Question with professional Software Engineers

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02-18-2010
nick753

Question with professional Software Engineers

I am curious as to what it is like to be a programmer/ software engineer. Could you guys explain the typical day in your shoes. Keep in mind, I know nothing about what it's like.

Some basic questions that I can think of:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Any of these questions being answered would really be appreciated. I am really curious as to what it's like to be a software engineer for a living and if you would rather have chosen something else now that you know what t's like. Thanks!
02-18-2010
Sebastiani

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick753

I am curious as to what it is like to be a programmer/ software engineer. Could you guys explain the typical day in your shoes. Keep in mind, I know nothing about what it's like.

Some basic questions that I can think of:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Any of these questions being answered would really be appreciated. I am really curious as to what it's like to be a software engineer for a living and if you would rather have chosen something else now that you know what t's like. Thanks!

1) For others like myself, it's a bit like being self-employed. I really can't complain, tho.

2) Sometimes, but for the most part I telecommute.

3) The "lone programmer" is mostly a myth (with some notable exceptions); teamwork is fairly essential for any project of merit, after all.

4) Define "project".

5) Direction is always a big problem. Everyone has their own ideas about how things should be done, and this is where most clashes occur. My basic philosophy is to be flexible but vigilant, and don't become fixated on ones own preconceptions. In other words, listen to everyone's ideas and then choose the best one.

6) Like anything else, it demands focus and can become quite hectic at times. Plan well, and you should see less of that, tho.

7) Yes, our venerable Master Li serves that very function. At the beginning of each day, in fact, we line up in front of his dojo, only entering after he dismisses the last person from the room, which he signals by striking a small bell. Inside, he confronts us with zen koans and administers personal instruction on the art of writing software. Once we have obtained the triple gem of binary, he says, both code and coder disappear. Crazy old man! :D
02-18-2010
NeonBlack

Sebastiani, who are "others like yourself"? Are you a contractor or something?
02-18-2010
Sebastiani

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonBlack

Sebastiani, who are "others like yourself"? Are you a contractor or something?

Lately, yes. Of course, there are plenty of "normal" 9-to-5 jobs to be had, but the contract stints are much more common, generally.
02-18-2010
cpjust

1. Just one company. At my last company I just fixed other people's bugs. At this one, I still fix other people's bugs (or my own), but I also write new programs for our build automation framework.

2. Yes, a hot office. Unfortunately I don't have a cubicle at this company, just a "Pod" (a circular desk with 5 people per Pod).

3. Sometimes by myself, and sometimes in a group.

4. Fixing bugs or small projects (working by myself) usually take between a day to a week. Larger projects (working in a group) take 3-9 months.

5. The hardest thing is just learning a new code base. If you've never seen the code for a certain program before, it takes a while to figure out how it's organized and figure out where you need to make changes to it... Also, learning new languages that are completely different from anything you've used before (like Ruby).

6. We have Team Leads that decides who does what and gives deadlines of when he'd like it done; but it's usually not too stressful. After you've been coding for a few hours and you get stuck we usually have fun and talk and joke, which helps relieve stress, then we get back to work...
02-18-2010
laserlight

*Moved to General Discussions*

I am hoping to find a job like what is described in this blog entry: A Day in the Life. But then the blogger quit his job there to be an independent developer...
02-18-2010
DavidP

Quote:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

1. I work for one company, and yes I go to the same computer every day. My team is currently writing a single application for the customer base, not several programs.

2. Cubicle. Walls are only waist high, so you can see everyone.

3. In a group. My immediate team is roughly 12 people.

4. The entire application still has quite a bit of time left to complete. We go through iterations of about a month in length. An iteration is a set of time where we set goals to complete certain features, then at the end of the iteration we evaluate how we did and set new goals.

5. Honestly? This job isn't too difficult. It's good work, of course, but the programs I often wrote in school were much more challenging.

6. There is an adequate amount of pressure, but it's pretty relaxed. Of course there will be some pressure, because you have goals set, and you want to meet your goals. But everyone is a team, and so we all work together to meet those goals. My boss definitely does not breath down my back trying to work me from 8 am to midnight.
02-18-2010
nvoigt

>1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

Yes. I've been writing inhouse client-server systems for our business needs. Simply speaking, grey rectangular windows with a database connection to do business stuff.

>2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

Depends. We have 4 rooms with 6, 6, 2 and 2 people in it, mostly sorted by who is on the phone and in meetings most, so those have the smaller offices so they don't disturb the other people in the large rooms.

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Depending on the application it's 1-3 people on a project. But project groups mix, so you may be on one project with person a and b and the next month on a project with b and c. Nobody really works allone, you can always go to anybody else for support if it's not too time consuming.

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

Some applications take days, most take weeks, some even months.

>5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

I haven't yet met a problem that would have been too difficult. I have met projects that would have been to time-consuming, so they were cancelled by management. I have also had problems where our resources did not match and we needed external help. That's only a problem if you don't notice it. My job is (was) not to write a program, but to solve a problem. Writing software is part of that problem solving. Another part of that problem solving may always be to delegate something to somebody who is better suited for the job.

> 6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Matter of fact, nowadays that boss would be me. Most of the time, deadlines are set by the developers themselves. However, don't think that only because you can set your deadline yourself, you will not get into situations were you are in danger of missing them. At the start of the project, a month looks like a lot of time and three weeks into the project it's all too much work and totally chaotic. Correctly estimating the amount of work in a project is an art form.

Edit:
Pressure, deadlines and overtime are really different for different jobs and different kind of people. Some people like their job to be 9-5, do what they do every day and hate problems. They work reliably, keep their deadlines and provide average solutions to everyday problems. Then there are people who are totally bored by "normal" work but blossom at the thought of packing double overtime to be able to solve this really tough problem, just because it's a challenge. In a good team you need both. You need a good core of reliable people who shoulder the workload and you need a group of experts who solve the really difficult problems at ungodly hours. And if you want to keep them happy, let them both have it their way, because "old reliable" isn't good at solving a bleeding edge problem at 3 a.m. and the whizkid isn't good at providing a "boring" tool for a problem that has already been solved about a hundred times before.
02-18-2010
Mario F.

>> 1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

Yes. Although I quit professional software development some years ago, tried to start my own bookstore business, failed after a little more than 1 year, and am back busting my back for someone else, doing code. I write in-house software for a known pharmaceutical. I'm also planning to get out again. Which, if all goes well, should happen sometime this Fall.

>> 2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

Currently I sit in an office with two colleagues. But cubicles have been my whole history.

>> 3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Group most of the time. However occasionally some projects demand only one person and one of us is assigned.

>> 4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

Usually one of the projects never ends, as it usually is the one most directly tied to the company business and demands constant maintenance. The rest depends. 1 day to several months, to a couple of years.

>> 5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

Most of the time the difficulties are tied to the deadlines. I did have once or twice situations when I couldn't deliver without help. Currently I'm experience such a situation.

>> 6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

There are always deadlines. It doesn't mean however we take them seriously. We try of course to respect them. I don't recall however anyone ever succeeding on anything else other than the smallest of projects in my 22 year old career. Currently we do not have a team leader. We make decisions collectively. But we do have a director we answer to. In the past I worked with team leaders, was a team leader myself, worked with product managers, and was a product manager myself. None of the leading roles appealed to me when working for someone else company. Developers usually have it much easier.
02-18-2010
jeffcobb

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick753

I am curious as to what it is like to be a programmer/ software engineer. Could you guys explain the typical day in your shoes. Keep in mind, I know nothing about what it's like.

Some basic questions that I can think of:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Any of these questions being answered would really be appreciated. I am really curious as to what it's like to be a software engineer for a living and if you would rather have chosen something else now that you know what t's like. Thanks!

1. This changes with the position and work-type. For example my last position was as a senior engineer at one of the larger electronics firms (Sony); there I wrote cross-platform systems software for four different platforms. As such I actually had four computers that I used on a daily basis, not counting the personal laptop and netbook I used for coding at home/while commuting. The position before that was for a startup in southern California where I did (again) cross-platform work but it was 100% telecommuting meaning I used what laptops/computers I had on-hand.
2. As above, I went to an office for the Sony gig and never left the house for the telecommuting gig. Now the office was more like a cube-farm but you got to do pretty much what you wanted with your area.
3. In both positions you worked as a team. Occasionally you would be assigned bugs to troubleshoot in which case you always worked alone but any new development was done as a team, coordinating code-checkins with VCS like Subversion, etc. Once in a great while you could work on new code alone but that was invariably prototype code that would almost certainly be thrown away. This was also known as "proof of concept" code.
4. Most projects were 12 month to 2 years in length. That said there was rarely any absolute "finish line"; as projects near completion you tended to shift into "maintenance mode" which was bug-fixing, last-minute feature additions and so on.
5. Typically the most difficult work was managing expectations. Marketing departments tend not to think in terms of what is possible but more like what would be "cool". The one aspect of the whole process that continues to be difficult is accurate project time/resource estimation. IOW determining that with N programmers putting in x hours per week, next June the project would be completed on-time. There have been many many methods cooked up to try to accurately determine this but as of now this is more art than science.
6. While there is almost invariably a project lead who coordinates efforts, there is rarely one overall "master programmer"...what you wind up with in reality is one guy who is good with the database, one who is good with graphics, one who is good at troubleshooting, one who is good at general design, etc. As for the pressure level it can be great at times, usually just before delivery of the project where 101 things that slipped through the cracks tend to make themselves known. As someone else here said, the teams tend to be made up of two types of people: 1 is a 9-to-5 programmer who treats it like a job and could care less if a solution is optimal; the other is the ones who obsess on coming up with the more correct answer for any given situation. The latter are often in contact with other coders on the weekends and at night working on problems.

If you like to solve puzzles/problems I cannot think of a more enjoyable profession. If not, I cannot think of one that you would hate more...
02-18-2010
Kennedy

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

Yes. Drivers, OS related stuff, creature comforts for embedded systems developers

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

Cubicle and LAB, mainly LAB -- I have lots of computers and require 3 benches for my work.

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Have always been the lone-gunman until this current job. My history is bottom up design and implementation. This job I'm on a team with each person bringing something specific to the table. None of us can really replace another.

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

So far this one has taken the team two years. I've been on it for almost a year.

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

Dude, it's a computer. It does what you tell it to do. If it has the hardware, it is easy to make it do what you want, if not, you go to the hardware dept. and say "I need this " doodad.

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Can be anywhere from nothing to "please make it stop". I've been in a situation where, after selling a product, I found a MAJOR bug and had to scramble around for 48 hours straight to fix it to make the first shipment schedule -- I'd call that stressful. Current job, however, has had no stress other than the normal taxing of the brain type things where you are attempting to keep the values of 30 variables in your head for an extended period.

BOTTOM LINE: If it was fun, it wouldn't be called work. -- -though, this is not 100% the case 100% of the time. --- For every rule there is an exception. (wrap your brain around that one ;))
02-18-2010
sean

Quote:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

I have a day job and I go to the same computer everyday. I have a desktop for regular work and one of our servers next to it for testing. Here I work on web-apps (Java back-end, Flex front-end). I have a little home office, and I try to stay regular on hobby projects and the occasional free-lance job.

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2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

I sit in a room 'bench'-type desks down either side. 4-5 people to a room.

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3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

It varies. I started out being the only person working on my project, to having a team of 4 guys working under me, and it's fluctuated since then.

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4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

The first version of our project took a year and a half, the second version was started a few weeks ago and is expected to be done in the next 3 months - that can vary a lot. But your projects are broken down into very small tasks, such as features, etc... I try break tasks down so that each task finished leaves the project in a stable state, and try and finish 8 or so tasks each day - but that varies with the tasks.

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5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

My project involves adapting a massive amount of code that was written by long-lost programmers, with some very unique style choices. Just learning about it has been the hardest thing. It's my understanding that working with other people's code is typically up-there on everyone's list. Also, the ability to work with very different personality types is helpful. Sometimes that can be very hard.

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6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

I work at a very low-pressure organization. Deadlines exist, but if they're missed it's no big deal. I'm very self-disciplined and I push myself to go faster and perform better - and I actually feel uncomfortable at times that it isn't typical. There are several managers, but their personalities vary, and we're really only responsible to our particular manager.
02-18-2010
Mad_guy

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick753

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

Yes. I'm salaried and work 9-5 every day (and no more! people died to give us the 8 hour day so I believe we should respect that gift.) I currently write data backup software.

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2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

I work out of a 2 story house that's essentially been turned into an office - 9 programmers, 2 rooms, there are 7 people in my room.

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3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Varies from project to project. Most things we do things solo (bug fixes/features etc,) other times major things may need to be handled by 2 people concurrently.

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4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

Bug fixes vary from killing of them 20 a day to battling one insane one for a week; it's extremely variable sometimes. Projects can vary from a few days, to several weeks, to perhaps multi-month ordeals.

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5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

I just got done with a two-month project a while ago, that involved parsing/analyzing NTFS file system structures directly off disk. It was kind of difficult considering it's undocumented, but I've generally learned not to worry. No matter how insane some things may seem, you'll come out alive at the end of it. The task will eventually get done.

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6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

Schedules @ work are fairly lax. We can delay deadlines freely if need be, because a lot of our work is sometimes very difficult and it moves very fast. Some places are different, but we focus a lot on our software, because we sell our software. So we're willing to take extra time to make sure it's done right rather than push it out.
02-18-2010
MK27

Sometimes it can be quite stressful I guess ;)

Who is Joe Stack? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Quote:

"If you're reading this," the note begins, "you're no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?' The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time."

IMO he should have waited to get a bigger plane.

(Just heard this on the news while reading the thread :p -- In all honesty interesting responses from all, thanks.)
02-18-2010
VirtualAce

Quote:

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

One company and yes I have my own cubicle. I work on the kind of programs that run on a computer. :)

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2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

Cubicle. I'm surrounded by my fellow team members in our area of the 'cube farm.' The cubicles are pretty large and allow us to interact with one another but they do not open us up to the entire area which is nice.

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3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Depends on the problem. Design is definitely a group process but implementation is usually one person. However we often do peer programming for complex tasks much like you find in the Agile development process. We have code review meetings as well as code reviews at our desks. Everyone is generally amicable about them. You don't want to be a jerk to someone for a mistake they made b/c it will probably be your mistake the next time. I would never say we work 'alone' b/c all changes are verified and approved by the team. Alone is bad.

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4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

Most range from 3 months to a year or more.

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5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

Learning the code lines and graphics development.

We overcome these hurdles and more as a group. We do not have the option of something being difficult enough to warrant throwing in the towel. You find a way to make it work no matter what it takes. Usually it requires a lot of research, a lot of questions to the right people, and a lot of prototypes. Google is a great source as well. At any one time I'm usually in the process of reading and referencing 4 or 5 books.

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6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

There are certainly deadlines. However if the project has been thought out well enough the deadlines are realistic enough to be able to meet them. Oversight is managed as a group through reviews and meetings. Pressure can range from little to none to fairly extreme. Bugs in released code are definitely 'extreme' cases and must be fixed ASAP but are rare due to a good QA dept.
02-18-2010
cpjust

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubba

I'm in graphics development and that's about all I can say.
[...]
Our code runs 24/7/365 and is always 'live' so there isn't a lot of room for downtime on our systems

So I'm guessing you're working on one of those live multi-player online games?
02-18-2010
VirtualAce

Quote:

So I'm guessing you're working on one of those live multi-player online games?

Sorry I removed a lot from my post b/c it was too long. I'm not at liberty to discuss what I work on.
02-18-2010
Mario F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpjust

So I'm guessing you're working on one of those live multi-player online games?

Mind you, there's a sizable number of other situations where you can expect to see rendering to be a 24/7 operation. Cinema, TV and the military come to mind. Weather analysis and forecasting, satellite imagery, or media CG, being some of possible applications.

One of the coolest 3D applications I've seen, outside the world of games, was just recently in fact, when visiting a packaging/expedition line. Their entire line (and a rather complex one since they ship to about any country in Europe) is controlled by a central server. One of the applications is a 3D model of the entire large-warehouse-size line which allows the operator to move and zoom to any part of it down to the detail of a bolt. Any problems in the line are warned there, of course. But the coolest bit is that the codebar readers assembled on the line are also attached to the system and the objects traveling over the line are faitfully rendered... a good 1 thousand of them at any time. It runs 24/7/365
02-18-2010
brewbuck

Let me preface by saying that I won't reveal what precisely it is that I do (I can't) and I will not mention who I work for (I don't want to), so don't ask. Having said that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick753

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

Yes, same company, same desk, same computer every day. I always work on the same product.

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2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

Cubicle, but the walls are very high and it's much larger than other cubicles I've seen. I used to have my own office at a previous company, but the switch to a cubicle wasn't distressing. It makes me feel more in contact with the rest of the team.

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3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

I function within a group of 6 programmers and 6 QA engineers. That's a 1 to 1 ratio. That NEVER happens. I'm spectacularly lucky to have that. We interact almost continuously, but the programming activity itself is mostly individual (i.e. no team programming for the most part).

However, our group does have contact with other people in the organization, and I have a work-related conversation with somebody from a different group on an almost daily basis.

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4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

Generally, development of the product occurs over a year-long time span, but we may do intermediate releases during that period of time. I can't express what I work on in terms of "programs." The work I do is ongoing.

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5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

The major difficulty is the relationship with our primary customer. It is not a run-of-the-mill business relationship. In several important ways, the customers are our bosses. For instance, if we want to make a certain enhancement to our product, it must be approved and budgeted by the customer. This generates tension at times, because there are things we want to do for internal, engineering reasons (to make our own lives easier) which the customer has no interest in.

As far as difficult programming tasks, the most difficult aspect of my job is reverse engineering and debugging software which is outside our control. Problems with printer driver X interacting with strange third party application Y to cause problem Z, but only when running on platform W? It's my job to figure it out and fix it. Often I will end up patching binary modules to eliminate these sorts of problems. A few weeks ago I had to change something inside Photoshop.

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6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

There are deadlines, and they are very solid. We can slip a deadline if we can present a very good explanation to the customer. Our team has no single boss. There is a development manager and a QA manager who provide guidance and prioritization. Both of these managers actively participate in the work (the dev manager does development, the QA manager does testing, just like the rest of us.) In addition to that there is a dedicated business person we meet with on a daily basis.

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Any of these questions being answered would really be appreciated. I am really curious as to what it's like to be a software engineer for a living and if you would rather have chosen something else now that you know what t's like. Thanks!

I would not want to do anything else, unless it involves brewing beer.
02-18-2010
zacs7

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewbuck

I would not want to do anything else, unless it involves brewing beer.

Wait... after all these "Car vs Software" analogies, you wouldn't be a mechanic? :)

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Any of these questions being answered would really be appreciated. I am really curious as to what it's like to be a software engineer for a living and if you would rather have chosen something else now that you know what t's like. Thanks!

Although I'm still studying to be an SE. There's nothing else I'd choose, since the field is so wide... even studying it isn't boring! (Mostly). You could always pick up another profession, and apply what you learnt as an SE.
02-19-2010
novacain

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Originally Posted by nick753

1. Do you work for one company and go to the same computer everyday? (If so what types of programs are you writing for that one company all the time?)

I spend 20% of my time on-site (in the outback usually). I get to drive around dirt tracks in a big 4WD, play with huge vehicles and work in 50C heat.
Is a good break from the office / workshop I spend the rest of my time in.

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Originally Posted by nick753

2. Do you sit in an office? Or is it more like a cubicle with several other people around?

At the office I am in a cube farm with the 4 juniors in my team (so I can keep an eye on them).

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Originally Posted by nick753

3. Do you mostly work in a group with other programmer? Or do you work alone?

Both. I assign tasks to the juniors and make sure they get done. I design the system and write the harder code.

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Originally Posted by nick753

4. How long do most "projects" take? Do you write 1 or 2 programs a day? Or 1 or 2 programs a month?

A new small piece of functionality could take an hour or two.
A new full system can take up to a year.
I work on multiple projects at the same time, mostly a few months intensive work, then a day ot two for support and new features here and there.

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Originally Posted by nick753

5. What are some of the most difficult tasks that you've had to face? How did you overcome them? (did you ever have to write something that was too difficult and couldn't do it)?

My job is to overcome any issues I, my team or my clients find.

Does the deadly snake I discovered under my trackside equipment after I had started removing it count?
Having the same site struck by lightning twice in a month (doing US$70k in damage)?
Having to install WiFi network in one site as the 20m industrial grade CAT5 cable only lasted a month or two due to the constant vibration of the building (it is hell on earth that coal dumping facility).

Working with IPCs located 100s of Kms from the nearest person, often in heavy haul vehicles that never stop, in conditions that kill a standard PC (and you) in hours is not easy (but is fun).

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Originally Posted by nick753

6. What is the pressure level like? Is there some "Master Software engineer" who is your boss who comes to work everyday just to make sure you guys are getting things done on time? Are there deadlines?

I get paid to handle the pressure and get the job done before the deadlines.

My boss and I bounce ideas/bugs off each other and experiment until we find a solution, otherwise I am the master.....
02-19-2010
DavidP

Quote:

Who is Joe Stack? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Some of us were able to see the scene from our office window.
02-19-2010
Daved

My answers are similar to everybody else's, but I'll give them anyway...

1. I work for a company, drive to our office everyday, and work in front of my computer (except for days when I work from home, on which I use my work issued laptop to remotely connect to the computer in my office). I work on a desktop software application.

2. We all used to have cubicles, but several years ago moved to an office building with offices around the outside and cubicles in the middle. We have a lot fewer people than we used to, so nobody uses the cubicles. There are 1-2 people in each office. I share one of the larger rooms with another co-worker.

3. Multiple people work on our project (including people outside the country), but most of my time is spent on my own. We meet daily in a conference room or over the phone or skype to talk about things, and often go to each other's offices or use instant messaging and email to ask questions or discuss things.

4. I've been working on the same "program" for nearly 10 years. We just add features and fix bugs on it. Some features are almost like separate programs, and those usually take several weeks to several months to complete. I'd consider each release to be a "project", and we release 2-3 times a year.

5. I often have had tasks that were too difficult that I did not do. Usually "too difficult" means too difficult and time consuming to complete in the time we have before we release the next version, or more effort is involved than is worth it for the benefits of the feature or fix. Difficult tasks that I've overcome often involve working on something I'm not familiar with. For example, new databases or database features we must support need to be researched and understood. In addition, simply coming up with an elegant solution to a problem that fixes the current problem but also leaves the code in a state that is consistent and can be modified again in the future tends to be a common difficulty that needs to be tackled. It is too easy to simply try to fix something to make it work now, without considering other fixes that are more correct and will make the code stronger going forward.

6. The pressure depends a lot on your own personality. There are people in my office who stress about pressure constantly. I personally rarely feel pressure (except in cases where my own failures or slowness have contributed to a bad outcome and I feel like I must make up for that). For most of my tenure here, we've had a manager who keeps track of our progress on things and only very rarely mentions if things need to move more quickly. There are deadlines, but the management on my team tends to be super flexible, so the pressure isn't necessarily there. There are times when schedules are made and when programmers are behind on the schedule they feel pressure to get back on track (although again that depends on the person). Most of the time the managers absorb the pressure coming from higher up in the company, although we've had some that have done better at that than others. Technically, now I could be considered one of those engineers that keeps track of others' progress. I'd like to think I don't put any pressure on them other than to do their best, but they seem to get worried anyway.

I am very happy with my life as a software engineer, and can't think of a job I'd like much more than this one. I got lucky to work with a decent company and a great group of people that fit well with my personality and style, but I still think I would enjoy myself in most places. The work itself is generally fun and interesting. I think I'd probably be happy in any line of work (a lot of your job satisfaction depends on things that have nothing to do with the career field), but this one is as good as any.
02-19-2010
cpjust

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Originally Posted by brewbuck

I would not want to do anything else, unless it involves brewing beer.

But then you'd have to change your username to 'brewbeer'. :D