My future as a Software Engineer
29 Aug 2023
Software Engineering was not always known to me as the career choice I wanted to pursue. It took me a long time to understand what Software Engineers do in their day to day. However, through college and learning through internships, I now know that this career is the one I want to pursue. There are three main points on why this career field interests me the most: Technology is growing, creative problem-solving, and life-long learning. These attributes of Software Engineers are essential for a great career and what interests me the most about the profession.
Technology is growing
Software Engineers are at the heart of the growing technology of society. Technology has grown so much during the last 30 years, from physical servers and hosting data to cloud technologies where small businesses can have these technologies to now the era of generative AI and machine learning. These technologies are everchanging and evolving and Software Engineers have to adapt to use these technologies as they grow. And to be at the heart of these growing technologies can be very inspiring and seeing how technology can shape the future of our society.
Creative problem-solving
Another aspect of Software Engineers is the use of creative problem solving. When you are creating software/applications, there is not one way to complete your tasks and that is the beauty of the profession. One of the greatest things about Software Engineering is the use of creative thinking to solve the problems to create technologies. The creation of these applications and software is the combination of art and science. These softwares are built and created, while they have requirements they have to follow, it differs from building a building in which there are physical structure that needs to be followed. While in today’s day and age, there are structures that should be followed to create great applications, this is not necessary to build these types of softwares.
Life-long learning
Finally, Software Engineers are life-long learners. One of the best quotes I heard going through college was: “If you are not learning in this profession, you are falling behind.” This was very impactful to how I percieved Software Engineers because this allowed me to understand how technologies are evolving and Software Engineers have to constantly learn and you have to be in the mindset of a life-long learner. This is a key trait that you need to be a Software Engineer and through my point of view it is a key philosophy to life and keeping your brain exercised.
Skills I hope to develop
Some of the skills I hope to develop during my career is being able to have a speciality in a tech-stack and I can understand all there is to one framework so that I can be an expert in the field. However, I do not want this to be the only thing that I am good at because technologies always are changing, which means that the thing you are an expert at may be phased out and you will have to learn new things.