What I do for a living
I've got a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical
Engineering, with a minor in Philosophy, so, of course, I'm a
Software Engineer.
Ever since I built my first computer at the age of twelve, I
knew that whatever I wound up doing as a career, I'd be using
computers and my programming skills to create the tools I needed
for my 'real' job. I really never expected that writing software
would become my real job, but that's how it turned out. While
killing time in grad school, working on a Masters in Mechanical
Engineering, I got an opportunity to become a programmer, and for
the past ten years that's been my career.
The software industry is often compared to the construction
industry. When a new skyscraper is being created, you've got an
architect who figures out what it should look like and how it
should be used, an engineer who figures out how to make sure it
doesn't fall down and that the bathrooms work, a general contractor
who manages the process of building it and who decides on all of
the construction details, and the workmen who actually build the
thing.
Creating software is pretty much the same, though you often have
people doing more than one role. I'm currently doing everything
from the engineer's role down on various projects and to various
capacities. I've done architect type stuff too, but to be honest,
since I never wanted to build software for a living, I don't get
that big a kick out of inventing new software. I'm much more
interested in making software work and work well.
