Key skills for programmers and software developers to learn in 2022. If you have been doing software development for some time and thinking about what makes a good programmer? What should a programmer learn in 2022 to become a better developer? What should computer science graduates learn in advance for a career in software development and programming?

These are mostly college graduates and beginners who now have access to a wealth of information thanks to the internet and are eager to learn skills in advance to prepare for their programming job interviews.

This list is by no means complete, but it provides you with a good starting point for skills a programmer should know. If you are aiming for a career in software development and looking for a programming job, then these are things you can learn and improve to stay ahead of your competition.

Top 11 Essential Skills for Software Developers in 2022

Without further ado, here is a list of skills which I personally believe, every programmer should know, irrespective of the job he is doing. These are essential skills and will serve you for a long time. Any investment made into this in terms of time, money, and effort will help you to reap the rewards throughout your career.

1. Cloud Computing Skills (AWS, GCP, or Azure)

Apart from containers, Cloud is another thing that I think every Software developer and Data Scientist should learn in 2022. Companies of all sizes and domains are now shifting their environments into Cloud for cost-saving and better scalability, which means sooner or later, you need to work with cloud-native applications.

They are also essential for all sunrise development in the field of Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial intelligence because the only cloud can provide the computing power needed by those resource-hungry models.

Learning Cloud platforms like Amazon Web Service (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure will take you one step ahead of your competitors not only in your current job but also in the next post. You don’t need to learn all of them, and in fact, learning one means you will have a fair idea about others.

To start with, I suggest you learn AWS as it is the most popular and most mature cloud platform and there is a strong demand for developers and system admins with AWS knowledge if you need a resource then I recommend the Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate course by Stéphane Maarek, the Cloud Guru. It will not only help you learn AWS in-depth but also prepare you for AWS certification.

2. Data Structure and Algorithms

If you want to become a programmer, then you ought to know Data Structure and Algorithms well; there is no escape. This is one of the important topics of any programming job interview, and without you knowing basic data structures, like an array, linked list, map, or set, it’s not possible to write a real-world application.

That’s why every programmer should put a serious effort into learning the Data structure and Algorithm during their computer science course.

If you are a self-taught programmer, then also you must know Data structure and algorithm; in fact, many programming bootcamps will teach you Data structure and algorithm as the first thing. If you need a course then I highly recommend checking out Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java course by Tim Buchalaka on Udemy.

And, if you need free resources to learn Data Structure and Algorithms then you can check these free Algorithms courses on Medium.

3. Git and Github

Source control is used to store code, and if you want to become a coder or software developer, you must know version control tools like Git and SVN. Thankfully Git and Github have streamlined the market, and now more than 70% of organizations use Git; hence you can get away by just learning Git. By the way, you should put some effort into learning Git well, like you should be comfortable with advanced version control concepts like branching and merging as well as the tool itself, I mean, both on the command line and using GUI. For beginners, The GitHub Ultimate: Master Git and GitHub is the right place to start with. And, If you need a free online course to learn Git, check out these free Git courses on Medium.

Author: Csaba Ujvári