Why Choose Software development As a Career?
A gifted computer wizard from age 15, there’s no doubt to me I’ll become a great software engineer. But if this is not the case, why I should be one of those people spending all day typing at a keyboard making the machine do what you want? Software engineering has always been a dream profession and with research, I am encouraged due to the following reasons:
It’s a profession in high demand
Developers are in high demand. You might not find a job for a top or famous company, but local companies are desperate to find talent.
Being able to work remotely
Remote working, even for just a few days a week, makes for a good work/life balance. I have experienced this through freelancing for clients even in Europe and even on local projects through Zuri Tap app.
Good pay and economic benefits
Software development is one of the jobs that — depending on your responsibilities and how good you are at your job — generally comes with a good pay.
According to the BLS’s Occupational Employment Statistics, the mean annual wage for software developers of applications is $108,080, while for developers of systems software, it is slightly higher at $114,000. However, not all states pay software developers the same salary.
In Uganda, a website called payscale suggests that The average salary for a Software Developer is USh 29,217,637. https://www.payscale.com/research/UG/Job=Software_Developer/Salary
Improve creativity
It’s not painting or design, but programming is a highly creative profession.
Any time you set out to write a program you’re creating something new, much like when you were playing Lego as a child.
Many times you experiment with technologies, only to find that’s not a good way, so you choose a different path. Every time you write a new program, you learn something new.
It’s never boring (unless your job is boring in the first place, but the craft of programming in itself should not be boring otherwise you always have the option to look for a non-boring job)
Coding is social
Even if one might spend 10 hours a day sitting alone with a computer, saying programming is social is perfectly right.
We use software built by people, people wrote the manuals and guides to using that software, we rely on Open Source software, interact with people on forums to discuss and learn more about programming, and finally, we make the software for people.
You work with a team, that might be distributed or local to your office. You have stakeholders, people are waiting for your fixes.
Programmers like to go to conferences, the bravest even speak at them, and we like to rant, comment or share things on Twitter.
We star projects on GitHub, open issues, submit a pull request to improve the work of someone else.
All of this is a social activity, and the best thing is that you can go at your own pace, and be as social as you want.
