Software Engineer skills: what 199 recent job postings ask for

The skills most often requested in 199 US software engineer job postings from the month before October 13, 2026 were Python (39%), AWS (32%) and Go (29%). We counted which skills and qualifications each posting asks for; the share next to each skill is the percent of those postings that mention it.

What skills do software engineer job postings ask for most?

  1. Python39%
  2. AWS32%
  3. Go29%
  4. distributed systems28%
  5. Kubernetes26%
  6. observability25%
  7. React24%
  8. Java23%
  9. TypeScript20%
  10. APIs18%
  11. scalability17%
  12. C++16%
  13. CI/CD15%
  14. GCP14%
  15. SQL14%
  16. backend services14%
  17. Docker13%
  18. incident response13%
  19. testing13%
  20. debugging12%

What do these postings pay, and how many are remote?

  • Median advertised pay: $197,000 a year, based on the midpoint of the range in the 116 postings that listed pay in US dollars.
  • 32% of postings were marked remote.

Score your resume against these skills

Paste your resume to see which of the skills software engineer postings ask for it already covers and which are missing. No sign-up needed.

We use your resume only to score this match. We do not store it. Privacy

What does a software engineer do?

Research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions, applying principles and techniques of computer science, engineering, and mathematical analysis. Update software or enhance existing software capabilities. May work with computer hardware engineers to integrate hardware and software systems, and develop specifications and performance requirements. May maintain databases within an application area, working individually or coordinating database development as part of a team.

Typical tasks

  • Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.
  • Develop or direct software system testing or validation procedures, programming, or documentation.
  • Confer with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to design systems and to obtain information on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces.
  • Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.
  • Prepare reports or correspondence concerning project specifications, activities, or status.
  • Other titles for this work: Application Developer, Application Integration Engineer, Developer, DevOps Engineer (Development Operations Engineer), Infrastructure Engineer, Software Architect, Software Developer, Software Development Engineer.
  • Education for new hires, as reported to O*NET: 85% said bachelor's degree required; 5% said associate's degree or other 2-year degree required.
  • National median wage (2025): $135,980 a year, from Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
  • O*NET lists this occupation as Bright Outlook (projected to grow quickly or have many openings).

Occupation details from O*NET OnLine (Software Developers, 15-1252.00) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license.

How is this data collected?

Postings come from a job search data provider and are limited to US listings from the past month whose title matches this role. Each posting is read by the same keyword extractor behind our free resume match score, and a skill counts once per posting. Years-of-experience lines and the job title itself are not counted. The data refreshes about every three weeks.