Category: Insights

In addition to being a well-paid and highly sought-after position, a job in software engineering also offers multiple career paths. These paths become available as software engineers gain new skills and abilities, allowing them to choose their career paths and directions.

While having a say in your career’s trajectory is unquestionably beneficial, having many options can make choosing the right path more difficult. To help you make that decision, we’ve compiled some of software engineers’ most common career paths.

Understanding your career path will allow you to easily shape your future and focus your energy on what you’ve chosen.

Fresher/Junior Developer

A Junior Developer is a basic-level software developer or programmer who works in a development team. They are in charge of helping the team with all the coding and software design tasks.

• 0-1 year of experience (usually students who are interns/fresh graduates).
• Basic knowledge of software programming, database, application life cycle, application services, etc.
• Can write basic scripts.

At this point, you are an “apprentice”. You must practice almost every skill required to work independently, including programming experience, problem-solving ability, workflow, teamwork skills, etc. Because companies frequently retrain freshers/juniors due to inexperience, so when interviewing freshers, companies usually only consider your logical thinking ability, programming ability, and programming potential.

But this startling beginning is often crucial to your future career path. You should:

• Take advantage of the opportunity to learn the necessary skills (as mentioned above).
• Choose a good environment and leader to learn from.

Developer

After 1-3 years of coding, you will be referred to as a Developer (many people go straight to Team Leader or Senior Developer, depending on the company). You’ve completed several projects and are well-versed in some technologies.

• 1-3 years experience.
• Participated in several projects, well-versed in some technologies.
• Coded more complex modules.

Interviews for this position are frequently more challenging. The interviewer will ask about the projects you’ve completed, the challenges you’ve faced, and how you overcame them. In addition, the interview will focus on the tech stacks you listed on your resume.

At this stage, you are no longer an “apprentice” who needs to work hand-in-hand. You already have the fundamental abilities to work independently and in groups (meetings, code reviews, etc.). You’ve been working on more complex modules, attending meetings, performing code reviews, talking with customers, and so on. This is the stage where you will gain knowledge, experience, and a reputation in order to move up the career ladder. You should:

• Accumulate working knowledge/experience and hone soft skills to create momentum for the subsequent development step.
• Learn about career paths and the differences between a product company and an outsourcing company to help you choose the right working environment.
• Expand your network and personal brand (blog, join tech groups, tech events, etc.).

Management Roles or Technical Roles?

Choosing the right path from the start will save you a lot of time, effort, help you achieve more and succeed faster.

Based on your purpose, clarify what could be your deepest contribution. After gaining experience and seniority, take the time to do the analysis and validation before you make a move to your choice.

If you’re looking for new challenges to help you grow, check out our job postings to find the perfect role for you!

Companies in Vietnam hired 175,370 information technology workers this year, up 36.2% yearly, as the country’s tech sector continues to boom with increased investment. According to the Vietnam IT Market Report 2022, recruitment demand for IT staff is expected to exceed 229,000 by 2023 and 290,000 by 2024.

Employers seek candidates with the right combination of hard and soft skills to add value to their organization. While hard skills focus on what you can do, soft skills focus on how you do it. Soft skills are often the key differentiator between top talent.

In this blog, we will discuss soft skills that impress employers looking for tech talent.

IT industry holds huge recruitment demand

According to the report, 55% of the 2,500 employers polled said they had hired more developers than in previous years. Six out of ten (64%) plan to hire more IT staff this year.

According to TopDev, it takes an average of 51 days to fill a position in Vietnam’s tech industry due to the high demand for recruitment and a shortage of suitable candidates.

One of the reasons for the increase in demand is that Vietnam has attracted enough attention from IT companies from other countries, and they are coming in to hire or build their product development teams.

What is the key differentiator between top talents that employers are looking for?

1. Foreign Languages Preference

According to the EF Education First English Proficiency Index, Vietnamese developers rank 13th in Asia and 65th globally. The requirement for English skills among software developers in Vietnam is shifting from “nice-to-have” to “must-have,” necessitating more serious practice of English skills.

For their tech jobs, most employers (more than 80%) require developers to have at least a basic and limited working level. The ratio of professionals working in English is 12.3%, mostly from foreign companies in Vietnam, with both management and customers who frequently use English. Aside from English, Japanese and Korean have recently been two popular foreign language requirements in job descriptions. The hiring pattern appears to be very different from the English-required side. Most Japanese and Korean employers who hire developers for whom a foreign language is required require a Professional working level. They rarely accept Basic or Limited working levels, owing to cultural and communication differences, in which the Basic level may trigger some inappropriate situations. The same requirements apply to other foreign languages, such as French, Chinese, and Russian…

2. Softskill /Interpersonal

Soft skills have become an important criterion in the process of HR/ recruiters evaluating IT candidates, in addition to technical skills. Following the pandemic, the list has shifted dramatically: the top three important soft skills for developers are communication, collaboration/teamwork ability, and a growth mindset.

3. Most preferable nice-to-have skills

To be successful, software engineers must be highly skilled in technology, coding, program development, and collaborative problem-solving. Aside from the required skills, the most impressive skills for candidates are the ability to write clean code, search efficiently, and troubleshoot quickly.

You don’t want to waste the opportunity to ask questions at the end of a job interview. It’s an opportunity to both continue to prove yourself and determine whether a position is a good fit for you. Before ending the interview, the hiring manager will most likely ask if you have any final questions – take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about their company culture.

There are more insightful interview questions to help determine whether a firm is a good fit than the typical “What’s your culture like?”. It’s critical to have a plan for how you’ll respond, as well as a list of questions tailored to that opportunity. And, of course, respect the interviewer’s time. Choose two or three questions that are most important to you if you were scheduled to speak for an hour and they turn to you with five minutes left. Once you have the job, you will always have more time to ask questions.

Questions about Conscious Work-Life Balance

A healthy work-life balance is part of a healthy work environment. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance reduces stress and prevents workplace burnout, which is especially important in fast-paced environments.

What to look for in the responses: 

Can people take a proper break without being bothered or interrupted by work?

Questions about Continuous Feedback Loop

Instead of receiving feedback once a year, your growth and development will be enhanced if you actively participate in creating and debating goals with the management team.

What to look for in the responses:

• Is the feedback specific, thoughtful, constructive, direct, and truthful?
• Do people wait until a formal setting to give feedback?
• The leadership team is not only open to feedback, but they are also proactive in acting on it.

Questions about Code Quality

High-quality code is easier to read and modify, which makes development less challenging. It accelerates long-term development because you spend less time fixing bugs and refactoring code.

What to look for in the responses:

• The code should be reviewed for readability and simplicity.
• The team is willing to sweat the minor details, trading off speed for accuracy.

Questions about Product Love

What to look for in the responses:

• Speaking to users is an important part of the team regardless of the company size.
• Employees are users of the product outside of the work context.
• The team takes negative user feedback seriously and acts on it.

Questions about Learning Oriented

Organizations with strong learning cultures promote adaptability, flexibility, and innovation. Furthermore, these businesses are less likely to be risk-averse and more likely to welcome change.

What to look for in the responses: How are software engineers developing beyond their work responsibilities?

Conclusion

This opportunity to ask questions is one you don’t want to waste. It’s a chance to continue proving yourself and finding out whether this job is the right fit for you. Of course, you aren’t going to ask all of these questions. Choose the ones that are most relevant to you, your interests, and the job at hand ahead of time. Then write them down — on paper or your phone — and review them beforehand so they’re fresh in your mind.

Good luck with finding your new journey! If you’re interested in finding a remote job as a software engineer with progressive company culture, focusing on results, growth, and human development, check out our Job Postings page to find the right role for you.

When applying for jobs in Singapore, you need to go through the Inspius vetting process. After passing the primary vendor round of interviews, Inspius will evaluate you and send your profile to the company’s HR department in Singapore. Depending on the customer, the candidate may be asked to complete a home assignment and interview with the CTO or PIC (Person In Charge) of that company’s engineering team. The interview usually takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour via Zoom call.

The content at the final interview round is usually related to the following topics:

• Basic knowledge related to tech stack candidates apply. Singapore clients are very interested in the theory part, so this part takes up 50% of the interview time.
• Candidate’s working experience: Our clients will ask about the projects you have participated in, the difficult problems of the project, and how you solve them.
• Q&A on the technical issues of the project you’re applying for.

We strongly recommend you prepare for the interview and start not a day or two ahead of time so you have time to fill any gaps. Clients also benefit from the preparation because they can obtain all the necessary information about a specialist and make a more informed hiring decision.

Let’s go through some tips for a successful interview with Singapore clients.

Tips For Preparing The Last Client Round of Interviews

1. Do your research

Do some preliminary research to learn more about the organization interviewing you. The client’s website is a good place to start.

As you conduct your research, try to come up with at least three questions to ask the client. This demonstrates that you prepared for the interview and took it seriously. You may not have the opportunity to ask the questions or discover that you have better questions to ask as you go, but doing the research can help put you in the right mindset.

2. Self-reflection

During your interview, you may be faced with the question, “What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?”. Having a prepared response is a good idea.

Even if you aren’t asked that question, you should be prepared to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses, particularly your job performance. Make sure you have a good understanding of areas where you’ve excelled in the past, areas where you’ve struggled, and examples and reasons for both.

3. Ask questions

Is it ok to ask an interviewer questions? Not only is it ok, but it’s also can be extremely productive for both sides. It shows your enthusiasm and gives you an advantage in the eyes of the interviewer.

This is an opportunity to show that you have done your research and are eager to learn more. Have questions about the position and the company. Two good questions are:

• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the person that last held this position?
• What are the performance expectations, and how will they be measured?

Inquiring about the company and its expectations demonstrates that you are genuinely interested in the position and want to make an informed decision if you are offered the position. This will improve your image significantly.

4. Rehearse with Inspius’s consultant

It will be difficult to talk for an hour if you do not regularly practice speaking English. Or if you use English most often at work, it can be difficult to talk about some general topics unrelated to technology.

As a result, it is preferable to begin planning ahead of time. You can practice rehearsing with Inspius’s Singapore Consultant to get familiar with the Singaporean accent.

Furthermore, the consultant will advise how to present the interview response so that the client receives the most important information. During this session, you can also freely discuss Inspius client information, project information, and other questions.

Here is a short video on how the rehearsal practice interview with Inspius’s Singapore consultant is conducted:

After the training session, the Inspius admin will send you an email summarizing the content you must prepare and some interview tips to easily conquer the client so you don’t miss any information.

5. Logistics

Make sure you’re prepared on the day of the interview. Allow yourself enough time; if necessary, block off time both before and after the interview to avoid being late or rushed.

All interview equipment, such as a laptop, headphones, or a PC with a webcam and audio, should be well prepared. Make sure your background is clear so that no one can walk around and cause a distraction.

Conclusion

Practicing your interview skills will help reduce stress and allow you to focus on connecting with your interviewer rather than struggling to come up with answers. The more you are familiar with the types of interview questions you will be asked, the better prepared you will be for the interview.

It’s natural to be nervous before a job interview, but a little preparation can make you feel calm, comfortable, and ready to talk about anything. We are always willing to assist in organizing more “interview preparation” sessions if you are still unsure and need more practice while waiting for the official interview.

Taking some time to practice to ace your job interviews and get your dream job. Good luck!