Software Engineering & Dev

General software development, application development, full-stack engineering

Software engineering is a branch of computer science, looking at the design, development, testing, and maintenance of software applications. It’s an umbrella term that comprises the parts end users see and can interact with (often called ‘front end’), as well as the servers and databases that are working in the background (or back end). Even though people tend to specialise in one of the two areas, they share similar foundations. Having the skills and knowledge to specialise in both is known as being a ‘full-stack engineer’. A full stack developer can tackle the whole process of software development, meaning both front-end and back-end. This encompasses frictionless user experience work, as well as robust and secure backends.

App development follows a roadmap comprising planning, design, development, testing and deployment and maintenance. Planning will help define the purpose of the app, along with core features that are relevant to the target audience, and the strategy to make the app profitable. Design looks at user interface and user experience as well as the aesthetic of the app. Development is the actual making of the app, both front-end and back-end. Testing is where quality assurance is carried out to fix any bugs and work on the security of the app, while deployment and maintenance is the launch of the app and the release of updates based on new technology and user feedback.

The development of apps falls into two different categories: cross-platform and native development. With cross-platform development, engineers write a single codebase that will be deployed across iOS and Android simultaneously, whereas native development builds different apps using platform-specific languages for different operating systems. This can provide more optimal performance but requires greater project management, whereas cross-platform development is often more appropriate for creating Minimum Viable Products.