Occupation Summary

Computer Programmers

O*NET 15-1251.00

Description:

Create, modify, and test the code and scripts that allow computer applications to run. Work from specifications drawn up by software and web developers or other individuals. May develop and write computer programs to store, locate, and retrieve specific documents, data, and information.

Annual Wages:
$100,466.00
Employment Rate:
Employment is expected to increase by 3.15%.
Education Level:
Bachelor's Degree. According to O*Net, the majority of people employed in this occupation have this level of education.
Endorsement:
Business and Industry, Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM)

  1. Correct errors by making appropriate changes and rechecking the program to ensure that the desired results are produced.
  2. Conduct trial runs of programs and software applications to be sure they will produce the desired information and that the instructions are correct.
  3. Compile and write documentation of program development and subsequent revisions, inserting comments in the coded instructions so others can understand the program.
  4. Write, update, and maintain computer programs or software packages to handle specific jobs such as tracking inventory, storing or retrieving data, or controlling other equipment.
  5. Consult with managerial, engineering, and technical personnel to clarify program intent, identify problems, and suggest changes.
  6. Perform or direct revision, repair, or expansion of existing programs to increase operating efficiency or adapt to new requirements.
  7. Write, analyze, review, and rewrite programs, using workflow chart and diagram, and applying knowledge of computer capabilities, subject matter, and symbolic logic.
  8. Write or contribute to instructions or manuals to guide end users.
  9. Investigate whether networks, workstations, the central processing unit of the system, or peripheral equipment are responding to a program's instructions.
  10. Prepare detailed workflow charts and diagrams that describe input, output, and logical operation, and convert them into a series of instructions coded in a computer language.
  11. Perform systems analysis and programming tasks to maintain and control the use of computer systems software as a systems programmer.
  12. Consult with and assist computer operators or system analysts to define and resolve problems in running computer programs.
  13. Assign, coordinate, and review work and activities of programming personnel.
  14. Collaborate with computer manufacturers and other users to develop new programming methods.
  15. Train subordinates in programming and program coding.
  16. Develop Web sites.
  17. Train users on the use and function of computer programs.


National Industry Employment Patterns


Industry % of Computer Programmers employed Annual Growth Rate
Computer systems design and related services 32 -0.93
Colleges, universities, and professional schools 6.2 -1.53
Software publishers 5.9 -0.72
Scientific research and development services 4.1 -1.42
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services 2.3 -0.92
Insurance carriers 2.3 -1.53
Employment services 2 -1.81


Labor Market Information


2023 Statewide average hourly wage $48.30
2023 National average hourly wage $51.80
2022 National employment 147,400
2022 Texas employment 10,220
Texas projected employment by 2032 10,542
Texas projected annual employment and Turnover openings through 2032 657




TEXAS COUNTY MAP BY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AREA
* Due to confidentiality rules, not all regions may have the data displayed. The sum of all the regions may not be equal to the state total.


Top 10 Relevant Knowledge Areas Relevant Importance Levels
Computers and Electronics
Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
97.40%
Mathematics
Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
70.60%
Engineering and Technology
Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
69.40%
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
68.20%
Customer and Personal Service
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
66.00%
Administration and Management
Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
65.20%
Design
Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
57.60%
Education and Training
Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
55.80%
Geography
Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
55.00%
Administrative
Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
54.80%


Top 10 Relevant Skill Areas Relevant Importance Levels
Programming
Writing computer programs for various purposes.
95.00%
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
75.00%
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
75.00%
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
75.00%
Quality Control Analysis
Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
70.00%
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
67.60%
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
67.60%
Writing
Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
65.00%
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
65.00%
Systems Evaluation
Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
62.40%


Top 10 Relevant Abilities Relevant Importance Levels
Written Comprehension
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
80.00%
Oral Comprehension
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
77.60%
Near Vision
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
77.60%
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
75.00%
Deductive Reasoning
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
75.00%
Inductive Reasoning
The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
75.00%
Information Ordering
The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
75.00%
Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
70.00%
Written Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
65.00%
Speech Recognition
The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
65.00%


  • Working with Computers
    -- Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Processing Information
    -- Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
  • Analyzing Data or Information
    -- Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
  • Getting Information
    -- Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    -- Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Other Activities


  • Achievement
    - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
  • Working Conditions
    - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.



Tools

Computer servers: Computer servers;

Desktop computers: Desktop computers;

Mainframe computers: Mainframe computers; Mainframe operating systems;

Serial port cards: Serial port cards;


Technology

Access software: Citrix cloud computing software;

Accounting software: Tax software;

Analytical or scientific software: The MathWorks MATLAB; Simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis SPICE; StataCorp Stata; SAS; Minitab; IBM SPSS Statistics;

Application server software: Docker; GitHub; Oracle WebLogic Server; Red Hat OpenShift; Red Hat WildFly; Spring Boot;

Backup or archival software: Veritas NetBackup;

Business intelligence and data analysis software: Tableau; Qlik Tech QlikView; Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition; MicroStrategy; IBM Cognos Impromptu;

Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Microsoft SharePoint;

Cloud-based management software: Splunk Enterprise; IBM WebSphere; Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation;

Clustering software: VMware;

Communications server software: IBM Domino;

Compiler and decompiler software: Incremental compiler software; Inline code expander software; Interpreter software; Just-in-time compiler; Command interpreters; Decompilers; Code generator software; Compilers; Threaded code compiler; Retargetable compiler; Partial class generator software; Mixed code generator; One pass compiler software;

Computer aided design CAD software: Computer aided design and drafting CADD software; Dassault Systemes CATIA; Bentley MicroStation;

Configuration management software: Chef; IBM Rational ClearCase; Perforce Helix software; Revision control software; Puppet;

Content workflow software: Workflow software; Emerald Software Group Emerald Green Office; Atlassian JIRA;

Data base management system software: CAST SQL Builder; Data definition language DDL; Data manipulation language DML; Computer Associates integrated data management system CA-IDMS; Apache Cassandra; Apache Hadoop; Apache Pig; Apache Solr; Amazon DynamoDB; Amazon Kinesis; Elasticsearch; Teradata Database; Structured Query Report SQR; Relational database management software; SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise; Oracle PL/SQL; MySQL; NoSQL; MongoDB;

Data base reporting software: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services SSRS; SAP Crystal Reports; ReCrystallize Crystal Reports;

Data base user interface and query software: Structured query language SQL; Transact-SQL; Microsoft SQL Server; Microsoft Access; Oracle JDBC; Oracle Database; FileMaker Pro; IBM DB2; IEA Software Emerald; Amazon Redshift; Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2; Apache Hive; Amazon Web Services AWS software; dBASE Plus;

Data mining software: Google Analytics;

Desktop publishing software: Microsoft Publisher;

Development environment software: Microsoft Visual Studio; Microsoft Visual Basic; Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications VBA; Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition VBScript; Microsoft Azure software; Microsoft ESP SDK; Microsoft .NET Framework; Microsoft Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML); Microsoft PowerShell; Pascal; MUMPS M; National Instruments LabVIEW; OpenAI ChatGPT; Tier generator software; Xerces2 Java Parser; Web service definition language WDSL; Symantec Visual Cafe; String oriented symbolic language SNOBOL; Source code migration software; Prolog; Ruby; Scheme; Restructured extended executor REXX; Programming language one PL/I; Progress OpenEdge ABL; Go; Haskell; Formula translation/translator FORTRAN; Forth; Gambit Scheme; Event-driven State-machines Programming; Common business oriented language COBOL; Eclipse IDE; Interstate connection ICON; J; List processing language LISP; Logo design software; ICON programming language; Integrated development environment IDE software; Interface definition language IDL; Computer On-line Real-time Applications Language CORAL 66; Beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code BASIC; Clipper; Code munger software; AWK; B-Method; Bigloo Scheme; C; Call-processing language CPL; Canu; American National Standards Institute ANSI C; Algorithmic language ALGOL; Apache Ant; Apache Kafka; Apache Maven; Adobe PostScript; A programming language APL; ABC Compiler; Ada; Adobe ActionScript; Verilog;

Document management software: Adobe Acrobat; Virage VS Archive;

Electronic mail software: Microsoft Exchange; IBM Notes;

Enterprise application integration software: IBM InfoSphere DataStage; Extensible markup language XML; Extensible stylesheet language XSL; Atlassian Bamboo; Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services SSIS; Oracle Fusion Middleware; SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator; Progress Sonic ESB; SAP NetWeaver BW;

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: SAP software; SAP Business Objects; Oracle Hyperion; Oracle Fusion Applications; Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; NetSuite ERP; Microsoft Dynamics; Microsoft Dynamics GP;

Enterprise system management software: Microsoft Systems Management Server; IBM Power Systems software;

Expert system software: Ansible software;

File versioning software: Apache Subversion SVN; Git;

Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology; Oracle E-Business Suite Financials;

Geographic information system: ESRI ArcGIS software; Geographic information system GIS software;

Graphical user interface development software: Graphical user interface GUI design software; Basis BBx VisualPRO/5; Salesforce Visualforce;

Graphics or photo imaging software: Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite; Adobe Illustrator; Adobe Photoshop;

Human resources software: Human resource management software HRMS;

Industrial control software: Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software;

Medical software: Epic Systems;

Metadata management software: Quest Erwin Data Modeler;

Network monitoring software: Snort; Wireshark; Network intrusion prevention systems NIPS; Nagios;

Network security and virtual private network VPN equipment software: Virtual private networking VPN software;

Object or component oriented development software: Smalltalk; Swift; R; Python; PowerSoft PowerBuilder; Scala; Oberon; Objective C; Objective Caml; Modula; Oracle Java; Perl; Microsoft Visual Basic.NET; Microsoft Visual C# .NET; Microsoft ActiveX; E++ pattern language; Embarcadero Delphi; Common Lisp Object System CLOS; Eiffel; Greatis Object Inspector; Jupyter Notebook; jQuery; Advanced business application programming ABAP; ABC: the AspectBench Compiler for AspectJ; Apache Groovy; Apache Spark; Collaborative Application Markup Language CAML; C#; C++;

Object oriented data base management software: Hibernate ORM; Microsoft Visual FoxPro; PostgreSQL;

Office suite software: Microsoft Office software;

Operating system software: Microsoft Windows; Microsoft Windows Server; Oracle Solaris; Operating system software; Red Hat Enterprise Linux; Shell script; UNIX; UNIX Shell; Ubuntu; Job control language JCL; Linux; KornShell; Hewlett Packard HP-UX; Bash; Bourne Shell;

Portal server software: Apache HTTP Server;

Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint;

Process mapping and design software: Microsoft Visio;

Program testing software: Source code editor software; Symbolic debugger software; Selenium; Debugging software; Hewlett Packard LoadRunner; Low-level debugger software; JUnit;

Project management software: Atlassian Confluence; Microsoft Project;

Requirements analysis and system architecture software: Unified modeling language UML;

Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel;

Storage networking software: Amazon Simple Storage Service S3;

Transaction security and virus protection software: McAfee;

Transaction server software: Customer information control system CICS;

Web page creation and editing software: CoffeeCup The HTML Editor; Adobe Dreamweaver; Microsoft FrontPage;

Web platform development software: Microsoft ASP.NET; Microsoft ASP.NET Core MVC; Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP; Microsoft Silverlight; Node.js; PHP; Oracle JavaServer Pages JSP; Spring Framework; Ruby on Rails; Progress WebSpeed Workshop; React; Adobe Flex; Adobe ColdFusion; AJAX; Apache Struts; Apache Tomcat; Backbone.js; Cascading style sheets CSS; LAMP Stack; JavaScript; JavaScript Object Notation JSON; Hypertext markup language HTML; Google Angular; Drupal; Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML; Django; Enterprise JavaBeans; Ext JS; Extensible hypertext markup language XHTML;

Word processing software: Microsoft Word;


Related O*NET occupational titles for Computer Programmers include:
  • 15-1299.07 Blockchain Engineers
  • 17-2061.00 Computer Hardware Engineers
  • 15-1241.00 Computer Network Architects
  • 15-1211.00 Computer Systems Analysts
  • 15-1299.08 Computer Systems Engineers/Architects
  • 15-1242.00 Database Administrators
  • 15-1243.00 Database Architects
  • 15-1252.00 Software Developers
  • 15-1253.00 Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
  • 15-1255.00 Web and Digital Interface Designers


Sources of Additional Information
  • For more information about computer programmers, visit: Association for Computing Machinery
  • CompTIA
  • IEEE Computer Society
  • For information about opportunities for women pursuing information technology careers, visit: National Center for Women & Information Technology
  • Computer Programmers

  • Contact Texas Workforce Commission
    Labor Market and Career Information  |  101 E. 15th Street, Annex Room 0252  |  Austin, Texas 78778
    Official Website  |  1-800-822-PLAN (7526)  |  512.936.3200

    ** The information in this report may be derived from many sources like O*NET, BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), OOH (Occupational Outlook Handbook), and Career One Stop.