If you’re in the midst of researching what position in Tech would suit your skill-set the best and provide you with amazing career prospects, you should know that Software Development has a lot to offer! So, with the digital skills gap still being a hot topic in the job market and the great resignation increasing the number of available positions up for grabs, is Software Development still a sought-after field that candidates are gravitating towards when choosing their Tech job of choice? Are there plenty of openings specifically in Software Development? 

The short answer to both is…yes, absolutely! In fact, there was a 78% growth in Software Development activity between January 2020 to February 20201. This alludes to the point that within the UK alone, employers are embracing digital advancement and fuelling the growing need for developers. With 82% of UK jobs requiring digital skills and a projection by The World Economic Forum that 133 million new jobs will be generated by new technologies, opting for a career in software development offers a wide range of lucrative opportunities and get ahead in a growing, exciting industry. 

With that being said, here are some key reasons why training to becoming a Software Developer is advantageous and the ever-growing demand for digital skills applicable to the job help elevating your future career trajectory and professional development: 

Your digital skills are needed nationally and worldwide too! 

Right now in 2022, the UK is experiencing its highest increase in recruitment for 8 years – 80% of companies nationally will be seeking out new employees! In April 2021 there were 10,000 unfilled vacancies for Software Developer positions. From only June to August of 2021, the IT and Tech sector within the UK grew by 23.9% in such a short period of time! Currently, London and the south-east are big hubs for Tech talent, with approximately 43,500 vacancies within the industry in June 2021. 

When it comes to the need for Software Developers on a global scale, there’s still a huge wealth of opportunities and a demand for talented developers who are capable and passionate about all things tech. In the US, 316,000 new software developer jobs are expected to be available from 2021 to 2031, totalling a growth of 22% to the field. There’s a wealth of remote working IT jobs too for those who aren’t keen to travel abroad for their work too. 

The post-pandemic world continues to accelerate the need for developers 

Since the onset of covid-19 at the beginning half of 2020, our reliance and expansion exploring new technology has made a career in Software development a lot more desirable from a career switcher perspective. The industry is booming and head-hunters and hiring managers are on the outlook more than ever for developers. It’s increased the public’s dependency on eCommerce websites, increased online activity in general and other useful apps and digital services. And who’s needed to ensure all the coding is effective, debugging is sorted and the problem-solving on the back-end is taken care of? Software developers! 

Marketing Director at Randstad, Adam Nicholl, summarizes how the pandemic has altered employer priorities:  “The economic slowdown brought about by the pandemic has forced companies to focus on what jobs and skills are truly essential, and how these roles can be carried out safely. It’s become clear that technology plays a critical part in ensuring a remote workforce is as efficient and productive as possible.”

Capabilities with programming languages are highly valued 

Being knowledgeable with multiple programming languages is becoming more and more attractive to employers across all industries! Being confident coding with Python, Java, C/ C+ and JavaScript is the ticket to landing great jobs as a Software Developer and your abilities will be heavily appreciated within the company you decide to work for. It doesn’t hurt to learn more obscure coding languages and you can never truly predict which will become popular in the future. There’s Kotkin, Ocaml, Erlang, Go, Scala and Rust that are all slowly rising in use. And there’s over 700 programming languages worldwide too! 

Apple CEO, Tim Cook emphasises how prevalent programming languages are going to be not only now but in years to come: “If I were a French student and I were 10 years old, I think it would be more important to learn coding than English. I’m not telling people not to learn English — but this is a language that you can use to express yourself to 7 billion people in the world. I think coding should be required in every public school in the world”.

Technology’s more complex and the learning curve is greater

It takes longer to become a well-versed, knowledgeable developer these days. Starting up as a software developer requires plenty of training, guidance and learning new skills along the way – but once your confidence and abilities grow you’ll soon reap all the rewards as well as gaining access to limitless opportunities thereafter! With it taking a while to get up to speed building the relevant skills and new technology constantly becoming integral to the job, employers are keen to hire software developers who not only know the basics but understand the latest, progressive ways of operating and are capable with a wide-ranging spectrum of tasks. 

The field is constantly evolving. Back in 2010, Python was the 6th most used programming language but as of 2019 it’s taken the #1 slot! When the first iPhone was launched in 2007, Objective-C was the main coding language but now it’s completely changed over to Swift. The standards have increased and nothing stays the same for too long. In short, the learning curve is higher and the talent pool isn’t catching up well enough. But you can use this all to your advantage by becoming one of the most savvy, well-versed Software Developers out there! 

So there you have it… In short, there really has never been a better time to consider a career in Software Development. 

If you are considering a career in Software Development, use our link below to learn more on our learning pathway, specifically designed to take you from no-code to pro!