Software Engineering is a blend of mathematics, science and design. With added advantages of choosing preferred working space, professionals need to sharpen their problem-solving and analytical skills along with effective communication.
However, even experts in the field have limited time on their hands and that makes it imperative to instil certain attributes, like multi-tasking and being meticulous. Another notable mark of an efficacious software engineer is to prioritise and organise the projects on their plate to manage their time effectively.
Apart from the above mentioned behavioural abilities, an individual in the field of software engineering needs to achieve expertise in several technical areas as well, since the demand for a software engineer exists in various industries.
Wireless Comms:
In this era of globalised and digitalised economy, communication with no visible physical connection aids is possible. Access to people around various distances – on the local as well as the global level has been made possible by the advent of various wireless communication technologies like Zigbee, BLE, Bluetooth, 3G, 4G etc.
While 3G and 4G are fairly common terms because of their widespread usage. The third and fourth generations of data-driven internet connection with transfer rate from at least 144 kb/sec in 3G becomes 20 times faster in 4G.
Apart from these, the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) or Bluetooth smart are wireless connections introduced by the good old Bluetooth for applications in the healthcare, fitness, beacons, security, and home entertainment industries. Also, the Zigbee too is a short-range communication system like the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but with low data transfer speed.
Embedded Systems:
The term ‘embedded’ refers to the integration and fixing of certain elements to add a visual element that encourages increased click-through and engagement.
There are mainly 4 types of embedded systems: embedded bare-metal software, embedded Linux software, embedded RTOS software and, embedded networking software. Major enterprises often hire embedded software engineers who are experts in one given skill set, while small companies need engineers who are the jack of all the above-mentioned trades.
An efficient embedded software engineer is bound to possess certain skills such as mastery over C and C++ programming, debugging skills using oscilloscope and logic analysers, as well as the Version management software.
Testing:
When certain program or application is designed, it has to be looked into to find and rectify errors, if any. The process or method of finding error/s in a software application or program so that the application functions according to the end user’s requirement is termed as software testing.
To evaluate a certain created program or application, various kinds of testing are done such as the unit, integration, system, sanity, smoke, interface, regression and beta/acceptance testing. Such techniques expose any gaps or missing requirements in the program.
Safety Standards:
Maintaining certain safety standard s for a computer program is a concept applied to protect the computer from blatant activities and other hacker threats, so that under certain possible risks the software can carry on working correctly, without any possible malware. Providing legitimacy, authorisation, and accessibility requires protection.
For instance, the MISRA (Motor Industry Software Reliability Association) established a set of 127 guidelines for the use of coding language C in critical safety systems and DO-178B, a programme developed by Radio Technical Commission of Aeronautics Inc.
(RTCA) for guidance on the certification of equipment and the evaluation of a programme in airborne systems is a global standard, known worldwide for controlling protection when implementing software for aircraft systems.