Software Engineers

Most software engineers work as employees or contractors. Software engineers work with businesses, government agencies (civilian or military), and non-profit organizations. Some software engineers work on their own as consulting software engineers. Some organizations have specialists to perform each of the tasks in the software development process. Other organizations required software engineers to do many or all of them. Entry-level software engineer or associate software engineer may be best. Some companies offer software engineer as an entry-level position. In large projects, people may specialize in only one role. In small projects, people may fill several or all roles at the same time. Specializations include: in industry (analysts, architects, developers, testers, technical support, managers) and in academia (educators, researchers).

There is considerable debate over the future employment prospects for Software Engineers and other IT Professionals. For example, an online futures market called the Future of IT Jobs in America attempts to answer whether there will be more IT jobs, including software engineers, in 2012 than there were in 2002. Possible opportunities for Advancement can be as a Software Engineer, then to a Senior Software Engineer, or straight to a Senior Software Engineer,depending on skills and reputation. Services exist that are trying to better gauge the coding ability of an engineer, given not all engineers progress their abilities at the same rate, and to make it easier for both employers and employees to find a good match in terms of jobs.