An Introduction to Professional Software Development

What is it really like to write software for a living? How do you spend your days? What skills best correlate with success? Read on to find out more- the answers may surprise you!

When I speak to people who don’t program for a living, they often think of a programmer as some kind of lone wolf, slinging byte-code in a windowless basement, fingers speeding over their backlit keyboard, with the green light of their terminal window reflecting in their glasses. That’s a pretty decent summary of how Hollywood usually portrays programmers, but it doesn’t have much to do with writing code for a living. So, what exactly is a software engineer, what’s it like to be a professional software developer and what skills will have the biggest impact on your success?

What does a software engineer do?

You’ll usually turn up to your office and catch up on some emails and slack messages before kicking off the day with “stand up.” In a standup, the team gets together and shares what they did yesterday, what they’re working on today and any blockers that are stopping them from getting their projects finished. Standups usually runs less than 10 minutes and they’re a great way to get a sense for what the team is doing, to share hints and tips with your team and to ensure that if you’re blocked, someone will…