Q&A With a Software Engineer
Starts
This is a session I offer periodically to answer questions about life as a software engineer. It's probably of most interest to those in high school considering a degree/career in software and those in college pursuing computer science.
Note that this is just a Q&A about being a software engineer – it does not include coding, homework help, etc.
I'll give a short background on my time as a software engineer (20+ years) and then will answer questions from the group about my experiences in the profession and what life has been like as a software engineer. I’ll ask an attendee to share a question verbally or in chat, then after discussing that question, I’ll ask for a question from the next attendee, repeating that process for the remainder of the session. We’ll probably cover somewhere between 15 and 25 questions over the course of the session, and every attendee will have multiple opportunities to ask questions.
You don’t need to bring anything except questions you’d like to discuss, which I’d encourage you to send to me in advance.
I'd like audience questions to drive the discussion, but here are some example questions that I can answer, if requested, during the session:
* What’s a typical day like?
* Who decides what a product looks like (i.e. designs the UI)?
* Does someone review your code?
* Do you work alone or with others?
* What do you do if you need help?
* How’s work/life balance?
* How do you learn new skills?
* Do you do pair programming?
* What do you look for when hiring?