Software Development Engineer 

(Male, Age 26) from Redmond, WA

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Male aged 26 who works as a Software Development Engineer in Redmond, WA. 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 Development Engineer
Salary $90,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 50
Company Size (not answered)
Location Redmond, WA
Years Experience 3 months

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.
I work for a staffing agency contracting for a a very large software firm dealing in all levels and types of software and hardware products. I also consult for a small consumer electronics company on user interface development

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
In my work, I review, advise, and fix issues within the code for graphical front ends for a future business product in research.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
Paid holidays, sick, and vacation leave. Full medical and dental

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
Well compensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I interact with members of the team daily to discuss design changes and potential issues. I do like this time as it ensures collaboration.

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.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 2
Benefits: 3
Hours: 4
Co-Workers: 7
Supervisors: 6
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 5
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 Sleep
8am to 9am Morning prep and commute
9am to 10am I checked my inbox for any important emails and found none. I also checked the status of all bugs assigned to me and read updates on their status. The issues were several minor changes and one large change to the name of the product as a whole.
10am to 11am I return to the task I was working on the day before, fixing odd behavior from a single check box. Once the item is finished, I move on to the next minor item and set up a system to reproduce the issues seen, causing a crashing error. I find the source of the error.
11am to 12pm After gathering all information about the state of the program when the error occurs, I come up with an idea to fix the issue and put it in place. The issue no longer reproduces, so I test a few related items to make sure nothing was broken in the process. It appears complete, so I submit the fix to the test team for in depth testing.
12pm to 1pm I repeat the earlier process for another problem, settings up a way to reproduce it. I begin to trace back to where the problem lies before a lunch break.
1pm to 2pm In a meeting with management, we discuss the pending issues, and assess their severity. Various items are thrown out as nonissues, a few are sent to me to investigate or fix.
2pm to 3pm I quickly reproduce and fix a couple of minor text related issues and submit them to the test team again.
3pm to 4pm The large rebranding of the product begins, requiring sweeping yet trivial code changes. I carefully go through the entire code set and make the minor changes. I then proceed to test by just using the program as any standard user would while watching that the branding had been applied everywhere needed.
4pm to 5pm I submit my change to the test team again for further testing. I move on to another issue which requires a more ornate set of reproduction steps. I am unable to reproduce the issue and instead try to determine where this issue might arise in the code and why. I communicate with my coworker this issue and we plan to meet to discuss further details of reproduction.
5pm to 6pm Commute home
6pm to 7pm Clean house
7pm to 8pm Clean house
8pm to 9pm Eat dinner, begin watching movie.
9pm to 10pm Watch movie.
10pm to 11pm Read various web articles.
11pm to 12am Sleep

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
Internet

What was the application process?
Resume

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
The interview required a phone interview to establish basic understanding and assess character. A second interview involved multiple individual interviews to test knowledge and discuss potential job scenarios.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
Specific technical questions and sets of scenarios.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, I was provided with all the tools I needed.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
No

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, it gave me the foundation to easily adapt to my job’s requirements.

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

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Have a solid educational foundation and be able to represent yourself properly. Be confident, vigilant, and show that you have a nack for things outside the field.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Technical skills are most important, but people skills can be a rarity in the field. If you can keep ego at bay and show you are able to constructively and calmly debate issues, you will have a leg up above most.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Experience is most important, but education gives proof of capability

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Make sure you have a solid educational foundation. If you do not, make sure you are able to overcompensate with examples and experience to prove that education is not a factor.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
It is part of my career plan as I wish to continue work in UI development.

What are your current career goals?
I hope to continue developing front end software and eventually find work in the gaming and entertainment business.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?

Prior work history

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

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 UI Developer 6 months 65000 Developing front ends for various customer service applications for mobile phones.
Prior Job 2 Software Development Engineer 6 months 60000 Assessing and fixing high impact issues with a major enterprise software suite.

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
3 Cal State Sacramento BS Computer Engineering
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)

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