Software engineering

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Applications developer
• Cyber security analyst
• Game developer
• Information systems manager
• IT consultant
• IT technical support officer
• Multimedia programmer
• Web developer
• Web designer
• Software engineer

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Application analyst
• Business analyst
• Database administrator
• Forensic computer analyst
• Game designer
• Machine learning engineer
• Penetration tester
• Software tester
• Sound designer
• Systems analyst

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Relevant work experience is always useful and one way to get this is to complete a year in industry as part of your course; not every course offers this so check before applying. You'll typically be placed in a role that allows you to use the skills learned on your course in real life scenarios while also building up practical skills. These placements can also help you to get the lay of the professional landscape as well as helping you build your network which can be useful for future jobs.

A range of experience is useful in areas such as hardware, operating systems, or software and if possible, you should tailor your experience to suit the career you'd like. It's helpful to create a skills portfolio to showcase your artistic work or your ability to code in programming languages as well as specific software tools you can use.

You can also consider becoming a student member of a relevant professional body such as BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. This provides you with access to networking opportunities, industry insights, events and webinars and articles and research.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

The number of software engineering roles is expected to grow in the near future, so the companies or sectors you could work in is getting increasingly diverse. You could be employed by a company specialising in software engineering/development or other areas of IT, which may be broad in scope or specific to an area, such as AI, app or website development.

It's also possible to be employed within a range of sectors in an in-house IT role, such as software engineer/developer. This can be for any company that has a need to develop and maintain its own software systems. A few examples of the types of organisations you could work for include:

• financial services
• government/ military
• healthcare
• information technology/AI
• manufacturing
• media
• utilities.

Companies range in size from those with only a few employees to large multinational organisations.

Another option is to set up your own business or work as a freelancer, providing software or other IT-related services. This is more typical once you have built up significant experience.

Find information on employers in information technology, media and internet and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

Studying software engineering provides you with specialist knowledge of a variety of programming languages, software design, information systems, AI models, databases and software architecture.

You'll also develop more general skills, which can be valuable in many careers, such as:

• attention to detail
• good project management ability
• information technology across different applications
• logic and an ability to follow processes and procedures
• problem-solving skills and analytical thinking
• research skills, using different sources of information
• time management, to manage competing demands and projects
• verbal communication, to work as part of a team
• written communication, to write reports and express ideas clearly.

Further study

You could undertake further study, such as a postgraduate qualification in software engineering, computer security, forensic computing, data science or another IT-related field to develop your specialist knowledge further. Although many software engineering graduates go directly into employment after completing their course.

It's not normally a prerequisite to have a Masters qualification to enter software engineering or related fields. However, a specific Masters could be useful if you'd like to move into a different field of IT and need to build up knowledge in this area. Further study, such as a PhD, could be helpful if you want to pursue a research career.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in software engineering.

What do software engineering graduates do?

Programmers and software development professionals (30%) are the most popular occupations for software engineering graduates. Also among the top five most popular jobs are:

• cyber security professionals (13%)
• IT user support technicians (9%)
• IT business analysts, architects and systems designers (4%)
• sales and retail assistants (3%).

For a detailed breakdown of what software engineering graduates are doing after graduation, see What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.