Software Engineers are the creative minds behind software programs, and they have the technical expertise to build those programs or to oversee their creation by a team. They create software that enables users to perform specific tasks on computer devices. Software Engineers can work in systems software or applications software such as those for mobile devices. They may even be Front-end engineers, Back-end engineers or Full stack engineers, but their duties are similar in many cases.
Front-end engineers specialize in the programming of visual user interfaces, including its aesthetics and layouts. They are responsible for an application’s user-facing code and the architecture of its immersive user experiences. They must be adept at front-end scripting languages as well as be familiar with such as Bootstrap, Angular or Vue.
Front-end engineers that specialize in applications software for mobile devices, work with mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android, and the development environment and frameworks used to write software on those operating systems such as Kotlin, Swift, Objective-C, Ionic, React Native and Flutter
Back-end specializes in the design, implementation, functional core logic, performance, and scalability of a piece of software or system running on machines that are remote from the end-user. Back-end engineers need to understand databases, as well as server programming languages and architecture. Database management is a prime aspect of back-end development. They work with programming languages such as Java, C, C++, Ruby, Perl, Python, Scala, Go, etc. along with a variety of different databases like MySQL, dBase, and Oracle. Further, they also require experience with frameworks such as Zend, Symfony, and CakePHP.
Full-stack engineers can work cross-functionally on the full “stack” of technology, i.e. both the front end and back end. For a true Full-stack, it means being able to engineer a full solution — and see where the separation of logic should lie. Not only must they be familiar with back-end and front-end technologies, they must also know how to apply them correctly.
A Software Engineer needs to address the entire software development lifecycle – to analyse the needs, and then design, test and develop software in order to meet those needs. Generally, their duties include:
– Developing and testing software to meet consumers’ and clients’ needs.
– Developing upgrades for existing applications.
– Enhancing applications by identifying opportunities for improvement, making recommendations and designing and implementing systems.
– Maintaining and improving existing codebases and peer review code changes.
– Investigating and using new technologies where relevant.