster.
10. Testing and Debugging
When the software developer has designed an application, they start the testing and debugging process to understand all the loopholes and security concerns associated with it, which makes testing and debugging important in software engineering. The main difference between Testing and Debugging are testing is the process of identifying defects or errors in the software system, while debugging is the process to to fix those defects or errors that affect the working of the software.
The corresponding method for the same is Test-Driven Development (TDD), where the focus is on writing automation tests before writing the actual code for any feature of an application or product. This approach uses short development cycles that repeat to verify the quality and correctness. It is simply a coding method in which you first write a test, and it fails, then write the code to pass the test of development, and clean up the code. This process is recycled for one new feature or change.
Testing involves using automated or manual testing tools, whereas debugging involves logging, tracing, and code inspection tools and techniques.
Herein, some of the testing frameworks are as follows:
- JUnit is a Open-source unit testing framework primarily used for Java projects. It provides a simple and effective way to write and run tests. It’s simple, easy to use and has a strong integration with Java IDEs, along with having a large community and extensive documentation. But limited features and primary focus on unit testing are its drawbacks.
- Pytest is an open-source Python testing framework known for its simplicity and ease of use. Its key features are a Python-specific testing framework, test discovery and execution, parameterized testing and fixture management, which makes it a tool well integrated with python ecosystem that supports various testing styles. But it is less mature compared to JUnit and TestNG.
- Jest is a JavaScript testing framework specifically designed for React applications. It offers features like snapshot testing and mocking. Being open-source its easily accessible and well-suited for modern JavaScript development.
Overall, opting for the right testing framework depends on factors such as programming language, project size, and team preferences.
Soft Skills for Software Developers
While considering what skills are needed for a software engineer, along with the hard technical skills, one’s characteristic traits and soft skills are also highly valuable.
The first aspect is communication, where the profession is out of consideration, everybody need this skill to voice their ideas in a better manner. A basic requirement to manage work, collaborate and convey your vision.
In a demanding field like software engineering, one is constantly dealing with change and challenges, so a problem-solving mindset is a necessity. Wherein even if you have a lot of tasks, and a sudden problem arises in the middle of the work, you can critically look and analyse the problem from every angle and provide a reasonable solution while keeping an open mind.
As a Software Engineer, a lot depends on how you organise and deliver your work; that is where time management and organisational skills come into play. Keeping in mind others are waiting for the outcome, you have proficient in managing time.
IT is a sector that is constantly upgrading, and the change is unforeseeable, so one needs to be open to learning and adaptable. There would be times when, as a Software Developer, you wont just need to learn but unlearn, that is what will define your expertise. Because there are always some things that are left in this era of technological advancements, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR).
Be Empathetic and have patience, an important skill when, along with wins, there are failures and re-attempts. From the beginning of a project to the time of summing it up takes a lot of time, and so, it requires a lot of hard work as well as patience. Even when you are spending most of your time writing codes, it’s important to be emotionally available, deal with stress and pressure and give regard to others’ perspectives, because you would always need to collaborate to grow.
Cybersecurity Basics for Developers
How many times do we hear beware, of spam mails, unrecognised links, malware and spyware, even developers are aware of these looming threats that steals our information, hacks our systems and try to control our actions. That is what cybersecurity is, and to build secure software, developers must first be familiar with the most common cybersecurity threats:
- SQL Injection: This attack targets databases by inserting malicious SQL statements into input fields.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Malicious scripts are injected into websites, potentially compromising user data or hijacking user sessions.
- Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks: Hackers intercept communications between two parties to steal sensitive information or alter data.
- Phishing: Social engineering attacks that trick users into revealing credentials or installing malicious software.
To prevent these threats, Authentication is an integral safety point, wherein the server needs to know exactly who is accessing their information or site. It is used by the client to know that the server is the system it claims to be. The user hereby needs to prove its identity to the server or client. Basically, by the medium of a username and a password, the server authenticates. Other ways to authenticate can be through cards, retina scans, voice recognition, and fingerprints. Additionally, authentication by a client usually involves the server giving a certificate to the client in which a trusted third party, such as Verisign or Thawte, states that the server belongs to the entity (such as a bank) that the client expects it to. Altogether, it is not about determining the task or individual use, but rather about identifying and verifying the person or the system.
Similarly, authorisation comes when a server determines if the client has permission to use a resource or access a file. Authorisation and authentication are mostly coupled together so that the server has some concept of who the client is that is requesting access. Although the type of authentication required for authorisation may vary, passwords may be required in some cases but not in others. Note that most of the web pages on the Internet require no authentication or authorization.
Mobile Development Skills
| Feature | Swift (iOS) | Kotlin (Android) |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Apple ecosystem: iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS | Google ecosystem: Android, JVM, server-side, multiplatform |
| Official IDE | Xcode | Android Studio |
| Memory Mgmt | Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) | Garbage Collection (JVM-based) |
| Performance | Compiles to native machine code, providing optimal speed | Compiles to bytecode (ART), with excellent performance |
| Null Safety | Uses nil to indicate the absence of a value | Uses null for error indication |
| Cross-Platform | Primarily focused on Apple’s ecosystem, but community tools like Skip allow Swift to run on Android | Features Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) for shared business logic across Android, iOS, web, etc. |
| Syntax | Clean and modern, focused on safety and performance | Concise and expressive, fully interoperable with existing Java codebases |
- Choose Swift if your primary goal is to build high-performance, deeply integrated applications specifically for the Apple ecosystem.
- Choose Kotlin if you are developing apps for the Android platform and want Google’s preferred, modern language with excellent Java interoperability.
| Feature | React Native | Flutter |
|---|---|---|
| Programming Language | JavaScript / TypeScript | Dart (developed by Google) |
| Creator & Backing | Meta (Facebook) | |
| UI Rendering | Uses native platform UI components (e.g., Apple’s UIView or Android’s View) | Draws everything with its own high-performance rendering engine (Skia/Impeller engine) |
| Performance | Excellent, but may have a slight overhead due to the JavaScript bridge | Generally offers slightly better performance, especially for complex animations and graphics, due to Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation to native machine code |
| Learning Curve | Lower for web developers with existing JavaScript/React knowledge | Requires learning Dart, though its syntax is similar to other popular languages (Java, C#, JS) |
| Ecosystem & Community | Mature, vast ecosystem with extensive third-party libraries due to JavaScript’s widespread use | Rapidly growing ecosystem with strong official support and highly praised, clear documentation |
| UI Consistency | Follows native design guidelines automatically, but may require effort to maintain a consistent style across platforms | Ensures pixel-perfect consistency across all devices and OS versions since it controls every pixel on the screen |
| Platform Support | Primarily mobile (iOS, Android), with stable support for web and desktop via community extensions | Single codebase for mobile, web, desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), and embedded devices |
API Development and Integration
When different software components need to communicate with each other, they need the assistance of an API, which helps build, design, test and maintain a set of rules. Integration of API is the connecting them with different applications or systems, to enable seamless data exchange and shared functionality.
RESTful API Design translates to REST (Representational State Transfer). It is an architectural style that uses standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and a stateless, client-server model to facilitate communication between systems. It uses a resource-based approach, where resources are identified by unique URIs and actions are performed via standard HTTP verbs. Its focus is clear and predictable URIs, and it uses appropriate HTTP status codes for responses (e.g., 200 OK, 404 Not Found) and employ JSON or XML for data interchange.
OpenAPI Specification is an API description format for REST APIs. An OpenAPI specification-compatible file allows us to describe a complete REST API. It is generally written in YAML or in the JSON file format. This file let developer describe all available API endpoints, operations in the endpoints such as GET /users, POST /user, Input and Output parameters for each operation, Authentication mechanisms, contact information, API Licence, terms of use and other information.
Swagger is a set of open-source tools built around the OpenAPI Specification that can help design, build, document and consume REST APIs. The ability of APIs to describe their own structure is the root of all awesomeness in Swagger. The major Swagger tools include Swagger Editor, Swagger UI and Swagger Codegen.
Agile and Project Management Basics
Scrum methodology, sprint planning, daily standups, retrospectives, working with product managers, using Jira/Trello
Agile project management involves breaking down a project into smaller, manageable steps or iterations, which are often called sprints. Each iteration involves a cycle of planning, execution, and evaluation, allowing teams to adapt quickly to changes and continuously improve the product.
This approach is incremental and iterative, focusing on collaboration, flexibility, and customer feedback to deliver value throughout the project lifecycle.
While handling a project, the vision and goal should be clear, which will help break the project into smaller chunks called “user stories,” representing the discrete functionality the project will deliver. Accordingly, the team should begin working with the customer by prioritising their preferences. Initially, the planning should be for short periods, typically one to four weeks, called a “sprint.” During the sprint, the team will focus on completing a set of user stories prioritised for that period.
Once the plan is in order, execution comes into place, wherein tracking progress is significant. That can be done through daily stand-up meetings, where each team member briefly reports on what they worked on the previous day, what they plan to work on today, and any challenges or roadblocks they are facing. At the end of each sprint, the team should review the completed work and adjust the plan for the next sprint based on what was learned. The entire process should be repeated till the project is completed.
By following this process, agile teams can deliver high-quality products that meet the needs of the customer and can adapt quickly to changing requirements or challenges that consistently arise during the project.
What is Jira?
A project-management tool that brings together the team to plan, track and deliver projects. This source helps the team move around quickly while being mindful of greater business goals. Whether the requirement is managing everyday tasks or scaling complex projects, Jira is an all-rounder.
Emerging Skills for 2026 Developers
Today, in every space, automation has become a reality; it is important to understand how the skills required for a software developer fresher have changed in 2026. Some of the key areas of impact are as follows:
- AI-assisted coding: Tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT for developers are becoming essential for increasing efficiency and automating repetitive tasks.
- WebAssembly (Wasm): Understanding Wasm is crucial for building high-performance web applications that can run code written in various languages (like C++, Rust, and Go) at near-native speeds within the browser.
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): Expertise in creating PWAs allows developers to deliver web experiences that offer the reliability, speed, and engagement capabilities of native mobile apps.
Software Developer Career Pathways
Once one has garnered the acumen to become a distinguished Software Developer, it is important to note the career pathways associated with these skills:
Initially, one can begin their career as a Junior Software Engineer. This entry-level position requires 0-5 years of experience. In this phase, you’ll be working as an SDE I and later on promoted to SDE II and SDE III based on the skills and experience gained. You’ll be asked to develop real-life software based on the client’s requirements. To apply for this position, one needs a bachelor’s degree. understanding of programming languages, data structures and algorithms, operating systems, etc. The average salary of a Junior Software Engineer is between 20 to 30 LPA on average.
Afterwards, when you have around 4 to 6 years of experience, you can transition into a Senior Software Engineer position. Herein, one is supposed to be proficient enough to solve real-life tech problems. Till this time, you would have mastered SDLC (Software Development LifeCycle). To justify your aptitude for this role, you must be professional in programming, capable of solving complex problems and capable of understanding business needs. A Senior developer may earn around 50 to 80 LPA, as you may be leading a team and get introduced to project budgets and expectations.
Furthermore, building from there, the next step is becoming a Principal Software Engineer, this promotion is mostly after 6 to 10 years in the development domain. Herein, one is supposed to build and develop high-scale technical projects. In this phase, you’re supposed to have complete knowledge of System Design, be prepared to lead a group of teams and give your individual contribution to the projects. The main objective of a principal software engineer is to take care of the software and clear all the doubts of junior engineers.
A management-level position that one can target after 10 years in the industry is an Engineer Manager. This role is about leading a group of teams and handle projects for the development of an organisation. One is responsible for handling the technical team and taking care of the budget of a project.
On top of the ladder is the Chief Technology Officer, the head of the organisation, who should have more than 10-15 years of experience. Everyone, including managers or VPs report to the CTO. CTOs are also responsible for developing technical policies and making changes to them. Also, they work on the company’s profits or revenue by meeting technological needs. Several R&Ds are performed by CTOs, and they work on them to improve the technical services provided by the company.
Educational Routes and Certifications
Once you have established that you want to gain the skills required by software engineers, then the next step is shortlisting specialisations and degree programmes. There are various ways of becoming a part of this intriguing and advancing domain, firstly, by entering through the computer science route, where diverse paths include CS degrees, intensive bootcamps and the flexible self-taught approach. If one starts from an undergraduate degree, it can be further complemented with a desired masters in cloud computing, software development, cyber security and other such related pathways.
Educational Routes include:
- The four-year Computer Science degree provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation, is a recognised credential and helps establish a career network.
- Bootcamp is the means for rapid skills acquisition through practical projects and helps one quickly enter the workforce, but offers less theoretical depth than a degree.
- Being Self-taught is a highly flexible and cost-effective way of learning, but here, there would be a lack of structured curriculum and mentorship.
Building Your Developer Portfolio
- Personal Website is the central hub for your portfolio, which can be customised to highlight your best projects and features links to your GitHub profile, deployed applications, technical blog posts, and a professional resume. It should also include contact information for recruiters and potential collaborators.
- GitHub Profile and Projects help showcase your code and collaboration skills. You can pin your best projects to the top of your profile by focusing on quality and well-documented projects. By writing detailed README.md files for each project, you can explain what the project does, the tech stack used, how to install/run it, and any challenges overcome
- Deployed Applications bring your projects to life as they demonstrate practical skills and the ability to complete a full software development lifecycle. So, it’s significant to provide links to such apps.
- Technical Blog will help present communication skills, technical knowledge, and a passion for learning, while improving your visibility. Start by writing about topics you know well, tutorials for complex problems, or your experience with new technologies.
- Contributing toOpen Sourceprojects showcases your ability to collaborate within a team environment, adhere to coding standards, and work with established codebases. It demonstrates soft skills like communication, version control mastery, and problem-solving within a community setting.
- Showcasing Problem-Solving Skills should be an essential aspect of your portfolio. This is possible by presenting case studies for specific projects.
Want to Become a Software Developer? Get Expert Career Guidance
Today’s tech infrastructure relies on those who have admitted to the fact that the one thing, which is constant is change. Software Developers defines this change, the create and update the world of applications, test and maintain operating systems and use code to design programmes. So, if you foresee yourself as this creative power, then begin your journey with Fateh Education. Shortlist a course as per your preference and background, by going through a list of top universities and courses, or just sit with a counsellor for expert career guidance.
FAQs
They can rely on Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, Kotlin, Swift, TypeScript, and emerging languages relevant to your domain.
Scrum, Kanban, XP, and familiarity with tools like Jira and Trello
Learn to use IDE debugging tools, write unit/integration tests, and adopt TDD (Test-Driven Development) practices.
Proficiency in AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and cloud-native development frameworks.
Critical for integrating systems, building scalable apps, and enabling modern architectures.
Communication, empathy, adaptability, time management, and problem-solving skills aid software team success.