How is it like to be a Software Engineer

Not a fancy title, but it is more than a job. Veteran developers, for whom it is like flesh and blood, describe it as an Art🎨, art of converting coffee to code., rather than a Job. That's the reason, some people love and master it, while some hustle and bustle to crack the interviews and after getting into the job they lose hope and look for a job change.

Software being the redesigner for everyone's products, business, life, it has one of the jobs that never exhausts. But unfortunately, the people who work at software firms get exhausted.🖥 🕺

Me, from a typical Indian family background, from a non-IIT college, somewhat managed to crack a software interview, not a great deal, which every Tom, Dick, and Harry could have done. But not exposing myself to many technologies during my college days, directly reflected my works during my Internship period at a software tech giant.

The software jobs in India is a kind of work that you can't guess what you are supposed to do. It will be more or less like to live and learn. You have to gain everything from your experience.

If you teach a man, he will never learn. -Bernard Shaw.

So you may think, 😅

But one thing for sure, whatever you learn tonight, will go outdated within 5 to 8 years. Most software jobs in India will not be like to work in cutting edge technologies, applying all your algorithmic, mathematical, and data structural skills. Even Google India doesn't design its products, while it's all designed and created in California. 

You can expect to apply all your school knowledge in startups, where the products are still at a growing level. But grown-up large tech firms would have already build up the product, and most probably you will be working in fixing bugs (at least as a fresher), adding new features (rarely). But the flexibility, culture(in some companies), environment, the workspace can be nowhere found. Every month, you will be excited to see your salary credit message, and that jaw drop closes immediately after seeing the deduction column for tax, Provident funds and for other bells and whistles.

For people seeing software guys from outside seems like they are given a cushioned chair, a lap, and also being paid for chilling, playing carrom, foosball, reading and writing blogs inside the company, like the one I wrote this. No, actually that's not the case.😂

A software job is like a 20/80 rule. 20% of work is done because of 80% of thinking. Software jobs are not like sticking with the keyboard all day. Most of the time, you can find them idle. But that doesn't mean they are not working, they may be waiting for a dependency to get solved, they may be thinking while sipping a coffee, they may be thinking while collaborating(simply chatting to say). You will find pressure if the deadline reaches your cap, and at the same time, you can have your personal work-life balance by doing your own stuff.
It is a mix of many things and everything. Coffee, Code, Parties, Funs, Works, Projects, Backend, Frontend, API, DevOps, Encapsulation, Frameworks.... and the list brain freezes you.

So whatever it may be, software jobs fulfill most of the employment demand of our country and most family's dreams.
And to say,

Everyone wants happiness. No one wants pain. But you can't have a rainbow, without a little rain.

I am Balaji SV.

Ping me here. Know me here