Software engineering is one of the hottest careers available today. You get to earn a lucrative compensation package, work in a flexible environment, and explore unmatched career growth. It’s no wonder why many non-tech professionals are pursuing this industry.
However, it takes more than having the technical know-how for you to thrive in software engineering. In this article, we highlight five top qualities you’d need to become a standout software engineer and find career success. Let’s also take a look at how App Academy can help you in the process.
App Academy continues to help career shifters and tech beginners discover their full potential with its accessible and immersive software engineering programs.
Top 5 Qualities of a Successful Software Engineer
1. You’re a lifelong learner.
Software engineers do wonders in creating awe-inspiring digital products from scratch. But before they can even do that, they’ll need to decode problems by understanding their end-users and leveraging advanced tools. Moreover, technology is fast-evolving, rendering solutions obsolete in an instant.
That said, software engineers dedicate a chunk of their time to continuous learning. It involves an endless cycle of training, exploring new ideas and tools, and understanding your team members and how they affect your output before you can even think of executing your plans.
However, the habit of lifelong learning and genuine interest takes time to develop. App Academy is a catalyst in helping you acquire these qualities by pushing you to think like a software engineer from Day 1.
The bootcamp provides an immersive and accelerated experience in a learning environment that mimics the real world, which helps App Academy graduates assimilate to the industry efficiently. Here, you will learn about in-demand tools and technologies, like JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, and Python, and how to leverage them to create solutions.
After developing a habit for lifelong learning, you can efficiently build a broad technical knowledge.
2. You know how to apply your broad technical knowledge.
Different problems require different solutions. And with a wide array of challenges from several industries, hundreds of programming languages have become available, of which at least 50 are used across the globe.
With this in mind, having comprehensive technical knowledge of industry trends and technologies is a must if you want to gain an edge as a software engineer. Successfully done, you can pinpoint issues and use the right mix of tools to find innovative solutions.
App Academy fosters your competency by giving you a strong foundation in software engineering through its step-by-step approach. Free learning resources are accessible to you before you delve into the program.
Once you successfully get admitted, App Academy then starts by honing your fundamental knowledge in the field so that you can cope with the complexity of more advanced concepts and tools. As you progress, you get to bring your ideas to life and build full-stack apps and websites, to name a few.
The curriculum is a mix of lectures, projects, and group discussions. A chunk of your time will be spent on projects, letting you apply concepts and tools to industry-relevant problems as you learn.
3. You’re a good communicator and a team player.
It takes a group of diverse talent to drive a company forward. As a software engineer, you will be collaborating with people from the marketing team, product development team, UX and UI designers, and other developers.
Given software engineering’s technical nature, it can be tricky to convey ideas to non-tech professionals. This is where having strong communication and collaborative skills benefit you, allowing you to turn complex concepts into digestible information. Doing so ensures that your concepts and suggestions are crystal clear, thereby minimizing errors.
A software engineer who is easy to work with and is open to new perspectives also helps create a positive work environment and better products.
App Academy instills such qualities in its students by encouraging close collaboration in the classroom. Expect to work in pairs as you tackle different challenges and projects along the way. Pair programming allows you to bounce ideas and motivate each other so you can thrive in the bootcamp. A group review usually ends the day, where students discuss what they have learned, open up about their struggles, and bond with each other.
4. You are business-minded.
The ability to string brilliant code and create awesome digital products is not enough to help you excel at your job. While having the right technical skills and knowledge are essential as a software engineer, so is having a solid knowledge of the business side of things. Companies are also inclined to hire tech talents who are empathic towards their needs and limitations.
Becoming business-minded means knowing what the market wants, how to meet these demands, and what it takes for the company—financially and logistically—to bring concepts to fruition. In effect, you can find solutions that go beyond the expectations of your end-users while being in tune with the company’s constraints and long-term goals.
At App Academy, multiple projects are assigned to challenge your skills and knowledge in software engineering. But aside from sharpening your skills, these projects are designed to make you realize the impact that you can bring to an organization as a business-minded software engineer.
Many App Academy students successfully created innovative tools and digital products. You can see great examples of their programming projects here.
5. You are tenacious and a creative problem-solver.
You may have come across memes and clips of software engineers and developers spending hours writing code only to have one misplaced character ruin the whole project. While funny, that is just one of the many challenges that you will face as a software engineer.
To thrive in a job that demands precision, being tenacious is vital. Expect to spend a lot of time figuring out solutions through trial and error, troubleshooting, and debugging. You will also encounter unique problems as tech and consumer needs evolve. This is where a combination of analytic and creative skills comes in handy, especially when you have limited resources.
Fortunately, the bootcamp conditions you to the rigors of software engineering. App Academy not only provides you with the knowledge taught by its team of industry experts, but will challenge your creativity, resourcefulness, patience, and problem-solving skills at every turn. In effect, you become a software engineer confident in your competence to bring innovative solutions to the table.
How to Break into Tech with App Academy
App Academy’s Software Engineering bootcamp is one of the most well-recognized training bootcamps in the edtech space, and it’s easy to see why. The bootcamp combines a well-designed curriculum that welcomes learners of all levels, including beginners, a team of industry experts that bring their experience to the classroom, and a supportive community ready to provide help, from your time at the bootcamp to when you apply for your first job.
Since its inception, over 4,500 students have graduated from the Software Engineering bootcamp, securing competitive job offers from over 2,000 organizations. Some of the companies that trust App Academy graduates include Google and Slack.
You can be part of App Academy’s growing community of successful software engineers by joining the bootcamp. Their immersive program is available in three formats: Campus Software Engineering Program (16 weeks), Full-Time Online Software Engineering Program (24 weeks), and Part-Time Online Software Engineering Program (48 weeks). App Academy’s programs share the same immersive curriculum, except the online programs cover Python programming instead of Ruby on Rails.
If you’re still on the fence, dip your toes and see if software engineering is for you by enrolling in App Academy’s free online full-stack curriculum. That’s right, you can learn how to code for free!
App Academy Open provides access to abundant coding resources and a self-paced curriculum, giving coding enthusiasts and career-switchers a glimpse into the world of software engineering. Here, you will be introduced to Python, object-oriented programming, and JavaScript, among others. As a user, you can complete the entire App Academy Open curriculum in around 12 months if you commit to about 10 hours of study per week.
There are endless opportunities across different industries for software engineers with in-demand skills. Let App Academy help you tap into your full potential and build the skills you’ll need to become a successful software engineer. Join App Academy’s live info session and learn more about the bootcamp.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
