7 Key Reflections on a Career in Software Engineering
Stay fresh and excited, know your value, but keep on moving.
1 : Do What You Love
First of all I’d like to say if you’re in software engineering for any other reason than you love computers, solving problems, and jumping our of your chair when a program eventually compiles then you should sit back and carefully consider your life choices thus far.
If you’re cutting and pasting code without understanding what it does, thinking about how many hours are left in the day before you can go home, or staring blankly at a screen wondering what time it is — you’re in the wrong game.
Software engineering is a challenging discipline and that’s what makes it special — it’s the smile slowly creeping across your face without you knowing it when you solve a problem, it’s the moment why someone wrote an algorithm in this way finally clicks inside your brain, it’s the pushing back of boundaries by creating something utterly new to solve a problem.
That said, I have some advice for fledgling software engineers fresh out of college, those with a few years experience and wondering what to do next, or perhaps those who’re in a bit of a rut because they made a few bad calls along the way.
