Software Developer / Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Software Developer or Engineer designs or improves computer software. Oversees the entire software development process. Analyzes customer or user needs, designs programs, writes code or instructs computer programmers, tests design, and documents programs. May assist with upgrades or maintenance. May specialize in the design of computer applications or computer systems.

Job Outlook

There were 6141 Software Developer / Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 202267 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Software Developer / Engineer industry, which includes the Software Developer / Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Software Developer / Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $131,115.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $119,640.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Software Developer / Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $111,392.

Education and Experience

Posted Software Developer / Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	63.06%
Master's Degree	20.71%
Doctoral Degree	4.91%
Other	2.69%

Posted Software Developer / Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	15.63%
3 to 5 years	48.28%
6 to 8 years	21.99%
9+ years	14.1%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Software Developer / Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Communication (35.05%)
Problem Solving (25.67%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (23.06%)
Management (19.76%)
Operations (17.2%)
Innovation (14.96%)
Leadership (12.86%)
Mentorship (11.75%)
Writing (11.6%)
Research (10.99%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Git (Version Control System) (15.79%)
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (10.64%)
Full Stack Development (9.24%)
Agile Methodology (32.84%)
C (Programming Language) (10.38%)
JavaScript (Programming Language) (26.01%)
Algorithms (9.6%)
Java (Programming Language) (30.66%)
Application Programming Interface (API) (23.78%)
Software Development (46.62%)
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) (11.09%)
Amazon Web Services (24.78%)
C# (Programming Language) (17.7%)
Test Automation (7.89%)
Version Control (15.71%)
Angular (Web Framework) (10.76%)
C++ (Programming Language) (18.7%)
Unit Testing (11.64%)
Computer Science (52.39%)
Software Development Life Cycle (15.78%)
Computer Engineering (10.22%)
Code Review (19.48%)
DevOps (11.87%)
Debugging (21.24%)
Linux (13.7%)
Python (Programming Language) (32.12%)
TypeScript (8.44%)
Scalability (23.15%)
PostgreSQL (7.05%)
RESTful API (11.77%)
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) (8.47%)
SQL (Programming Language) (25.87%)
Kubernetes (11.99%)
CI/CD (15.95%)
Node.js (Javascript Library) (8.24%)
Software Engineering (54.45%)
Web Services (8.73%)
React.js (Javascript Library) (14.06%)
Front End (Software Engineering) (9.1%)
Docker (Software) (11.46%)
Microservices (10.81%)
Jenkins (8.38%)
Programming Languages (11.92%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Workflow Management (13.27%)
Artificial Intelligence (8.16%)
Automation (18.01%)
Business Requirements (9.35%)
JIRA (8.85%)
Microsoft Azure (15.11%)
Machine Learning (9.28%)
Project Management (10.1%)
Scripting (9.56%)
Scrum (Software Development) (12.28%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Architectural Design (7.22%)
Spring Boot (4.78%)
Go (Programming Language) (5.92%)
Azure DevOps (3.47%)
Agile Software Development (4.42%)
Back End (Software Engineering) (5.85%)
Relational Databases (7.72%)
Software Testing (3.37%)
PHP (Scripting Language) (2.54%)
HTML5 (3.16%)
.NET Framework (2.71%)
Amazon S3 (0.82%)
Continuous Integration (8.04%)
Front End Design (3.4%)
Unix (4.79%)
Application Development (9.05%)
Development Testing (4.88%)
Containerization (4.4%)
Programming Tools (2.77%)
Software Design Patterns (6.64%)
Data Structures (7.16%)
Integration Testing (2.88%)
Embedded Software (2.36%)
Github (6.69%)
MySQL (5.04%)
Object-Oriented Design (3.66%)
JQuery (2.99%)
Microsoft SQL Servers (4.6%)
Redis (1.94%)
JSON (5.65%)
Spring Framework (4.45%)
NoSQL (6.37%)
Microsoft Visual Studio (3.45%)
Vue.js (Javascript Library) (2.79%)
MongoDB (4.15%)
Software Design (7.38%)
Apache Kafka (6.03%)
GraphQL (2.4%)
Software Architecture (3.22%)
Software Quality (SQA/SQC) (6.29%)
Web Applications (5.03%)
Test-Driven Development (TDD) (4.58%)
Terraform (4.62%)
User Interface (UI) (4.6%)
Testability (3.12%)
Extensible Markup Language (XML) (5.97%)
Gitlab (3.57%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Full Stack Development (12.31%)
Go (Programming Language) (7.9%)
Java (Programming Language) (40.87%)
Computer Science (69.83%)
Data Structures (9.54%)
Scalability (30.86%)
Software Architecture (4.29%)
Redis (2.59%)
GraphQL (3.2%)
Terraform (6.16%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Software Developer / Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Software Engineer
Software Developer
Software Development Engineer
Principal Software Engineer
Lead Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer
Servicenow Developer
Software Engineering Intern
Developer
Data Software Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Software Developer / Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Amazon (10382)
Meta (1813)
Ford (1644)
Apple (1627)
Leidos (1568)
Oracle (1335)
General Motors (1316)
Northrop Grumman (1285)
JPMorgan Chase (1277)
Robert Half (1275)

North Carolina

The Judge Group (185)
Wells Fargo (135)
Randstad (108)
Jobot (92)
Truist Financial (86)
Motion Recruitment (75)
Robert Half (72)
Lowe's (63)
First Citizens Bank (60)
Actalent (54)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

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