In this chapter
We'll look at the kinds of companies in IT — product, service, startup and enterprise — and the kinds of software they build: web, mobile, frontend, backend and full-stack.
The Problem in Real Life
At lunch, Anna messages a college friend who also started a job today, at a large IT services company. "First project: building a hospital's billing system. Next year, probably a bank. You?"
Anna looks around. Everyone at BlueTicket has worked on the same ticketing app for years. Same product, same customers, every day. Two jobs that both sound like "software developer" — and they already look completely different.
She builds a different thing every year. We build one thing forever. Are we even doing the same job?
Anna
Product Company vs. Service Company
Same title, different work
"Software developer" means something different at a product company and at a service company.
Many kinds of software
Web, mobile, frontend, backend — Anna has heard all these words but can't place them.
What IT Companies Build — and How
John draws two boxes on a napkin. "Your friend works for a service company. We're a product company. Both build software. The difference is who it's for and who owns it."
- Product company: builds its own software and sells or offers it to many customers. BlueTicket's ticketing app is its product. The team improves the same product for years.
- Service company: builds software for other companies, as a paid project. The client owns the result. Engineers move between projects and clients.
- Startup: a young, small company trying to grow fast — like BlueTicket, with 15 people. Everyone does a bit of everything, and decisions are quick.
- Enterprise: a large, established company with many teams, formal processes and older systems. Work is more specialised and changes take longer.
| Question | Product company | Service company |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the software | The company itself | The client who paid for it |
| How long you work on it | Years, the same product | Months, then a new project |
| Who the users are | The company's own customers | The client's customers or staff |
| What you get good at | Deep knowledge of one product | Many domains and technologies |
| Kind | What it builds | Example in a ticketing app |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | What users see and click | The seat map and checkout screens |
| Backend | Server-side logic and data | Holding a seat, taking a payment |
| Web | Apps that run in a browser | The ticket website |
| Mobile | Apps for phones | The iOS and Android apps |
| Full-stack | Both frontend and backend | A developer who builds a feature end to end |
Then John turns the napkin over. "Now — what do companies build?" He lists the kinds of development Anna will hear about every day:
Web development builds apps that run in a browser. Mobile development builds apps for phones. Frontend is the part the user sees and clicks. Backend is the part on the server that stores data, checks payments and sends emails. Full-stack developers work on both. And application development is the umbrella word for building any of these.
BlueTicket has all of them: a website, a mobile app, a frontend for both, and one backend behind everything.
Key Takeaway
"Software developer" is a title, not a description. What the job really looks like depends on the kind of company (product or service, startup or enterprise) and the kind of software (frontend, backend, web, mobile).
Why This Matters
Choosing a first job, reading a job post, or understanding why your team works the way it does — all of it starts with knowing what kind of company you're in and what kind of software you build. Later in this course, Anna will touch every one of these layers of BlueTicket.
Anna can now place BlueTicket on the map: a product startup with web, mobile, frontend and backend work. Next, John walks her desk by desk to meet the people who actually do that work.