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 6476 Software Developer / Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 212648 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 $129,672.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $119,949.

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 $109,283.

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	63.01%
Master's Degree	21.23%
Doctoral Degree	5.02%
Other	2.75%

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	15.48%
3 to 5 years	47.59%
6 to 8 years	22.75%
9+ years	14.18%

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 (35.75%)
Problem Solving (25.87%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (23.47%)
Management (19.28%)
Operations (17.19%)
Innovation (15.09%)
Leadership (12.82%)
Mentorship (12.16%)
Writing (10.89%)
Research (10.61%)

Defining Skills

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

Software Solutions (11.63%)
Programming Languages (12.07%)
CI/CD (16.78%)
Docker (Software) (11.95%)
Jenkins (8.25%)
Microservices (11.39%)
React.js (Javascript Library) (14.3%)
Kubernetes (12.78%)
Front End (Software Engineering) (8.97%)
Web Services (8.26%)
TypeScript (8.95%)
Software Engineering (55.43%)
SQL (Programming Language) (25.65%)
RESTful API (12.27%)
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) (8.17%)
Node.js (Javascript Library) (8.45%)
Python (Programming Language) (33.24%)
Scalability (25.45%)
Relational Databases (7.42%)
Debugging (21.16%)
Linux (13.24%)
Software Development Life Cycle (15.09%)
DevOps (12.21%)
Computer Science (51.96%)
Computer Engineering (9.89%)
Version Control (15.52%)
Code Review (19.84%)
C# (Programming Language) (17.28%)
C++ (Programming Language) (18.52%)
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) (10.77%)
Test Automation (7.97%)
Unit Testing (11.67%)
Amazon Web Services (25.66%)
Angular (Web Framework) (10.32%)
Software Development (46.76%)
Application Programming Interface (API) (24.74%)
Agile Methodology (32.65%)
Algorithms (9.82%)
C (Programming Language) (10.11%)
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (10.28%)
Java (Programming Language) (28.6%)
JavaScript (Programming Language) (25.36%)
Git (Version Control System) (15.93%)
Full Stack Development (9.45%)

Necessary Skills

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

Scripting (9.47%)
Scrum (Software Development) (12.24%)
Machine Learning (9.92%)
Project Management (9.62%)
Business Requirements (9.3%)
Automation (18.34%)
Microsoft Azure (16.31%)
JIRA (8.77%)
Artificial Intelligence (10.11%)
Workflow Management (13.99%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Terraform (5.02%)
Apache Kafka (6.52%)
GraphQL (2.49%)
Gitlab (3.56%)
Vue.js (Javascript Library) (2.7%)
Test-Driven Development (TDD) (4.3%)
Extensible Markup Language (XML) (5.66%)
Web Applications (4.73%)
User Interface (UI) (4.55%)
User Requirements Documents (2.65%)
Testability (3.16%)
Software Design (7.11%)
Software Quality (SQA/SQC) (6.89%)
Object-Oriented Design (3.5%)
NoSQL (6.8%)
Microsoft Visual Studio (3.3%)
Microsoft SQL Servers (4.73%)
MongoDB (4.59%)
MySQL (4.9%)
PostgreSQL (7.29%)
Spring Framework (4.7%)
JSON (5.37%)
Front End Design (3.74%)
Github (6.75%)
Embedded Software (2.31%)
Software Design Patterns (6.53%)
Development Testing (4.97%)
Programming Tools (2.8%)
Data Structures (7.27%)
Integration Testing (2.74%)
Continuous Integration (7.89%)
Unix (4.54%)
Containerization (4.83%)
Bash (Scripting Language) (3.1%)
Software Testing (3.26%)
Application Development (8.9%)
Architectural Design (6.85%)
HTML5 (2.97%)
Rust (Programming Language) (2.16%)
Azure DevOps (3.45%)
.NET Framework (2.66%)
PHP (Scripting Language) (2.23%)
Agile Software Development (4.26%)
Go (Programming Language) (6.42%)
Back End (Software Engineering) (6.03%)
Spring Boot (4.93%)

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.

Go (Programming Language) (9.45%)
Scalability (37.44%)
Node.js (Javascript Library) (12.43%)
Software Engineering (81.55%)

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 (10321)
Apple (1802)
Leidos (1655)
Meta (1642)
Lumen Technologies (1572)
General Motors (1524)
The Judge Group (1505)
Eliassen Group (1480)
Northrop Grumman (1425)
Robert Half (1321)

North Carolina

The Judge Group (297)
Wells Fargo (149)
Truist Financial (104)
Motion Recruitment (100)
Red Hat (81)
Randstad (73)
Robert Half (73)
First Citizens Bank (67)
Ihire (63)
Cisco (62)

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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