"The future of hot jobs": Software Engineer

Although the United States added the recent decline in unemployment, but the national unemployment rate remains high. Experts estimate that the recovery of the U.S. job market at least one to two years. Nevertheless, some industries are still optimistic about employment prospects. In today's "future hot jobs" series report, we introduce you: software engineer.

U.S. Department of Labor estimates from 2008 to 2018, the U.S. software engineers in the job market will expand 31 percent, far exceeding the average estimate of employment growth in the United States. In the past 10 years, the industry is expected to increase by 290 005 thousand jobs.

Information technology industry consulting firm in Washington Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), senior analyst Ouqi (George Ou) said that information technology innovation for the consumer market, this industry has provided a guarantee of employment.

He said: "Consumers want the latest stuff. Like I-POD, I-PHONE, Android. Consumers demand the latest technology products, there is no limit."

In 2008, the United States a total of approximately 1.3 million computer software engineer. Of which about 510,004 thousand eight hundred software engineers, 390,004 thousand eight hundred software engineers. In addition, there are 420,006 thousand seven hundred computer programmers.

In addition to consumer demand-driven job market, the Internet, technology updates, mobile technologies, improvement in the level of information security, and business, communications, medical, government and other sectors increased demand for electronic data processing industry is the main reason for the employment prospects .

Computer software engineer is to design and develop a variety of software, including computer games, business applications, operating systems, network control systems, and middleware. Software development began in the assessment of user needs, and demand for such a design, test and improve the software. Some software engineers are also responsible for the programming itself, but under normal circumstances, the programming aspects of a professional programmer to operate.

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Ouqi senior analyst, said the information technology industry is characterized by rapid technological upgrading. This is for software engineers, is both an opportunity and a challenge.

He said: "The development platform is changing constantly, whom you are developing software products is changing. For example, in smart phones, a few years ago, when software engineers when developing Windows Mobile, Apple's IPhone suddenly appear. That is, the industry will always need software engineers, but engineers and their work skills required often because of changes in the emergence of different products. "

Ouqi said, technology updates too fast sometimes increase uncertainty in the job market.

"For example, the industry consensus is that a few years ago, a large host (mainframe) is an obsolete technology. So a lot of retired engineers in this field, the school's students are no longer involved in this field. But in fact, the mainframe there is still demand for software engineers, so now, some claimed to be outdated mainframe systems but the problem appears difficult to hire. "

U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that in 2008, the U.S. software engineers in the middle income is 80 005 thousand $ 430, the system software engineers in the middle income is 90 002 thousand 430 U.S. dollars, almost twice the average wage in the United States .

Experienced software engineers with management skills may be promoted to project manager people, information systems manager, and even the Chief Information Officer (CIO). There are a number of software engineers in the enterprise has accumulated sufficient experience and contacts will select solo, freelance design or technical advice and so on.

2001 U.S. IT bubble burst, the job market was shrinking. A lot of work, especially in areas such as programming and customer service work is outsourced to other countries. However, information technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Ouqi senior analyst for software development is not particularly worried about job losses.

He said: "The outsourcing industry is now less a bargain. Mainly because the income levels of many developing countries has also increased. There are other costs are also increasing. I recently talked to a friends in the industry, he and I'm not talking about a lot of management costs so cheap as people think, sometimes not as developed in the United States. "

In the U.S., software engineers working conditions are relatively comfortable. U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that in 2008, most of the software engineer working hours per week of 40 hours. However, 15 percent of engineers work more than 50 hours per week.