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ANZSCO 2613Skill level 1Technology and data

Software developer

Design, build and maintain software systems for the web, mobile and enterprise.

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Salary

Cited figures from Job Outlook and QILT. ExamExplained does not publish predictive earnings or projections.

FigureAUDSource
Full-time weekly earnings$2300Job Outlook (2025-06-01)
Graduate starting salary$75,000QILT (2025-03-01)

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What a software developer actually does

Software developers spend most of the day in an IDE (VS Code, JetBrains or Xcode), a terminal and Git. A typical morning starts with stand-up, then breaks into focused coding blocks: implementing a feature from a ticket, fixing a bug surfaced overnight, or writing tests. Code review is constant. Most teams require at least one approval before merging, so developers review teammates' pull requests several times a day and respond to comments on their own. Afternoons often include refinement sessions where the team scopes upcoming work, plus one-on-ones, architecture discussions and pairing on tricky problems. Production support is part of the job. Most teams run an on-call rotation that pages 1-2 times a month outside hours. Most roles are hybrid with 2-3 office days, 38-45 hours per week, with peaks around release cycles and incident response.

Typical tasks

  • Write, review and ship code.
  • Design APIs and data models.
  • Support production systems on-call.

Skills you'll use

  • One mainstream language in depth (TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, Go)
  • Git, code review and trunk-based or feature-branch workflows
  • Writing and maintaining automated tests (unit, integration, end-to-end)
  • Designing APIs and reading API documentation
  • SQL and one common database (Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server)
  • Reading and refactoring legacy code without breaking it
  • CI/CD pipelines and basic cloud deployment
  • Writing clear pull request descriptions, design docs and runbooks

How to become one

  1. 1Finish Year 12 with English and Maths Methods or Advanced. Software engineering degrees prefer Methods or Specialist; IT degrees usually accept Standard
  2. 2Complete a 3-year Bachelor of Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a 4-year Bachelor of Engineering (Software). Double degrees with maths or commerce are common
  3. 3Start coding early. Build at least 2-3 substantive projects on GitHub before you graduate: a web app, a CLI tool, and one project in an unfamiliar language
  4. 4Apply for graduate developer programmes at banks, telcos, tech companies and consultancies in your final year. Many start recruiting 12 months out
  5. 5Spend the first 2-3 years rotating across the stack (front-end, back-end, infrastructure) and building taste for what good code looks like
  6. 6Choose a track around year 4-5: specialist senior on one stack, generalist senior across a product area, or step toward engineering management

Where you can work

  • Big four banks and other ASX-listed financial services
  • Australian arms of global tech and AI product companies
  • Local SaaS scale-ups and product companies
  • Federal Digital Transformation Agency and agency digital teams
  • Big four advisory and tech-focused consultancies
  • Telcos, large retailers and online marketplaces
  • Universities and research institutes building research software
  • Self-employed freelance or contract developers

Career progression

Typical stages and salary bands. Salary figures are sourced from Job Outlook, QILT or industry bodies; brackets are 25th-75th percentile not absolute floors or ceilings.

  1. Graduate
    0-2 years
    Typical roles: Graduate software engineer, Junior developer, Associate engineer
    Salary band: $75,000 - $100,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  2. Mid-level
    3-5 years
    Typical roles: Software engineer, Full-stack developer, Backend developer
    Salary band: $115,000 - $155,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  3. Senior
    6-9 years
    Typical roles: Senior software engineer, Tech lead, Senior full-stack developer
    Salary band: $160,000 - $220,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  4. Staff or principal
    10+ years
    Typical roles: Staff engineer, Principal engineer, Engineering manager

Is this for you?

You might love this if

  • You enjoy breaking a fuzzy problem into small testable pieces
  • You can read other people's code and improve it without rewriting everything
  • You're willing to keep learning new languages, frameworks and tools
  • You can sit with a hard bug for a few hours without getting frustrated
  • You can take feedback on your code without taking it personally

This might not suit you if

  • You hate keeping up with new tools and changing the way you work every few years
  • You want a fully predictable 9-to-5 with no on-call or incident response
  • You dislike writing documentation, tests or pull request descriptions
  • You want every project finished before you move on (most ship and iterate)

Three ways in

Uni, TAFE and trade routes for software developer. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

Apprenticeship trade

Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.

Not an apprenticeship trade.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Job Outlook directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.