Software Careers Background The software industry comprises many facets: personal computer (PC) applications; operating systems for both stand-alone and networked systems; management tools for networks; enterprise software that enables efficient management of large corporations’ production, sales, and information systems; software applications and operating systems for mainframe computers; and customized software for specific industry management. Packaged
Software designers are responsible for creating new ideas and designing prepackaged and customized computer software. Software designers devise applications such as word processors, front-end database programs, and spreadsheet programs that make it possible for computers to complete given tasks and to solve problems. Once a need in the market has been identified, software designers first
Software engineers are responsible for customizing existing software programs to meet the needs and desires of a particular business or industry. First, they spend considerable time researching, defining, and analyzing the problem at hand. Then, they develop software programs to resolve the problem on the computer. There are about 800,000 computer software engineers employed in