I Work Full Time in the Tech Field (Software) - AMA!

amother

Gold

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 12:42 pm

I hate to burst the bubble here.

I do hiring for my company, and I find that this field is being so encouraged right now. As a result, there are so many post sem girls who are desperate for their first job that they wont get. Theyre just not cut out for development work - it doesnt match their skill set, and is a complete mismatch!

I agree that its a great field, but it has to be a fit. You may end up getting a job, but you'll probably be capped.

amother

Buttercup

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 1:03 pm

amother [ Gold ] wrote:

As someone in the field for a while, I disagree. Why is a post-sem girl looking for a first job? Should be a post-college girl. And after going through a real college program, generally a student can intuit if it's a good fit for them. If they can succeed in all their coursework and internship (generally required to graduate), then in most cases they do have the skills.

amother

Gold

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 2:23 pm

amother [ Buttercup ] wrote:

I agree to your point, those who take are committed to completing a college degree in development are much better prepared and likely to succeed.

However, IME many - if not most - girls are taking courses, not proper college degrees.

amother

Wheat

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 3:34 pm

Thanks for this thread, I've finding it very helpful. My dd is currently in a local seminary and taking a coding course or bootcamp. She's really overwhelmed and finding it difficult. I know she can do it but she worries that it's not a good fit for her. How would we know?
She is smart, can work hard. What would Not make her a good fit? So hard to know since everything is so new for her.

Thanks for your advice!

HappyMom321

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 8:41 pm

amother [ Kiwi ] wrote:

For someone who is clueless, what are your day to day activities in this field? you get to work turn on the computer and then what are you doing on the computer all day?

There are so many different areas in tech, so I can't speak for everyone. But for me, as a software developer, I write code most of the time. It's really hard to describe for someone not in the field; it took me a while to understand when I first got to college! Basically, any computer program, application, online service, website, etc is built from code. There is code dictating how it looks, code dictating how you as the user interactive with it, code dictating its functionality, code dictating how the data gets saved and retrieved, etc. So I write code to create those things. There is frontend code for what you see on the screen, backend code for the functionality happening and the connection to the database where the data is saved and fetched from, code for the styling of the user interface, etc. There's also a whole process - I test my code, I review other people's code, I get requirements from the clients for new features of the projects I'm working on....
So during the day I'm either writing code, or something similar to that (like testing, improving performance and efficiently, etc), meeting with my manager, meeting with a coworker (and sometimes coding together on a shared screen), or in a group/team meeting.

amother

Birch

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 9:50 pm

I'm currently in middle of a html/css/bootstrap class.
I'm finding it fascinating, but have a couple of questions.
1. Are there small freelance jobs that I can do to get paid while I practice? If not, are there online projects to do to gain experience? At the moment, my class does not offer that.
2. What area of the field is more open to part time if I'd only want to work part time for the next couple of years (until my kids are older)? I'm finding that I do go into the "zone" with html and css and do enjoy problem solving in general, but am looking to ease in rather than dive in if that makes sense.
3.What pay range per hour can I expect (for part time)?

amother

Nasturtium

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 11:02 pm

Meetings
Documentation
Design
Debugging
Testing
And coding.

It’s great for ppl who like puzzles

For example I’ve been spending the entire week trying to figure out how a file got corrupted while transferring between 2 computers. This file transfers on 100s of ppl machines 1000 times a day. I have logs and data to sift through. It’s frustrating. But when you finally figure it out there is tremendous satisfaction. (I hope I get there soon)

amother

Kiwi

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 11:24 pm

HappyMom321 wrote:

Thanks for explaining. Is it complicated or can you pick it up fairly easily or do you have to have a tech brain?

HappyMom321

Wed, Nov 03 2021, 11:37 pm

amother [ Kiwi ] wrote:

Thanks for explaining. Is it complicated or can you pick it up fairly easily or do you have to have a tech brain?

Hmm.. I'm not actually sure, so it would be good if others can weigh in as well. I would say, to be blunt, that you definitely have to be smart to do a good job at it. It's not like a profession where you just have to know the rules and crunch the numbers - not at all. You have to be able to learn on the job, problem solve, and use creativity to come up with the cleanest and most efficient solution. I would say that I did not have a "tech brain" - I actually enjoyed English and history more as a kid. Because I went the college route (and I would even venture to say because I went the secular college route...) , instead of a boot camp, I think I was taught more of all the theory and math, and it literally changed how I think. That gave me a super strong foundation for actual coding. I would guess that if you're going to a boot camp your thinking might have to be more aligned in this type of way already, before you start, since you'll be learning more practical hands-on coding, and probably for a shorter amount of time. Coding is not something most people can just pick up, because it's not the type of thing you ever learned in your life previously. I feel like many other jobs you've had some exposure to throughout your education... But unless you had coding class in school, this is like learning an entirely new language from the ground up. It's a different way of thinking, and one I would venture to say is more common to men than women. So you definitely have to work hard to learn it.
But, once you learn the fundamentals and understand the basics you have the ability to learn and learn and learn - it's such a vast and constantly advancing field.
But again, maybe someone else will have a different view on this...

amother

Bisque

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 1:02 am

I'll speak for the boot camp/courses. I personally was very tech savvy and somewhat self taught before I started a boot camp - I had built a simple program while in high school. I think that those who have a knack for it don't necessarily need to go the college route. I have a better job and consider myself more skilled than most of my friends who did a full computer science degree.
I'm constantly learning and taking additional courses because I find it fascinating which definitely helps my career.

However - I have found that those who do not enjoy it, do not succeed in the long run. If they're smart enough they can sometimes get a decent job but they burn out quickly. Some of them move to less technical positions such as product/project managers and the skills they've picked up can be useful there.

Regarding HTML/CSS (front end development) yes you can definitely take on freelance work with those skills. Almost every business needs a basic website and you'll learn a lot on the job!

amother

Celeste

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 2:03 am

HappyMom321 wrote:

I agree. I went to secular college and learned history of computing, theory, etc. Not to mention solid years of coding. I feel like I have such a good foundation. I also didn't live in NY/NJ so there's no way I would have gotten my first job 20+ years ago with just a certificate or boot camp degree. Every place I applied to required a college degree.
You also can't really move up to management without a degree. Many hi tech companies will pay for you to get your master's but you still have to arrive with a bachelor's.

amother

Peach

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 4:51 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

Why do you need to know coding to build a webstite? I just made a website for work using squarespace, no coding required at all. If I am not sure how to do something I just google it. (I know I can outsource building a website to someone else, but since I will need to update it anyway, I figured its better to familarise myself with the program).

amother

Bisque

Thu, Nov 04 2021, 12:56 pm

amother [ Peach ] wrote:

You don't need to know how to code, there are plenty of tools out there that let you build a website without writing your own code, but you can also build it yourself.

amother

Kiwi

Sat, Dec 11 2021, 6:58 pm

amother [ Maize ] wrote:

Yeah, the pay and benefits at the large companies is really unbeatable. My husband is a SW engineer and last year moved from a mid sized company to one of the tech giants because the compensation was just so much better (and the benefits are fantastic). The hours are rough though. It’s very flexible but for sure he’s working way over 40 hours a week. We found this website to be accurate for pay bands at the big companies if you’re interested.

https://www.levels.fyi/

the site lists many workers earning more than 300,000 a year for a software engineer at a big company? Is that accurate?