<h1>An Introduction to Software Jobs and Key Skills</h1>

Originally on: <a href="http://www.postlib.com">postlib.com</a>

<img src="http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/10/tawkon-730x486.jpg">

There's a lot of confusion about different titles that are used today.  Programmer, for instance, is rarely used. Web development often occurs within the context of Ruby, Node, or WordPress and usually involves more traditional forms of software engineering (fullstack work for example). Here's a list of the terms I've encountered most often:

<h4>Developer</h4>A <em>programmer</em> specializing in one or more languages
<h4>Engineer</h4>A <em>developer</em>  specializing in one or more Service Application Layers
<h4>Senior Engineer</h4>An <em>engineer</em> with many years of experience - often <em>fullstack</em>
<h4>Manager</h4>A manager of <em>developers</em>
<h4>Architect</h4>Responsible for overall design, coding conventions, and tool/service integration assessment
<h4>VP Engineering</h4>Technical leadership, management, strategy
<h4>Chief Technology Officer</h4>C-level leadership officer responsible for overall technical vision and strategy

<img src="http://wp.streetwise.co/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files//2015/10//unnamed-13.jpg">

I'd say that there are six main kinds of software companies or jobs:

<h4>Early Stage Startups</h4>

Preseed (before funding), Series A to Series B or so. Your primary job is to build a minimum viable product, demo, or first generation version of the app. I usually take salary over equity at this stage since there's a lot of risk.  If you think insane, wild, and every day's a totally new thing (but maximum flexibility at the cost of risk) - then this is the place for you. It's usually just you or another developer.

<h4>Startup+</h4>

You've made it - you've got customers/clients, you've scaled well. Now you can kick back (but only a bit) as you move to exit (go public or get bought). Make sure you've got solid, non-dilutable, equity!  When you think fun startup this is what comes to mind.

<h4>Traditional Office</h4>

You might be in a dungeon but you've job security and good benefits. Most of the crew you work with are older and more experienced. Tech stacks here are less cutting-edge but robust and well-trod.

<h4>Security/Intelligence</h4>

You might be in defense tracking baddies or being a hacker for good (finding and reporting exploits to companies or other organizations). Your main goal is to secure something (the application, the safety of your country, or your intellectual property). Palantir or cyber-security contractors working for civilian government come to mind.

<h4>Foundation/Research/Academic</h4>

Here you primarily do research or produce open-source information. Your objective is to spread knowledge and provide tools for everyone. Math research, Apache, Node are all examples. Just because it's a foundation doesn't mean it doesn't pay well. These sorts of positions are often the most prestigious - plus, you don't have to deal with the types of things you'd have to in enterprise.

<h4>Consultant/Web Boutique</h4>

You work with other developers and help small companies or single clients to build their projects and see their dreams come to life!

<h1>Software Specialties</h1><h4>Frontend</h4>Builds interface and clientside applications and/or components
<h4>Backend</h4>Builds serverside applications and/or components
<h4>Machine Learning/Data Science</h4>Use big data, NLP, neural nets, and deep learning
<h4>Mobile</h4>Builds mobile app clientside implementations
<h4>Fullstack</h4>Database to interface

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<h1>Key Languages and Skills</h1> From <a href="http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index" >Tiobe</a> we see that the top picks are object oriented languages (Java, C, C++, C#) and the most familiar scripting languages (Python, PHP, JavaScript).  A slightly different response was given when developers were asked directly <a href="http://business.stackoverflow.com/blog/10-programming-languages-developers-want-to-use-in-2016" >10 Top Programming</a> - here JavaScript and ECMA-related languages took first place.

<h4>Frontend</h4><a target='__blank' href='http://www.w3schools.com/css/css3_intro.asp'>CSS3</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://sass-lang.com/'>Compiled CSS/SCSS/SASS</a> and <a target='__blank' href='http://lesscss.org/'>Less</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp'>Semantic HTML5</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript'>ES/ECMA (JavaScript)</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://emberjs.com/'>Ember</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://jquery.com/'>jQuery</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://angularjs.org/'>Angular</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://angular.io/'>Angular2</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://facebook.github.io/react/'>React</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://backbonejs.org/'>Backbone</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://handlebarsjs.com/'>Handlebars/Mustache</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://getbootstrap.com/'>Bootstrap</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://material.google.com/'>Material Design</a>

<h4>Backend</h4><a target='__blank' href='https://www.lua.org/'>Lua</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://java.com/en/download/'>Java</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/'>Ruby</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://php.net/'>PHP</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.python.org/'>Python</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.microsoft.com/net'>C#/C++</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://es6-features.org/#Constants'>ES/ECMA (JavaScript)</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/sql-server'>SQL</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://golang.org/'>GoLang</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.perl.org/'>Perl</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/'>MySQL</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://redis.io/'>Redis</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.postgresql.org/'>PostGres</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.mongodb.com/'>NoSQL</a>

<h4>Machine Learning and Data Science</h4><a target='__blank' href='http://cassandra.apache.org/'>Cassandra</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.r-project.org/'>R</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://hadoop.apache.org/'>Hadoop</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://github.com/encog'>Encog</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://nlp.stanford.edu/'>Stanford NLP</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://opennlp.apache.org/'>Open NLP</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://skymind.io/'>Skymind</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://tweetyproject.org/'>Tweety</a>

<h4>Mobile</h4><a target='__blank' href='https://developer.apple.com/xcode/'>Xcode</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://www.android.com/'>Android</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://phonegap.com/'>Phone Gap</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://cordova.apache.org/'>Cordova</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://www.reactnative.com/'>React Native</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://ionicframework.com/'>Ionic</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://swift.org/'>Swift</a>

<h4>Fullstack</h4><a target='__blank' href='http://rubyonrails.org/'>Ruby on Rails</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://spring.io/'>Java Spring</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://nodejs.org/en/'>Node</a> and <a target='__blank' href='https://www.npmjs.com/'>NPM</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://mean.io/'>MEAN</a>
<a target='__blank' href='https://wordpress.com/'>WordPress</a>
<a target='__blank' href='http://www.wampserver.com/en/'>LAMP/WAMP</a>