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Andrew .
1,830 Pointsadvice for a software engineering future?
I just turned 16 going into my Junior year of HS. I just now have gotten into mobile application programming with no prior experience in tech or programming. I have watched a lot of swift tutorials and spent several hours getting into swift which prompted me to take the next step with tree house. Do any of you guys have tips on a good structure for my future because I really want to be a mobile app creator at the very least and a full time software engineer in API's or web development. Should I just learn and master swift? or broaden my perspective before I make a full commitment. Also when should I start considering going to a boot camp if i'm graduating HS in 2 years from now. Right now I am planning on college but if I can improve greatly in my last years of HS I might not need it plus i have mixed feelings on American colleges. Also charts show that swift has very low job opportunities compared to say, Python. I'd just love some insight from experienced developers on the future of software engineering for the next 3-10 years and if this is a safe path to commit to.
1 Answer
Steve Hunter
57,712 PointsHi Andrew,
I'd recommend gaining as broad a range of experience across many languages; cover the key/core concepts in multiple languages.
For mobile, don't just focus on Swift; not every mobile device is made by Apple! Android covers a vast number of devices and that list is ever-growing. So, learning Java and Android would make good sense. Java runs on lots of devices that aren't Android too - its reach is massive.
Committing now to just Swift would be short sighted - you may decide against mobile development once you've gained experience of, say, Java, C++, Python - the list is endless! Mobile is likely to be just as strong in the future, with wearables further gaining market share and customer reach. But will mobile apps be essential or, as Google is trying to promote, will a well-designed responsive web application take the focus away from locally-installed mobile apps into well-constructed web applications with a slick design? I think it will.
What will these web apps be written in 10 years from now? I dunno; but I dare say Ruby on Rails, Java on Spring, Python will still figure highly. Will there be a need for programs running on standalone machines? Yes; which means C++ will still figure very strongly, as will Java.
I think gain as much experience as you can across languages and application types. Then figure out where you want to focus much of your time - you may want to work for a company as a developer; you may set up your own business offering solutions of your own, or solving other people's problems.
Keep your options open and keep learning. What you think you'll do in the future now is highly unlikely to be what you actually end up doing. But if you've learned lots, that's not a problem!
Just my thoughts.
Steve.