Also called: Apprentice Developer, Associate Software Engineer (apprenticeship)
Learns to code professionally on a paid team, with mentoring, instead of (or before) college.
You spend part of the week in classes and the rest pairing with a senior engineer on real tickets. At the end of a 1-2 year program, many apprentices are hired full-time as junior engineers.
Apprentice wages are lower during training and rise on conversion to a full-time role.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Apprenticeship, about 1 year after high school. Registered or company apprenticeship (1-2 years); HS diploma and some coding practice required.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, On-the-job training, Self-taught. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Computer Science, Software Development (apprenticeship).
Growing about average. Programs at companies like IBM, Microsoft partners, and banks; competitive and limited in number.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Junior coding tasks are what AI automates first, so apprentice and entry-level seats are shrinking.
Classes: AP Computer Science A, Algebra II, AP CS Principles.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1252.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.