Software Engineer II
(Male, Age 27) from Bedford, TX
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Male aged 27 who works as a Software Engineer II in Bedford, TX. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Software Engineer II |
|---|---|
| Salary | $58,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | 50 |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Bedford, TX |
| Years Experience | 1 year |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
Fortune 500 company that specializes in medical devices.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Design, develop and implement software. Work with a team of people to meet goals and deadlines. Travel to customer sites occasionally to assist with installations.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
401k, healthcare, dental, vision, FSA for healthcare, reimbursed tuition for continuing education
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
slightly under compensated
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
Not everyday. We have products to develop and during that time there is a lot of team work and meetings to discuss progress/problems. Other days I can work from home entirely – remotely accessing the office computer. It just depends what’s on the table. I don’t mind working with people, some days it can be frustrating when interruptions hinder your ability to accomplish your tasks.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
We work in an office with cubicles, pretty standard. I have two huge LCD monitors and 2-3 computers at my desk at any given time. I sit near the people on my “team” – I like the location, its an office. As I mentioned we can on occasion work from home.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 3
Benefits: 2
Hours: 4
Co-Workers: 8
Supervisors: 6
Job Title: 5
Level of Responsibility: 7
The Actual Work: 1
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | Wake up at 6:30AM, leave for work by 7:15AM. Drive approximately 35 minutes to get to work. Check emails to catch any immediate or urgent changes from yesterday. Check emails to catch anything that I’ve been notified is “broken.” Check for meeting changes, announcements, cancellations. |
| 8am to 9am | Team meeting from 8AM-9AM. Discuss goals, trouble shoot, basically a temperature check to see where people are at and what their plan is for that day. New assignments are also made at the meeting. |
| 9am to 10am | Typically, the bulk of the day starts here. Starting at 9AM, I start working on the projects I have slated for the day. Usually the projects I’m working on are long term and have slow payback in terms of progress on the overall system. I’m also responsible for timely fixes to any bugs in our software products that are assigned to me. What exactly I’m doing each day changes all the time, running between programming, designing, bug fixing, requirements gathering and supporting the technical support team as necessary with existing customers. |
| 10am to 11am | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 11am to 12pm | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 12pm to 1pm | Anywhere between noon and 1PM lunch starts. Usually a packed lunch I’ve taken or a quick take out to keep working. Sometimes a longer lunch is taken with other members of the development team. Lunch usually lasts for around half an hour if eaten at the desk while working, or an hour plus if out with the team. |
| 1pm to 2pm | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 2pm to 3pm | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 3pm to 4pm | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 4pm to 5pm | SEE FROM 9AM -10 AM. |
| 5pm to 6pm | Close up shop. Make sure that all the issues brought for the day are taken care of, all problems have been resolved, and going over the following day’s work to make sure I have a handle on what is going on. |
| 6pm to 7pm | 6pm leave work. Arrive home 6:30 – 6:45 depending on traffic. |
| 7pm to 8pm | Home with family. |
| 8pm to 9pm | Home with family. |
| 9pm to 10pm | Home with family. |
| 10pm to 11pm | Home with family. |
| 11pm to 12am | Home with family, hopefully sleeping. |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
internet (HotJobs, Monster, Careerbuilder, Dice, etc)
What was the application process?
I was contacted by a recruiter from my resume online
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
The interview process was very detailed. There were 3 different interviews with the company and then an additional interview with a Gallup agency.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
I was asked some technical programming questions, how to resolve some issues, there was a technical interview to gauge my knowledge as well as several interviews to weigh my personality to see if it would be a fit with the company.
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes and no. I came in during a huge high pressure project so they really couldn’t spare the man hours to have people train me. (The people that would need to train me were wrapped into this project) so it was more “learn as you go”
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Not really. Not formal training. As I had questions I would ask. I started with small things that I understood and knew coming in and I slowly started to gather more and take a swing at more.
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, but experience using the languages is also vital
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
Definitely helped prepare me – as I mentioned its the experience that really gives you confidence and more skills.
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Have at least a bachelors of science in computer science. Keep up to date on programming languages. Work on open source projects at home to build your resume and to keep your programming fresh.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
problem solving, analytical skills, technical skills, the ability to learn and apply knowledge.
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
yes it helps greatly to have your degree in this field
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Coding is like a foreign language. Practice, practice, practice. Everyone makes mistakes when they code – just fix them and move on.
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes it is because it’s helping build my experience as a software engineer, as well as paying for continuing education.
What are your current career goals?
My goal is to establish some longevity in my career history by staying at this current company a few years. I am taking the GRE in a few weeks to continue my education and complete my masters. Since my company will reimburse for it AND it makes me more valuable in the job market – it’s a no brainer.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
It’s fairly strong in demand, especially if you learn the specifics behind the medical world – since there is so much growth in the medical world. But in general, as long as you have a strong grounding in all of the computer science theory, you can get a job easily in almost any field.
Prior work history
Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:
| Title | Length | Salary | Description | |
| Prior Job 1 | Software Engineer | 9 months | 48000 | Coding, working with a team to meet goals, building onto current designs and helping clean up code issues. |
| Prior Job 2 | Software Engineer | 9 months | 30000 | Create new templated websites to customer specifications, maintaining a mid-size content management system. Developing new products. |
Educational background
Please list your educational background:
High School GPA:3.7
| GPA | School | Degree | |
| College (Undergraduate) or Technical/Vocational |
3.8 | Kent State | Bachelors of Science |
| Graduate or Professional (Masters or Doctorate) |
n/a | n/a | n/a |
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