4 reasons why you must be software engineer

BANGALORE, INDIA: Not long ago a software engineer was considered the best prospective groom for girls. That has been the grand reputation of the occupation, which has ruled the best jobs catergories for over a decade. Apart for handsome pay check, what makes the high-flying job most coveted is the comfortable work environment and perks associated with it.

That was loudly asserted by CareerCast, which named software engineer's job as the best for the year 2012. And there are many things that over the common perception of lack of work-life balance. As Navin Kumar, CEO and Founder of iPrimed Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd, says: "Work life balance can become a casualty for a software engineer but the same needs to be balanced without getting too driven in a particular direction."

Here are four reasons that made software engineer's job the best among 200 others.

PAY CHECK

There is little denying that a software engineer earns much more than his counterparts in other sectors. Though the average salary of an engineer ranges between Rs 5-7 lakh, that largely varies as it is generally based on salary structure of organisations. At Infosys, for example, the starting salary of a fresher could be anything between Rs 3.25 to 4.4 lakh. 

HIRING OUTLOOK

The demand for software engineers is constantly on the rise across industries in the world. That is purely because their job involves creation and maintenance of software, which is the focal point of technology ranging from operating systems to cellphone "apps" to interactive games. With technology dominating the life of common man, the job of a software engineer continutes to be lucrative, at least until robots replace staff in offices.

HIERARCHY POLICY

Many companies have well defined hierarchy in place. Freshers are generally hired as software engineers and they move up the ladder with each promotion as senior software engineers, team lead, technical lead and project managers etc. Again, the designations differ from company to company. "Socially it (software engineer's job) has come into the mainstream and the financial rewards are handsome. Rewarding the engineer from a sense of fulfillment and progressing significantly quickly on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is probably the best in the market," says Navin Kumar of iPrimed Education Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

FEW INTENSE PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Blessed with the luxury of five working days, a software engineer works on average 22 days in a month. The lack of physical demands was one of the points that got the job the 'best job' title. It could be appropriate to conveniently exclude travel from this category as it is something to do with exposure to common practices in IT in other countries. And when company bears the travel and accommodation expenses, where is the need to feel tired?