Career
Software Developer
Design, build, and maintain software — from consumer apps to backend systems that run the internet.
Median salary
$132K
$77K$209K
2022–2032 outlook
+25%
Much faster than average25% growth 2022–2032 — among the fastest-growing occupations in the US.
A day in the life
- 01Review pull requests from teammates over coffee
- 02Stand-up with your team to unblock each other
- 03Pair with a designer on a new feature prototype
- 04Write and test code, iterating on performance
- 05Deploy, monitor, and fix anything that breaks
What you'll actually do
- →Modify existing software to correct errors or improve performance
- →Analyze user needs and design software to meet them
- →Consult with other developers, designers, and PMs
- →Document the designs and processes of software
Majors that lead here
Computer Science
Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Product Manager, Cybersecurity Analyst, AI/ML Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Systems Architect, Mobile Developer, Game Developer, Quantitative Analyst
Data Science & AI
Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Business Intelligence Analyst, AI Researcher, Data Engineer, Quantitative Analyst, Data Analyst, MLOps Engineer, Research Scientist (industry), Decision Scientist
Engineering
Mechanical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Software Engineer, Biomedical Engineer, Aerospace Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Petroleum Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Materials Engineer, Industrial Engineer
Top colleges for this path
Southern New Hampshire University
Manchester, NH
99.5% acceptance
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA
55% acceptance
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ
78.9% acceptance
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
48% acceptance
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
53% acceptance
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ
66% acceptance
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA
16% acceptance
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
11.6% acceptance
Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN
49.9% acceptance
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ
86.1% acceptance
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
University Park, PA
60.6% acceptance
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, GA
69.2% acceptance
See how you stack up
Get your personalized match score for colleges strong in this path.