Programmer Career Hierarchy

A programmer, also known as a computer programmer or a coder or a developer, is an ardent professional who is responsible to write computer program software (or sometimes codes for different kinds of computer softwares). Due to a huge revolution in IT sector since last two decades, career opportunities for a computer programmer is growing at a fast pace.

These professionals are required to possess minimum bachelor’s degree or preferably master’s degree in the same field along with some expertise certifications in the fields like C, C++, Lisp, Java, Python etc. The programmer career hierarchy contains manly levels of job opportunities like a software developer, software analyst, a web developer, a computer scantiest, a software engineer etc. These all cannot be explained here so only some of the major levels in programmer career hierarchies are described in brief as below in this article:

Programmer Career Hierarchy
Programmer Career Hierarchy

Software Developer

A software developer is a professional mainly concerned with the areas of software development. Their major job areas include designing, researching, developing and then testing different softwares. So a software developer is a professional who develops standalone software. In some major organizations, software developers are further lead by senior programmers. Further these software developers are classified into three different titles (according to the 15 – 0000 computer and mathematical occupation major group)

  • 15 – 1131 computer programmer
  • 15 – 1132 software developers (applications)
  • 15 – 1133 software developers (system software)

Web Developer

A web developer is a professional whose area of specialization is the development of World Wide Web (www) applications and distribution of network applications that are run from a web server to web browser over http. It is necessary for a web developer to have wide and thorough knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, KHTML, Server/Client side architecture, Perl, Python, PHP, Ruby, .Net etc.

Software Analyst

The next in the hierarchy is a software analyst, an ardent professional who has wide knowledge of software application domain. Such a professional take over the responsibility of preparing the software requirements and specification documents. The major responsibility involves conveying the demands of software users to the developers. A software analyst is required to be adaptable and flexible possessing interpersonal relation skills.

Software Engineer

An ardent practitioner of software engineering career is termed as a software engineer. These professionals implement the principles of engineering concepts to design, develop, test, maintain and evaluate software along with a system to make a computer containing the software work properly.

Computer Scientist – One of the highest ranks in the programmer career hierarchy is computer scientist, a covetous and dedicated scientist who has acquired through knowledge of computer science – a study of theoretical base of information and computation. The major work areas are over the theoretical side of computer systems unlike computer engineers who work on the hardware side. Minimum PhD or MS in the field of computer science is required to reach the job level of a computer scientist.