Briefly describe your job.
I am a software designer. My job is to interface with customers in order to understand the requirements for any specific application, I then translate these requirements into a document which I will later use to generate the software the customers need.

How long have you been working in this field?
I have been in this field for 24 years.

When and how did you decide to choose this career?
I was during my second year of college, this was in the late 70’s and software engineering was a very lucrative field to get into. I started my career in software engineering as an intern in Bell Laboratories where my first assignment was to work in the software you now know as E-mail.

What education and training did you receive before entering your field?
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. Most of the job specific knowledge I learned on the job. In most careers it is important to constantly update your knowledge base to keep up with the current technologies. Most companies will provide training for their engineers.

How did you begin OR What was your first job in the field?
My first job in the field after my summer internship in Bell Laboratories currently Lucent was with Siemens Telecommunication.

Describe a typical day on the job?
This depends on the stage of product development. You might find yourself having meetings to draft the necessary requirements and present them to customers and upper management. Or you might have meetings with your fellow developers to discuss your design or code. Or you might find yourself in the lab testing your code. Sometimes you are working on various products at the same time; this is where your time management skills and prioritization become essential to your success on the job and your health. As you can imagine, you must keep careful notes of your assignments, due dates and expected outputs for your various tasks.

What do you like most about what you do?
I like the multi-tasking environment where I get to do various activities for unrelated projects. There is never a boring moment.

What has been the most rewarding experience so far in your career?
The most rewarding experiences during my career are every time I get to see my software execute and perform the tasks is meant to do.

What do you like least about your job?
In software engineering, the final product is always a bit different to the original designed specified in the documentation. This is due to technical issues and sometimes event due to customers changing their requirements after the implementation has started. The least favorite part of my job is updating the original documentation to reflect the actual final design.

What is the biggest challenge for you in this job?
Finding the time to keep myself updated with the latest technologies.

What would you like to say to someone considering this career?
I think software design and development is field of great growth and is very rewarding. The key is to find the area that interests you the most. Because of the nature of software development you can find jobs in all areas. This makes this field very exciting because you can choose your area of interest and then apply your software skills in that area.

What are the most important personal and professional skills necessary to succeed in your field?
Time management and prioritization skills, I think in most fields these skills are keys to success.

What would a person interested in entering this field have to do to get a good job in it?
While you are in college I suggest you get an internship assignment. This will allow you to see if you really like the field and maybe what area of this field you will like to concentrate in.