Top 15+ Software Companies in Chicago

Software developers who want to work in a good software company that has proven itself in the industry and won the appreciation of its customers with the projects it produces can have many different paths to follow. If we unpack the most ideal of these ways:

 First of all, what you need to do is to study university departments that will provide you with technical equipment, such as software engineering or computer engineering, and get a diploma from these. You can even choose to finish a program that will level up your skills, such as a master's degree.

The second thing you need to do to put the theoretical education you received at the university into practice and gain experience in the sector is to do an internship. Interning while studying at university is the best way to gain experience and plays an important role in developing your skills.

After doing internships in various places, it's time to work as a junior software developer. This position is an entry-level role that supports your professional development and knowledge and significantly expands your work experience.

While following the steps in this section, add every software project you have contributed and completed to your portfolio. When employers see proven records of your software design, implementation, testing, and maintenance approaches, they're more likely to engage with you and add you to their teams.

Depending on your professional interests and career goals, you can attend many programs and get certificates from them. Certifications in certain programming languages ​​or database management, for example, are another item to consider as you progress in your career. Include any achievements that enhance your experience and skills, including these certifications.

As in every sector, the networks you establish will have a very positive effect on finding a job in software companies. That's why job fairs and professional workshops are excellent opportunities to meet potential employers and connect with other people. These types of career events provide you with many opportunities to share your portfolio and resume, connect with experienced professionals, and communicate your interest in open positions.

After following the necessary steps, if you think you are a competent software developer, you can apply for any position in the software companies you want through online platforms. After this stage, you can start working after completing mutual agreements with companies that want to work with you.

Software companies have many alternatives for making money, some of which are as follows:

• Product Sales

The main way software companies make money is by selling the software and applications they develop. For this, these companies have a certain path to follow and they can make good sales as long as the right steps are taken on this path. For this, they must first create a product that will benefit people. Then they need to start the sales process by putting the product in the right marketplace and on their website.

• Retention of Existing Customers

One of the primary goals of a software company is to provide the best service to meet customer expectations. This is achieved by delivering the work they receive on time and with the highest quality version. In this way, the company's customer impression is at a good level and customers continue to trust these companies in the following processes. Customers who are satisfied with the service they purchased are willing to pay the fee requested by the software company for their next project. For this reason, it is critical to provide the right service and protect the reputation of the company, not to lose existing customers, and to expand the customer network day by day.

In addition, if subscriber-based software is preferred rather than one-time software sales, existing customers will also be retained.

• Ads

We know that some of the biggest software companies such as Google and Facebook use ads as their primary source of income. But for customers, one of the most frustrating features a software or app can have is the advertisements it is exposed to. Therefore, software companies must establish a very good balance between the revenues they receive from advertisements and customer satisfaction. Many software companies, which do not want to risk losing customers by placing advertisements on the product they produce, prefer to stay away from this business model.

Here are the revenues of the biggest software companies from advertisements in recent years:

• GOOGLE (2021) - $31.88 billion
• AMAZON (2021) - $31.16 billion
• MICROSOFT (2021) - $8.53 billion
• YOUTUBE (2021) - $6.01 billion
• WITTER (2020) - $2.99 ​​billion
• ADOBE (2020) - $887 million

It is possible to say that software companies usually have an annual income or a value between 2 times their annual income.

If the company has stalled growth, has a small market share, and has legacy technology, it will likely be worth much less than its annual revenue. But if the company has the latest technologies, is growing rapidly, and has a large share of the market, then it can be worth more than twice its annual revenue. However, most software companies are probably worth between 1 and 2 times their annual revenue.

We can divide software companies into service-based companies and product-based companies.

• Service Based Companies

It works directly with businesses and provides them with services such as customized software development, consulting, or dedicated development teams.

• Product Based Companies

They are businesses that develop their own products and deliver them to end users. Microsoft and Google are two very good examples of product-based companies. Both offer a range of ready-made solutions that can be configured and customized to the specific needs of the company.

When running a project with a software company, they can accompany you from start to finish. From the maintenance of the produced product to the generation of ideas, a software company has the knowledge and experience to meet your needs.

At some point in your project's development process, you may find that your project needs more experts than you expected, and you may have to work with a lot of freelancers. At this point, working with a full-fledged software company will be useful for you. Instead of being your HR, you can rely on the software company you're collaborating with to do the appropriate team expansions.

The team at the software company you work for will have a project manager and this person will have taken many responsibilities from you. You may not want to spend time on tasks such as coordinating daily project-related activities, and the project manager will come to your aid at this point. As a business partner, you can stay in constant contact with them and receive updates, meeting minutes, and reports.

A software team that has been with you from the beginning of your project and has extensive knowledge about your product will provide you with the best service when your product needs updating or routine maintenance.

On the software side of the project, you want to reveal, that getting help from companies that are experts in this business will benefit you in many areas. First of all, executing your project with a software company is the best way to run the project healthily. Software companies are the companies that understand and analyze the needs of their customers in the most accurate way and as a result, offer them the best service. This is a very important factor in shaping your project on more solid foundations. One of the biggest advantages of working with a software company is that the people in the team you will work with will be able to offer ideas that will positively affect the course of your project, which will cause your project to evolve into the best version. Also, working with a software company can help reduce your responsibilities significantly. Considering all these reasons, it is a very logical investment to cooperate with software companies.

Some of the services of software companies fall under the service area of IT companies. However, the main difference between software companies and IT companies is that software companies produce, modify or maintain valuable products while IT companies have the task of creating, updating, or maintaining the IT infrastructure. IT companies are companies that make all systems, devices and software work together to help individuals complete tasks.

Software companies mainly develop, distribute and maintain software. IT companies encompass any job related to computer operation or development where software is a crucial part.

As of 2023, the top 5 software companies in the world are as follows.

1. Microsoft

As the manufacturer of the operating system “Windows” that powers nearly one billion computers worldwide and the most popular productivity software “Microsoft Office”, Microsoft is the leader of the software industry with its revenue of 168.1 billion dollars in 2021. Founded in 1975 by founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates in Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city, the company is now headquartered in the small town of Redmond, Washington.

1. Oracle

The American company Oracle, which is the second largest software company in the world with a worldwide revenue of 40.5 billion dollars last year, is a worldwide leader in Software as a Service (SaaS) as well as enterprise software. Oracle software is frequently used primarily in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (HCM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) business areas. The company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, was founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates.

1. SAP

SAP (Systems, Applications & Products), the largest software company in Europe and the only non-American company among the top 10 software companies in the world, ranks third on our list with its revenue of 32.3 billion dollars last year. The German company, which is the worldwide market leader with its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, provides its customers with Software as a Service (SaaS) as well as enterprise software. The company, currently headquartered in the town of Walldorf in the city of Baden-Württemberg, was founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers.

1. IBM

Founded by Charles Ranlett Flint in 1911, IBM (International Business Machines) is the oldest software company still in existence, with a revenue of $23.4 billion in 2021. Headquartered in Armonk, New York City, the company is a global leader in the development of cloud and computing software.

1. Salesforce

Salesforce, which is the fifth largest software company in the world, is an American company founded in 1999 by four former Oracle executives. The company, which generated $17.1 billion in revenue last year, is headquartered in San Francisco. Salesforce is the world leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

Software companies such as Adobe, Fiserv, ADP, Dell Technologies, and Broadcom come after the companies we have mentioned.

A good marketing strategy is very important for software companies as it is for every company. To find more customers, a software company needs to have a multiplatform approach supported by a talented team that can direct potential customers to their company and products.

The first thing a software company that wants to promote itself should do is to tell people about its brand and introduce it. One of the biggest mistakes made by today's technology companies is to bore the other party by using excessive technical jargon during communication. What needs to be done at this stage is to inform people about what your company offers businesses and how to make them better.

When it comes to marketing, one of the must-haves is of course social media. Investing in social media, in the long run, is critical. Many companies often delegate their social media responsibilities to inexperienced interns, so try to get ahead of them by working with an experienced and skilled communicator who can represent your brand effectively.

One of the most critical points is to use a consistent SEO strategy. As with social media marketing, a quick and simple effort will not be enough in SEO. Even if you don't get the results you want from your SEO efforts at first, don't give up right away. To get good results, you need consistent keyword research and shareable content that will strengthen your website by turning it into a knowledge hub and boosting rankings in search engines.

If you follow these steps correctly, there will be no obstacles in front of you to achieve successful results.

There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important reasons is that they do not have a specific strategy and vision. Lack of strategy is one of the biggest factors that doom a company to failure because it shows that the necessary steps are not taken to be successful. Other reasons software companies fail include poor marketing, insufficient funding, and a lack of customer base.