What Kind of Developer Are You?

Advice on how to blaze a technical path for your career

As you begin learning about programming languages, software paradigms, algorithms, and other skills of the in-demand developer, you will want to consider the practical question: where am I headed?

Further Questions to Guide You

  1. What opportunities are available in your area?
  2. What business/industry expertise do you have from other jobs you have held?
  3. What skills and talents do you already have that may contribute to your success as a developer?

There are many different paths for a developer, but they do overlap. Often the skills are even directly transferrable. As you look at the specialties and industries below, don't get bogged down by the abundance of options. Remember that progress requires moving forward one step at a time, and sometimes you have to go off the beaten path in order to get where you need to be.


Resources for Further Reading

Specialties

Specific jobs requires specific skills. For instance, building a modern, intuitive, responsive (mobile-friendly), and performant user interface is not something that every developer can do without specific training/practice. It requires in-depth knowledge of web standards (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and design principles that some developers do not have. In addition, it requires an "eye" for good aesthetic (this is much more difficult to learn, though it is possible), which I would argue is different than industry standard design principles.

Anyway, the point is, there are different disciplines for a reason. Check out the examples below for an idea of where you could fit in your future as a developer.

📺 Frontend Web Development -> coursera.org/articles/front-end-developer

⚙️ Backend Web Development -> coursera.org/articles/back-end-developer

🍔 Full-stack Web Development -> codecademy.com/resources/blog/what-does-a-f..

🧮 Machine Learning -> coursera.org/articles/what-is-machine-learn..

🧠 Artificial Intelligence -> enterprisersproject.com/article/2020/7/arti..

🕹 Game Programming -> techrepublic.com/article/7-myths-about-the-..

🌎 Distributed Systems -> ably.com/blog/what-is-a-distributed-systems..

Industries

Along with different roles and specialties, you may have opportunity in different industries. This also may be an area where past experience can be of value, but it is less important when entering industries, as you will learn all you need to know about the industry on the job. In my experience, the absolute best place to work as a developer is directly in the general tech industry, but other industries offer some great benefits to being a developer as well. For example, in the public sector (government), you would have opportunities to solve problems at scales and dimensions that are perhaps not necessary–or possible–in the private sector.

💻 Tech (General/Business Technology) -> technation.io/news/tech-company-definition

🏥 Health (BioTech) -> bio.org/what-biotechnology

🕹 Gaming -> online.maryville.edu/blog/future-of-video-g..

💰 Financial (FinTech) -> forbes.com/advisor/banking/what-is-fintech

⚖️ Government -> purdueglobal.edu/blog/information-technolog..


I hope you found this short article helpful. Please forward this along to any aspiring software developers you know, and feel free to comment below what other questions/insights you think would be helpful to others who are new to their software/IT career.

In Grace and Truth ~ B.

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