Everyone knows coding jobs are in demand.
If you’re considering a transition into the field, you might be wondering what kind of jobs are out there. For example, did you know coding is used in other jobs besides programming websites and mobile apps?
In this article we’ll look at the different types of coding jobs, their unique responsibilities, and salary info.
To jump directly to a specific section, you can click on a heading below.
1. What kinds of jobs can you do with coding?
Coding isn’t just for software engineers. From product managers to data scientists to systems administrators, there are many jobs that utilize coding skills.
Let’s break down some of these positions:
Frontend developer
This is one of the most common coding jobs out there. Essentially, a frontend developer writes code for the user-facing side of a website. That is, the user interface, i.e. the part of the website a user interacts with in the browser.
This can include writing code, implementing designs, carrying out debugging, as well as working with a designer, product manager, various stakeholders, etc.
Learn how to become a frontend developer in our guide.
Software engineer
A software engineer may write code for a website, but also has a broader field of scope.
They might write code for desktop applications, mobile applications or web apps. There are two categories of software engineers: application-focused and systems software engineers.
Application software engineers create apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, and other native operating systems.
Systems software engineers work with the hardware or software aspects of building operating systems and networks.
A software engineer might also be more involved in system architecture, DevOps, QA testing, or have more of a technical management role.
Learn more about what a software engineer does.
Machine learning engineer
This is another coding job that’s very much in-demand recently, and set to be for the foreseeable future.
Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence. Machine learning engineers write code to train computers to do specific tasks.
For example, do you know how your email provider filters out spam messages? This is an example of natural language processing (NLP), which is an area of machine learning. Via algorithms the computer is trained to recognize the patterns of spam messages and filter them out.
Machine learning engineers might also work in the areas of medicine, programming navigation systems, preventing credit card fraud and more.
Learn more about machine learning in our guide.
Full-stack developer
A full-stack developer involves all the responsibilities of a frontend developer, but includes backend development too.
What is backend development? We’ll learn more about it shortly, but for now, just think of it as the data layer of an application that the user does not see.
Backend tasks that a full-stack developer are expected to carry out include working with databases, writing APIs, database queries and basically controlling and maintaining how data flows through the application.
What is a full-stack web developer exactly?
Data analyst
Data analysts take a set of raw data and explore it for meaning and patterns.
This data can be numerical, pictures, words or anything else that can be interpreted in some way. Data analysts collect, clean and organize the data using various tools like statistics, programming, visualization, etc.
While you might think of this as more of an analysis job instead of a coding job, you’d be wrong. Programming skills might be involved in any of the stages from collection to displaying insights.
Whether interacting with a database and writing queries, to using code for visualization or for cleaning the data and performing statistical analysis on it, it belongs on the list of coding jobs.
What does a data analyst do? Learn more
Prompt engineer
A very 2024 job role. If you were looking at this job title a year ago you would be scratching your head, however life moves fast, and being able to harness the formidable power of generative AI tools and large language models through prompts is a much-valued skill. According to jobs site Glassdoor, salaries are already around the $115,000 mark!
Prompt engineers specializing in coding are responsible for designing and writing prompts for LLMs to generate high-quality code. They play a crucial role in bridging the gap between natural language and programming languages, enabling developers to leverage the power of LLMs to enhance their coding workflow.
To be an effective prompt engineer you’ll need to have not just a solid understanding of coding but also how AI tools “think” and function. Throughout 2024 and beyond, prompt engineers will play an essential role in bridging the gap between human intent and machine execution.
Backend developer
We talked about frontend and full-stack developers. A backend developer only deals with the part of the website the user doesn’t see.
This includes tasks like looking up data, making calculations, and preparing information before it gets sent to the client-side (or frontend).
In short, a backend developer the backend developer is the unsung hero making sure you have a (hopefully) seamless user experience.
What does a backend developer do? A complete beginners’ guide.
Product manager
A product manager is the link between the developers and the product or company at large.
They oversee the entire lifecycle of a product or service and are the go-to person for that product. This is a very multidisciplinary role incorporating everything from UX design, to technical specifications to strategy and marketing.
Product managers can be more or less technical depending on the company and product. Some product managers will be more on the technical side, collaborating with the tech team to facilitate trade offs between tech debt and new feature work.
They might also work with data to derive user insights and information on impact.
Technical product managers often have a background or some knowledge of coding. Others might not code themselves, but be familiar with the development lifecycle.
Learn more about what a product manager does.
Cloud engineer
Cloud computing is only rising in popularity, which makes cloud engineers more and more in demand.
Essentially, cloud computing is a type of internet-based computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices.
In the cloud, you can store, access and manage data and applications over the internet instead of on your computer. The benefit of this is you only pay for how much you use.
Cloud engineers develop and maintain these systems for their company or clients. Cloud engineers set up the architecture, manage security best practice, add and remove users and monitor the system to prevent downtime.
Learn more about cloud engineering.
Data scientist
A data scientist is different from a data analyst in that they dive a bit deeper into the data.
A data scientist may build data analysis models to address business problems, create algorithms and predictive models to test data and/or present findings and information using data visualization techniques. They may also utilize data mining and machine learning to identify patterns.
Data scientists are likely to have a background in mathematics or statistics. In terms of coding, they might work with R, SQL and Python, while also having knowledge of Scala, Java or C++.
What’s the difference between a data analyst and a data scientist?
Network systems administrator
Network systems administrators plan, set up, and maintain computer networks for businesses and organizations, including hardware like VPNs and routers.They make sure a company’s networks are secure and working well.
Some examples of tasks they might have are:
- maintaining and upgrading existing computer networks
- troubleshooting flaws in software, hardware configuration, and communications equipment
- fixing problems as they arise
- updating and configuring virus protection software and other programs to keep networks secure
- maximizing network performance
Depending on the scale of the organization, network systems administrators utilize code to automate and test processes, to troubleshoot, etc.
DevOps engineer
A DevOps engineer’s work spans both development and operations at an organization.
Their skills include coding, infrastructure management, system administration, and DevOps toolchains.
They often have a lot to do with releases, i.e. when new features are merged into the main codebase. This involves handling permissions, deciding on a deployment schedule (CI/CD), running tests and writing and maintaining build/deploy scripts.
They also might maintain the servers and databases, scaling up and down as needed, troubleshooting and logging to prevent system downtime.
DevOps engineers are collaborative and often work between departments. They help keep the development process smooth for everyone.
Learn more about this sought-after role in our full DevOps Engineer Guide.
2. What are some entry-level coding jobs?
We’ve broken down different jobs that involve coding. What if you’re a beginner?
Pretty much all of these jobs offer entry-level or junior positions. To get there, though, naturally you’ll need some background in that area. This foundational coding knowledge can be self-taught, via a coding bootcamp or online certification, or with a more formal university degree.
We’ve gathered together a list of 9 of the best entry-level programming jobs, to give you a better idea of what’s involved in each.
There’s not one specific path to getting a coding job, and as a result it’s more and more common to transition into the field and learn coding from a wide variety of backgrounds and careers.
3. Coding jobs FAQs
Now that we’ve taken a look at a few of the most popular types of role out there in 2024, let’s go through some commonly-asked questions about coding jobs.
Do coders make good money?
In general coders make above average salaries. It depends on the location of the job, seniority and company, but you can certainly make good money with your coding skills.
Read more about what salary to expect for web developers.
Is coding in high demand?
Yes, coding is in high demand and only growing. As more and more processes get automated and become more technical, the demand for coding only increases.
How do I get a career in coding?
To transition to a career in coding there are multiple routes you can choose. From teaching yourself, to doing a more formal program, you can choose what works for you. Learn more about how to code and get hired as a web developer.
How do I get hired for coding?
Once you have a background and some experience coding, you’ll be ready to take on the technical interview process.
Interviewing for a job in tech is a separate skill in itself you can prepare for. There are different elements like the recruiter phone screen, take home projects, and technical interviews.
You’ll want to work on your technical narrative, practice algorithms, and brush up on the basic theory for your chosen programming languages.
It might seem daunting at first, but every coder goes through this. If you break it into one step at a time, you’ll be ready for your first coding job.
4. Wrap-up
We’ve gone over several different jobs that involve coding. Hopefully you have an idea of the versatility of this skill set even if you’re not interested specifically in being a software engineer.
Whether it’s a tool to help automate things at your current position, or you’re curious to learn coding to change to a new field, coding is a great tool for your toolbox.
With all that said, how do you decide if it’s for you? One great way is with our free 5-day coding short course. In it, you’ll build, design, and style your first website in the languages HTML/CSS and JavaScript.
It’s an easy and commitment-free way of deciding if some of those coding jobs could be for you after all.
If you’d like to read more about the world of coding, check out these articles: