Existing Bootcamp to Parallels

I have a MacBook Pro Mid 2012 and have been using Bootcamp for the past three years and have Windows 7 dowloaded. Due to a need to constantly switching between operating systems a coworker of mine recommended that I download parallels. How would this work exactly. Can parallels and bootcamp work simultaneously? I am not that familiar with this process, just due to my job I am needing to switch between them. The majority of my time I am on my Mac OS but I switch to my Windows OS to use Microsoft Visual Basic Community, Solidworks, and GAMs and R,statistical modeling softwares. If someone could enlighten me, I would be extremely appreciative. There is just so much information online that I have been having trouble finding an answer to my specific situation. Many Thanks.