When choosing a career, it is always difficult for an individual to make. It is challenging to decide what to do next after school or college. It is always a big decision that could impact your whole life. And when it comes to choosing between Digital Marketing and software engineer, is equally challenging. Digital Marketing and software engineering are two different fields and careers in both are taking off very well in current times. It’s an open secret that there is a huge gap between the market’s demand and supply of Digital Marketing professionals and software engineers. The jobs are plenty but the number of people capable of filling them is significantly less. But even in this scenario, it would be difficult to decide which career path to take as both fields offer lucrative job opportunities but have different career trajectories. But today’s reality is that jobs are becoming more interdisciplinary, particularly in the digital world. So, somewhere down the line, Digital Marketing and software engineering connect and complement each other.

There is no doubt that internet reach is increasing rapidly and is also becoming a significant source of career opportunities. More and more companies are opting to operate online with time and their number is bound to increase in the future. But at the same time, most businesses are increasingly becoming software dependent. We are using software in almost every facet of our life today. There is no escape from the fact that almost every gadget we use, every transaction we do, and every work that takes place in companies uses software in one form or another. So, software has become an essential and integral part of every part of our life. Then how do you choose which of the two, Digital Marketing and software engineering is better? Let us first understand what Digital Marketing is and what software engineer does to get clarity about their work.

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing, also called online marketing, is a marketing technique applied by marketing specialists using electronic devices to carry out marketing campaigns and spread the message about their products or services. In simpler words, Digital Marketing is referred to the marketing campaigns carried out on computers, mobile phones, tablets, or similar devices. It can be online videos, search engine marketing, social media posts, paid social ads, or display ads. It is about promoting brands, products, and services using the internet and other digital means of communication to reach potential customers. Digital Marketing is not about emails and social media only. It includes texts, multimedia, and web-based advertising also. In short, any marketing campaign that uses digital means of communication is called Digital Marketing.

Digital Marketing helps you reach a wider audience than conventional methods and means of marketing, like television and radio. Moreover, it helps you reach your target audience faster, who are more likely to be interested in your product or service. Another advantage of Digital Marketing is that it is less expensive than other marketing means as the cost per customer reached is much lower. Therefore, it offers a better Return On Investment (ROI). Your campaign’s progress can be tracked daily in Digital Marketing. Another benefit of Digital Marketing is that it helps you build your brand and enhance the customer experience so that not only old customers return to you but you attract new customers also.

Any type of marketing is aimed at growing your business. However, because of the internet’s broad reach resulting in easy access to digital channels, the importance of and the returns offered by Digital Marketing have increased manifold. Its importance can be gauged by the fact that there were more than five billion internet users just in April 2022 worldwide. With minimal upfront cost, Digital Marketing has become a very cost-effective means of marketing your products or services. In this era of intense competition, Digital Marketing is almost indispensable for organizations that want to stay ahead.

Essential skills you require as a Digital Marketing professional

Your main task is to increase brand awareness of your product or service, and you must get maximum leverage from digital technology and the internet. To drive successful marketing campaigns and boost sales, you need to learn specifics to help you get the most out of your digital campaigns. Let’s look at them.

Data analysis to know customer’s behavior:

As a Digital Marketer, you must be able to extract data like online transactions and search queries and analyze it to get information about customer behavior which is vital to the success of any marketing campaign. Today, many sophisticated and advanced tools are available for data analysis. You can make use of them to extract and analyze data.

Familiarity with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques:

SEO is essential to enhance your website’s visibility, bringing more customers by driving traffic to it. So, the ability to identify powerful keywords and incorporate them into your online content is a skill you must have if you want to succeed in Digital Marketing. A good knowledge and understanding of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) will be further helpful in obtaining optimum results from your Digital Marketing campaign.

Social media skills:

Social media is today a reality of life. We know that most people are active on social networking sites. Some use more than one social networking site. So, social media has become an excellent platform to reach potential customers. Digital Marketing skills are essential. You should know how to engage people through hashtags, posts, and advertisements.

Excellent communication skills:

These are essential skills you need as a marketing person and a Digital Marketer. You will interact with different people, and each person will be different from the others. So, communicating comfortably with every kind of person and conveying what you want will go a long way in winning the customer. Communication is said to be the key to successful marketing. And in Digital Marketing, clear communication becomes vital when you are not face-to-face with the customer.

Good writing and editing skills:

You will need to write marketing content as a Digital Marketer. You should have good writing and editing skills to create great marketing content. It is not about grammar or knowledge of language only. You will be speaking to the customer through your content, so you must create content that presents the idea you want to convey to potential customers. You need to have content that would convince potential customers to explore further and eventually buy your products or services.
So, these are some of the primary skills you need to learn to succeed in Digital Marketing. Now that we have learned a lot about Digital Marketing let’s move to what is a software engineer and learn more about it.

Software Engineer

As an area of computer science, software engineering involves designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. Software engineers are computer science professionals who have knowledge of engineering principles and programming languages and use them to design and create software products, computer systems, and applications for solving actual problems. They also build computer games and run network control systems. With people’s reliance on intelligent devices continuously on the rise and more digitization taking place worldwide, the demand for software engineers is rapidly increasing. It is expected to rise by 25% by the year 2031. The field of software engineering is vast. Software engineers are also called software developers; they use different techniques and possess different technical expertise. Their expertise varies from maintaining network security, creating computer information systems, and building customer-facing web pages. So, if you are an analytical thinker and love solving problems and creating easy-to-use digital products, software engineering is the field for you.

Primarily, there are two kinds of software engineers: application software developers and system software developers.

Application software developers:

Focus on clients and design software for the end users. They conduct requirement analysis and build iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux applications.

System software developers:

They chiefly build operating systems and networks for user-facing applications and are responsible for hardware and software requirements. System software developers generally work as IT managers and system architects. They integrate different operating systems onto a single platform. They design and make sure that IT standards are adhered to. System software developers mostly work back-end with data science professionals, system architects, development teams, and senior management of the organization.

Software engineers have the knowledge and skills to use suitable programming languages, architecture, and platforms to create anything from applications to computer games to network control systems. They not only build their applications but are also capable of testing and maintaining the software created by other software engineers. The primary responsibilities of a software engineer include:

• Designing and maintaining new software
• Assessing and testing the new software system
• Writing and testing code
• Speed and scale optimization of software
• Bringing new features in front of stakeholders and customers (both internal and external)

Why a career as a software engineer?

If you have an aptitude for solving problems, strong analytical skills, and love challenges, you will enjoy being a software engineer. And as we know, every industry today needs software to operate one or more functions so the need for software engineers is continuously increasing. Besides, you get to work in all kinds of industries, so there are a reasonable number of job opportunities if you choose software engineering. You name any type of field, and they need software engineers. Whether it is media, entertainment, manufacturing, finance, sports, or any other industry, each one needs software engineers. A career in software engineering also offers a lot of flexibility. You may be able to work from remote locations or even from your home.

Skills required as a software engineer

As with Digital Marketing, you need specific skills to succeed as a software engineer. Some essential skills you need to have as a software engineer are:

• You must know coding languages like Java, Python, C, C++, Scala, etc.
• Knowledge of database architecture is required.
• You must know object-oriented programming.
• In the current era, knowledge of cloud computing has become essential
• Must be skilled in design testing and debugging
• Must have an eye for detail

How to become a software engineer?

Until recently, getting a formal two-year or four-year degree in computer science was considered the only way to become a software engineer. However, a background in science and maths with degrees in fields like information systems, electronics, or even civil engineering has enabled people to shift to software engineering as a career. But of late, things have changed. A formal degree in computer science is no longer the only path to becoming a software engineer. You can take online classes for building applications, internships, and work on projects for your company to bolster your chances of landing a job as a software engineer. Besides, coding boot camps also help you in a faster transition into software engineering. They are becoming increasingly popular. The only difference is that a formal degree validates your skills and knowledge.

In today’s digital world, there is ample scope for Digital Marketing and software engineering, whichever career path you choose. Once you learned the required skills and gained expertise, you have arrived. There is no shortage of jobs in these fields and they are bound to increase. So, choose what interests you.