Software Development: The whole work of planning, building, testing and maintaining software. It includes much more than writing code — understanding requirements, reviewing, fixing and improving.
Example
On a development team, a normal day might include reading a requirement, writing code, testing it and fixing review comments.
Why Software Development matters for IT interns
Coding is one part of the job. Communication, testing and maintenance take just as much of a developer’s time.
Where you will hear it
You will hear this term in development teams, in code reviews and technical discussions, and in technical interviews. If someone uses it and you are not sure what they mean in your project, it is completely fine to ask; every team uses terms a little differently.
Related terms
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- Runtime: The environment your program runs in, or the time when it is running.
- SDK: Software Development Kit: a set of tools, libraries and documentation for building software for a particular…
- Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC): The stages software goes through: requirements, design, development, testing, deployment and maintenance.
- Technical Debt: Extra future work caused by choosing a quick or messy solution now instead of a better one.
- Testing Environment: A separate setup, similar to production, where testers and the team check changes before release.
Previous term: Smoke Testing | Next term: Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
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Frequently asked questions
What is Software Development?
The whole work of planning, building, testing and maintaining software. It includes much more than writing code — understanding requirements, reviewing, fixing and improving.
What is an example of Software Development?
On a development team, a normal day might include reading a requirement, writing code, testing it and fixing review comments.
Why does Software Development matter for IT interns?
Coding is one part of the job. Communication, testing and maintenance take just as much of a developer’s time.
Explore more internship terms
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About the author
Dhaivat has 16+ years of experience in the IT industry, working on AI and cloud technologies, project delivery, and engineering leadership. He has interviewed and mentored many interns, wrote The Lost Intern, and runs the non-commercial Career Impact Initiative, mentoring students for free.