Current Events > Any software engineers on CE?

(+) Yeah! (+)

How difficult is it? How much schooling did you have to go through?

There are dozens of us. Dozens!

Or maybe not lol

Yep. It's boring work. Went for a 4 year degree. Some of the math is hard but the coding came natural to me. Some people really struggled with it

warlock7735 posted...

Yep. It's boring work. Went for a 4 year degree. Some of the math is hard but the coding came natural to me. Some people really struggled with it

I think there are a lot of boring software jobs out there, but there are also a lot of fun ones

like I specifically avoid stuff in the finance and insurance industry because its all its numbers

my previous job was coding for the software on touch-screen exercise equipment; my current job is for a contract engineering firm that develops connected devices. Right now Im designing an app for a Bluetooth connected LED device

Wow, thats interesting. So what degree would help?

dj1200 posted...

Wow, thats interesting. So what degree would help?

I have a bachelors in computer science

Dont really see the need for anything more than that, and I think a lot of places are hiring people with associates or even no degree if they can prove they can code (with like a GitHub account or something)

dj1200 posted...

Wow, thats interesting. So what degree would help?

A degree in computer science or EE Microsystems will probably suffice for a developer job. But even better than degrees are certifications. Degrees rarely impart practical knowledge for programming. You spend much of your time learning how to build shit that's built into one of the libraries you're going to be using.

i work as a machine leaning software eng... in the past i was a data scientist, so for my domain typically you want a MS or higher in computer science, electrical engineering, physics, statistics, etc.

also if you want to make the big bucks (not $100-150k) expect school/work prestige to have an impact on what kind of opportunities are afforded to you

oh yeah i've also been a pure software eng and also web dev in the past

i feel like i understand coding but i couldnt be a coder as my main job. im a problem solver but not in the way software engineers are. i'd write a powershell/python script to automate a task but if you gave me some complex math equation or something i couldnt code it out because i suck at math. im also not artistically inclined so i wouldnt be a good web dev even though thats more functional in nature unless i landed a job that didnt deal with the front end at all

Kloe_Rinz posted...

i feel like i understand coding but i couldnt be a coder as my main job. im a problem solver but not in the way software engineers are. i'd write a powershell/python script to automate a task but if you gave me some complex math equation or something i couldnt code it out because i suck at math. im also not artistically inclined so i wouldnt be a good web dev even though thats more functional in nature unless i landed a job that didnt deal with the front end at all

There are lots of jobs for people who can write python scripts, and math is not inherently part of every coding job

yeah i'm one at a FANG tier. I only minored in CS, but I went to a top 5 school so it didn't really matter to recruiters. I took all of the core classes and the rigorous upper divs such as OS, compilers, algos, etc. But honestly, in the grand scheme of things, these classes don't really matter for getting a job and on the job work. I mean yea it's nice to know, but it's not really practical, and you can learn these concepts at a surface level and be fine. The most important thing is leetcode. And for on the job work, the most important thing is communication and understanding that you're writing code that will eventually be read by someone else and modified (for the most part, that's also a skill you need to know as a senior engineer, understanding the product use case as it pertains to engineering design); so DRY, reusability, effective communication, well documented code, and as you grow well written architectural designs and project scoping. All of the math and algo concepts have long been solved and abstracted away in libraries for 99.9% of SW positions.

WalkingLobsters posted...

The most important thing is leetcode.

yeah its also important to remember that if you want a FAANG job you have to memorize a bunch of useless nonsense that has no real practical application to the day to day of programming

If you give me a formula. I can convert it to code. But if I have to make a formula up myself? Uh....no.

i just have a bachelor's in cs. did a semester in grad school (and a year or so in research) but dropped out due to severe anxiety for a variety of reasons.

very little luck in my job search with just a degree and research creds; it wasn't until i did a startup internship for a yearish that prospective employers began to consider me a worthy candidate.

my day job is currently in ecommerce leveraging much the same skillset i had in high school / college (lamp full-stack mostly, but with some additional cloud computing and infosec credentials picked up in the industry) while moonlighting with more bleeding-edge skills/technologies in blockchain-oriented development.

kinda torn between tenure-grade job security and flexibility at my current employer and significantly higher income prospects in blockchain/wev3, where i'm under increasing pressure to go into full-time.