What is the Role of Software Engineer? Job Summary

Role of Software Engineers in Startups

According to LinkedIn reports, the demand for software engineering jobs has almost doubled in the past 2 years. Startups have also made a big impact in these figures as most or all of the top startup organizations need software engineers. This is simply because all of the companies need quality software irrespective of their tech orientation or size. However, a common question asked is regarding the trigger behind engineers choosing startups over well established companies like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Most of them pointed out that startups provide faster career growth paths and they get a chance to explore their competency.

Moreover, they get an opportunity to work closer with related teams of the firm. This gives an overall novel dimension to the learning possibilities at work. In fact, professionals can learn a lot in 6 months itself in a startup which can take almost more than a year when working in big companies.

What is the role of software engineer?

Companies looking to hire a software engineer for their firm should look for a lot of advanced skills and proficiency other than mere educational qualification. In the case of startups, hiring the right candidate is crucial as the success of the projects will be solely based on a small team. Also, a good foundation is what is really needed for a startup firm to gain confidence and make a mark in the industry and attract more clients and projects.

A software engineer should be able to perform most or all of the listed responsibilities to make sure that they drive their organization to short term and long term success.

1)Learn the fundamentals

Getting the basics right is what needs to be done first to be able to excel as an asset to the organization. A quality software engineer should undergo extensive training to have an upper hand on the computer science fundamentals, coding, programming, architecture and design. Free flow knowledge in software debugging, information analysis and software testing is a great advantage.

2)Visualize processes and outcomes

Being a crucial member of a startup, a software engineer should be able to foresee the processes and results in the short term and long term. Instead of pointing out the problems, one should be able to solve the problems and come out with workable solutions. Choosing a person with strong analytical and reasoning skills is the key. They will have to debug a large codebase or troubleshoot software issues whenever needed.

3)Be a solid all-arounder

If you are chosen as a software engineer in a startup, you are expected to do a lot more than just a routine desktop job. You should be able to upskill yourself to have an upper hand on challenging situations and some decision making. In such small companies, there simply is not enough resources to hire specialists for all positions, so everyone needs to contribute. The ability to work collaboratively is key and good communication skills can save many situations.

4)Plan as you go

Unlike in big companies where everything will be all organized, a startup might mostly run in a ‘plan as you go’ set up. There can be cases where there are no written documents about the processes that can lead to vague understandings. A new urgent task might turn up out of nowhere just after a meeting with CTO. In some cases, the tasks might change without any notice because a project is screwed up, they lost an investment or maybe the startup might be moving in an all new direction.