The Realities of Software Engineering
Hi,
I will start this post out by saying that I’m not an expert in Software Engineering. I have just under 5 years of experience (I’ll be 27 in May of 2023). Though, I work with some extremely intelligent people that have been coding for decades. My biggest regret is not learning to code earlier. Nonetheless, I wanted to share what I learned in the past 5 years and why I believe it’s such an awesome career path.
Pros of Software Engineering:
Flexible Work Schedule ( I can work almost any hours as I want per day as long as I finish the week with 40 hours.)
Remote Work ( I work 100% from home.)
The pay ( I make 141,000 USD which is about 103,000 USD after tax per year.)
The benefits ( 5% 401k match from my employer, low healthcare premium, and company equity. This puts my total compensation closer to 150,000 USD not including company equity which depends on what the company IPOs at.)
The work ( I work for a tech startup. I chose to work for this company specifically for their mission.)
Parental leave (Though the company I work for is below industry standard I still believe it is decent. We get 1 month at 100% pay plus up to 6 months at 67% pay.)
Tuition Reimbursement ( The company I work for paid for my Master’s Degree which was about 30,000 USD)
Cons of Software Engineering:
High levels of responsibility ( When I deploy code, it’s expected to work perfectly. If it doesn’t, I am expected to address the issues immediately.)
Technology changes ( You’re expected to pick up new programming languages and frameworks at the drop of a hat.)
Learning to code is hard ( I failed my intro to programming course and still struggle to this day with some programming concepts because I’m not a genius.)
As I said above, learning to code is hard so I will put some resources here to help you get started if you’re interested in learning how to code:
For understanding the most basic coding concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-k-iTUMQAY
A full course on the basic of coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjov-2OZ0E
I believe Python is the best programming language for beginners. It’s actually quite similar to the English language.
Lastly, I don’t think coding bootcamps are worth it. They’re overpriced and don’t give you good coding foundations (in my opinion).
Even though I am a Software Engineer, I would like to remind you that I failed my Intro to Programming course and almost quit pursuing Software Engineering entirely because of that. So if I can do it, anyone can. The biggest reason why people don’t pursue a career in Software Engineering is because learning to code is difficult but if you can stick it out, it will be well worth it.
I am so blessed to work a job I love in the comfort of my home. I truly want to encourage other people to pursue a similar career path (even if it’s not exactly Software Engineering).I hope this blog post helped you if you’ve been considering a career in tech. If you have any questions about it, I’d be happy to answer them!
Thanks for reading.
An important note:
141,000 USD is below industry average for my years of experience and education (I have a Masters Degree). I believe a fair compensation for me would be closer to 160,000 USD. Though, this number will vary from state to state and company to company.
