Senior Software Engineer 

(Male, Age 28) from Sacramento, CA

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Male aged 28 who works as a Senior Software Engineer in Sacramento, CA. 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 Senior Software Engineer
Salary $70,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 55
Company Size (not answered)
Location Sacramento, CA
Years Experience 2 years

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.
My company is a worldwide company with over 125,000 employees, at last count. This company provides technology consultant services to all industries.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I lead an end user test support team. I coordinate with the end users to perform testing on the application software. I maintain the environment and testing schedule and resolve all issues encountered by the end users.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
17 days vacation, health and dental insurance, 401k

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
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.
Yes, my job entails that I coordinate with end users almost everyday, as well as my team members. I dislike meeting with end users as they are very demanding.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?

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.
I work with my team members to identify and resolve any issues that are encountered by the end users.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 1
Benefits: 6
Hours: 4
Co-Workers: 7
Supervisors: 8
Job Title: 5
Level of Responsibility: 2
The Actual Work: 3

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 Sent out daily email to end users at 6:30am notifying them the required batch jobs (automated processing of data) were run successfully and testing can begin for the day. Monitored environment from home, via VPN connection to the project. No issues reported by users.
8am to 9am Attended daily conference call at 8:30am to discuss any issues encountered by the end users. There was one issue encountered where the users were unsure about the display on a page.
9am to 10am I checked with the application developer and business analyst and confirmed the page is displaying correctly and emailed the end user.
10am to 11am I compiled reports for my immediate supervisor, project managers, and development leads concerning the count of the tasks and forms generated by the application from the batch run.
11am to 12pm I resolved several issues from the end users. This entailed viewing the issue in the application, looking up software use cases to verify the application is functioning correctly, and responding to the end users the results of my findings.
12pm to 1pm Lunch.
1pm to 2pm Discussion with team members concerning the breakdown of assignments. Confirmed that the automation regression suite (testing of existing functionality of the application through specialized software that executes and records the results) is nearing completion.
2pm to 3pm I reviewed the schedule for the next round of testing and confirmed that the activities assigned to all teams, including mine, to prepare the environment for the next round of testing is accurate.
3pm to 4pm Received a call from the users about a possible defect with the application. I quickly reviewed the script and re-executed the steps and verified that it was not an issue with the application, but with the script. Called the end user and notified them of the script error and that they can continue with the rest of the script.
4pm to 5pm Testing completed at 4:10 with no other issues. Prepared the environment for tonight’s regular scheduled run of batch jobs. Quickly reviewed the assignments of team members who created the files to be used for tonight’s batch run. Sent notification to batch operations team that script execution was complete and the scheduled daily batch schedule can begin executing.
5pm to 6pm N/A
6pm to 7pm Logged into work, via VPN, and verified the batch run is still running and it is currently processing the correct records.
7pm to 8pm N/A
8pm to 9pm N/A
9pm to 10pm Logged into work, via VPN and verified the daily batch run is complete. Verified the correct records were processed and script execution can begin tomorrow.
10pm to 11pm N/A
11pm to 12am N/A

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
Internet

What was the application process?
electronic application with resume, face to face job interview, phone interview.

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes. There were two face to face interviews with project and team leads regarding development and testing methodologies. After the face to face interviews were completed, there was a phone interview with a HR representative. A job offer was extended at the end of the phone interview.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
What did you do at your last job? Did you supervise/lead any teams. Describe the purpose of regression testing.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, although there was no training, my previous work was in a similiar field.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
N/A

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, I had a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and development/testing of applications for business purposes is the type of work I expected.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
N/A

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Be ready to work hard. Brush up on communication skills. Be willing to stand firm. Be confident and know that you have something to offer.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
For social skills, Be patient and willing to compromise. Have a good natured personality is a plus. For organization skills, you must very organized. Take detailed notes and review all schedules, charts, and meeting notes. For technical skills, beginning Java knowledge and middle level SQL skills are required.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Be ready to work hard. Be ready to work overtime. Always complete your assignments on time or document any issues that prevent completion of your assignments. Always go above and beyond on what is required by your supervisors and always let them be aware of the work that you do.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes. My career goals are to work up the corporate ladder in my field and become a senior executive in my company. I am progressing in my goals. I was initially hired as a team member in a part of a team and I was promoted and now lead up a team.

What are your current career goals?
Continued promotion and recognition of my work.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
It is ideal for college graduates who do not have plans to have children for a while. There is a lot of overtime, but good work and hard work will be recognized. It will put you on a path towards advancement.

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Quality Assurance Analyst 2 years 32000 Testing of application software.
Prior Job 2 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3.84

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
3.29 California State Universitey, Sacramento Bachlor of Science in MIS
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)
N/A N/A N/A

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