Where a software developer can go next

Table 1 · Within reach

• ICT system developer 76% covered · difficulty 37.8
• digital games developer 73% covered · difficulty 38.4
• numerical tool and process control programmer 69% covered · difficulty 44.7
• web developer 69% covered · difficulty 47.1
• user interface developer 69% covered · difficulty 45.7
• computer-aided design operator 64% covered · difficulty 52
• industrial mobile devices software developer 81% covered · difficulty 29.6

Table 2 · A bigger jump

Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.

• ICT network engineer 59% covered · difficulty 57.2
• embedded system designer 57% covered · difficulty 55.2
• software architect 56% covered · difficulty 56.4
• system configurator 51% covered · difficulty 61.7
• application engineer 46% covered · difficulty 65.7

Table 3 · What the job itself asks for

A software developer needs 24 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.

• web services information and communication technologies (icts)
• develop automated migration methods management skills
• identify customer requirements information skills
• create flowchart diagram communication, collaboration and creativity
• use software design patterns communication, collaboration and creativity
• integrated development environment software information and communication technologies (icts)
• tools for software configuration management information and communication technologies (icts)
• use software libraries working with computers
• analyse software specifications working with computers
• develop software prototype working with computers

Table 4 · Jobs that lead here

The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a software developer does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.

• ICT application developer 72% covered · difficulty 43.1
• mobile application developer 69% covered · difficulty 47
• web developer 67% covered · difficulty 48.7
• ICT system developer 66% covered · difficulty 50.1

Look up another occupation

Software developer is filed under Professionals, ISCO major group 2. The full index lists all ten groups.

How these figures were compiled

Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a software developer’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.