Thanks to pop culture, most people far from IT have formed a stereotype about programmers as bearded men in T-shirts with superheroes, unsociable and withdrawn. At the same time, it is believed that they can do everything: from hacking databases to fixing a refrigerator, but in reality, the IT industry has narrower specialties.
But what exactly do programmers do?
Mobile app development is one of the top specialties in programming, with hundreds of job openings every day. There are three types of mobile development:
iOS development involves creating applications for the iPhone. To work with this system, you need a MacBook or a Mac computer.
Android development – any Windows laptop will do to get you started. The choice of devices for development is much wider: the flagship, mid-range and budget lines of Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor and a dozen other manufacturers.
Cross-platform development for two operating systems at the same time.
Web development
Frontend – programming the visible part of the service with which the user interacts in the browser. This includes, for example, the appearance of the site, drop-down menus, interaction with buttons, feedback forms, and much more.
Backend – work with the internal part of the site or web application, invisible to the user. Backend developers are responsible for ensuring that the information, after filling out the form on the site, gets into the database, and if necessary, the data is quickly loaded from the database and transferred to the frontend, the visible part of the site.For example, when you are browsing the news, the code written on the backend retrieves fresh publications from the repository, transfers them to the frontend, and the user already sees the familiar feed.
Fullstack is about working with everything at once. The term was coined for programmers who know several languages and combine front-end and back-end skills. Some fullstack specialists take on mobile development, server work, or UX design. Their versatility can tend to infinity.
Game development or game development – game developers are involved in the creation of computer and mobile games of varying complexity, from simple 2D platformers to large AAA projects like GTA, The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077.
System programming is the creation of software for operating systems. Not the most popular direction of development, but it has fewer competitors. For example, a system programmer develops drivers that help the system communicate with other devices: connect speakers to a laptop using an audio driver, or a printer using a driver designed for a specific model.