You might be close to graduating high school, and you know you’ll have to either go to college or else you’ll need to join the job market. Maybe you’re going to strike out on your own, or perhaps you plan to continue living with your parents or other relatives for a while to save money. You will have to make a series of decisions about your future, and maybe you find all of it pretty intimidating.
If you’re considering different career paths, you might find that software development is right up at the top of your list. Becoming a “dev,” as some in the industry refer to it, appeals to many young people.
Let’s talk about five of the reasons why that is.
You Can Be on Technology’s Cutting Edge
One reason why many young people look at software development as a potential career field is that when you go in this direction, you’re going to be on technology’s cutting edge. Often, it’s software developers who come up with and use the newest and most advanced computer-related technology.
Whether you’re inventing your own computer language or want to learn about thin client OS, working with and developing the latest tech is something that thrills many young people. This is a job where you will be doing something different every day, so it’s not likely to ever bore you. Also, when you write a new program or develop a website, you’ll probably feel that you accomplished something profound and difference-making.
You Might Find that You Have an Aptitude for It
You might also decide that this is the career path that makes the most sense for you because you’re so good at it. Some young people work in the software development field before they’re making any money at it. In many instances, you’ll find self-taught computer wunderkinds who spend their evenings developing software before they ever graduate from high school.
As a software developer, you are essentially communicating with machines and using their language. You might even create some new languages with which to talk to them. That’s very exciting, and if you have the requisite skill set, why not have a company pay you to indulge in your passion?
You Can Often Work from Home
You can often work from home in the software development field, and that’s something that more individuals crave these days. Many people tried working from home for the first time during the pandemic these past few months, and now, they don’t want to go back to the way things were.
If you’re young and entering the job market, the idea of commuting to and from work each day is probably not all that appealing. For the most part, you don’t need to do that to be a software developer.
This is one of the quintessential work-from-home jobs, and you might want to do it based on that fact alone. Who would want a job where you have to put on formalwear every day when you could wake up and “commute” five feet over to your computer while wearing nothing but your boxer shorts?
It Pays Pretty Well
If money is your first concern, you should know that software development does pay pretty well versus many other jobs. The average software developer makes anywhere from the $50-60K range when you’re starting out, but many of them make six figures before very long.
The more talented you are at what you do, and the more skills you keep adding to your resume, the more likely you can make plenty of money to support yourself. Maybe you can live with your parents for a while working as a software developer, but you can save up the money you make and buy your own home within a few years.
You Can Work All Over the World
Because software development often consists of remote work, you also have the opportunity to do it virtually anywhere. Unless you land one of the rare development jobs where your employer demands that you work from a particular office setting, you can work from home, but you can also move anywhere you want and keep that same job.
You can move to the city and state of your choice. Some digital nomads that have these sorts of jobs even move abroad if they find a country they like better than the US. You can contentedly travel the world while continuing to make money and feel professionally fulfilled.
