For as far as we know, humans have been drawn towards perfection, towards what it seems as unknown or unreachable considering our hunger for the uncharted. Every day our lives change in an accelerated pace and with that being said we understand that everything around us shall adapt or even pass our capabilities as homo sapiens. Technology has dramatically altered from per se, one “shape” to another… All this machinery around our selves is getting by far better than us in many aspects (solving perplexing problems, studying our paths in different applications and using that to personalize the content in our social medias, search engines etc). In the first place people created all of this do-stuff-for-me appliances to make living easier, safer and more potent.⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀
But the initial “plan” has shifted far from that because of our own inquiries. Right now, most of our lives are connected with different applications and programs that make sending a picture to someone whom is on the other side of the earth a piece of cake. But this does not stop here, you know that planet Jupiter which is 588 million kilometers[2017, Redd] far from our blue planet? – Information for it is being sent back to earth by the time you are reading this… I hope this representation made you think about the ways we use software programs to gain information, collect data and deliberately use that for our good. This was a bit of “chitchat” to enter on the real topic of my research paper about my dream work as a Software Developer.
Software Development is about creating programs/ applications that suit the needs of users or for whom you work. Imagination a use of logic are quite crucial when creating these systems because you need to imagine what the buyer wants on the program. And this is not something that can be achieved by just telling your computer to do stuff nor by just making a really clean looking programs but on the backside is full of incorrect loops, errors and it might crash at any minute which might result in huge losses! But being a software developer is so much more than that, it is about creating a robust program that the user can count on every time he/she needs it without the thought that it might work, because developing a program is not about the it might work it is about the it will work ,therefore, software developers (including me in the near future hopefully) need to make a program that in a theoretical example is like a bank – secure, everyone depends on it (except that programs do not follow “extortion” as a way of gaining money), and it has only one entrance (end-user opening the app), inside it has different choices on what you want to do relating to the said bank. And the secure part is about creating something that has all walls locked and only the supervisors can enter on the back side of the bank (same as on any program code). So to put a frame on all of this we can say that a Software Developer does, first: Recommends updates for customers existing program to make it more fluent, second: Designs every piece of the code and plans how these code chunks will work together smoothly and third: Ensures that the program will continue to work properly at all capacities without any crashes.[? College Grad]
The reason behind
When you ask most people, developing software is nowhere near their dream job as a result of “ it is too hard and it has a lot to do with math” which is more or less true, but is so much more than that it’s something that makes you think, puts you on the edge but never pushes you over, makes you crave to a greater extend. In contrast form most jobs, it makes you see the world in a very different perspective because most of us when in touch with a technological device we see the end-user part which in my perspective is like eating on a restaurant (where the plate is brought to you without the hard work of the chef) and in most of the time you do not see the “behind the scenes” of how that was achieved or created. I’ll leave this metaphor for you to understand…
Career path for most of us is something quite hard to grasp by the reason that we have to think on doing something for the rest of our life that does not get boring and makes us whole. Living in a country where a remarkably great number of student choose to study – Law, Medicine or Economy. The reason behind all of this is creating a capital for oneself abide the fact that the studies he/she chose are not something they imagined themselves doing. The impact that all of this has on us as students is colossal. In spite of all of this disquiet environment, we have managed to make some small changes where we try to not follow the path as a lawyer, doctor and choose what makes us wake up with a smile on our face…
Each day we live in this substantially robust technological planet, our own selves are driven to change and adapt with the way the world shifts and changes along the high-tech products that transition every bit of our own life…
History
If you remove the software part from a computer of any kind, you would be left with an electrically charged piece of metal that does not respond to any of your commands, it’s like leaving a car without its steering wheel, you’ll still have your vehicle but there isn’t anything to make it turn right or left! 1945-1965 are the years that started everything about Software Development [2018, Rychter]. But some people consider Ada Lovelace as worlds first programmer (the person who writes a program) when she wrote an algorithm to work on an analytical engine sadly she never saw her work done because the said engine was never finished.[2014, Biography.com Editors]. As, we indicated earlier the years 1945-65 were the times when a hefty number of people started to put their eyes on software developing and at that time NATO Science Committee gave the green light on this kind of project with many sponsors. [1968, Naur, Randell]. In the meantime Konrad Zuse and Claude Shannon were among the first people that started implementing and studying programming each in their own perspective which lead to the creation of Plankalkül and The mathematical Theory of Communication whom brought an early taste of what will come on the future of programming and software developing.[? Computerhistory.com].
With every decade passing, society started to give more attention to this field and that made it even more successful. But this does not mean that everything was going smooth as butter. Software Crisis
Was a term used for the 1965-1985 years where software projects were beyond budget and from the lack of better studying Softwares were causing damages and life cautionary situations and this was a cause of overheating, bad memory management etc.
Essentials
Software Developer as with mos job you will need to have at least a Bachelor’s Degree. Beforehand many usually go to coding bootcamps or finish an associate degree but without a four-year education plan most companies or employers don’t give you the job. Internships, learning more than one coding language, specialization, getting certified, completing Master’s degree etc makes you a full-package and ready for any job requirement! And with every educational degree you finish comes even more capital gain. That being said I shall say here that being an uneducated software developer whom learned languages by himself/herself does not mean that you have a secured job… Skills needed to be a software developer are quiet blended. Being a logical thinker and solving problems at a higher pace are key factors for a software developer. Patience and being a detailed person make you an adequate person for the said job. Being an eager person is also a plus for the job because well “curiosity killed the cat”.
Environment
This job is essentially a desk job, where you do most of the thinking and achieve the finished program in need. Stress is quite interconnected with this profession because you have to think every “bit” to achieve a really flawless software. Most companies use the work-in-group plan where people are given different parts to code and then all of that is brought together as a mosaic piece. Indoor offices are the basic place where you work for this profession but if you feel more creative on a mountain side, no one can tell you different.
Job Attributes
Being a software developer means having a full time job or 8 hours of work every day. But this is not your typical nine to five job and the “don’t take your job at home” rule does not apply here because you might need to finish that last piece of code you were left with or you need to think of a new plan to get around that loophole. With that being said we understand that with this profession come many not so cliche work characteristics.
Positive Features
· Everything you need is on your PC ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀
· High-profit job ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
· Logical Thinking ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀
Negative Features ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀
· Quiet Stressful ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀
· One small mistake and your program crashes ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
· Taking care of complex coding ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
Progress
As I have mentioned beforehand having as many advancements as you can makes you even better at your job. I haven’t had the opportunity to take many courses or anything but I have learned HTML5 in High School which made my career-choosing problems a lot easier because I knew where I will gravitate. The good thing about this profession is that you can find a job in most countries around the globe. Even though in my country rate unemployment is quite high (26,5% according to AGJENSIA E STATISTIKAVE TE KOSOVES)[2018, ASK] you can find a job as a software developer but most of these companies work for the outside of Kosova market but then again it is not that easy and most of us as students think of a job in other EU countries or even further.⠀⠀
ICT and ICK are two companies that some people have a chance on getting a job but then again, we live in a country where nepotism and corruption are in immense levels.
With a really fast search on google I was able to find more than 20 companies that were looking to hire software developers and this was in Germany only. With this being said Germany, Estonia, USA, Britain etc are promising places to find a job for my profession.⠀
For most jobs, rate employment stays consistent but for a software developer recent studies showed that by 2026 this rate would combust to a strong 26% which is higher than most professions[2019, Bureau of Labor and Statistics]. Most people who started working as a software developer never had their job at risk but this does not mean anything, because of technology changing quiet fast we need to adapt new advancements to keep up with the demand and that requires hard work and passion (current statistics were not found).
As a profession, developers have a risk-free job but most hazards in this job come from the budget side where the company does not have enough money to hold on to its employees…
I did this interview with a friend of mine even though he works as a database developer but I felt more comfortable doing it with him.
We did this interview at our local cafe and he is quite helpful manner answered all my questions and I came to a realization that we think quiet the same… He described the job as stressful but that made him happy also. His first instinct on choosing this job was the wage part as of mine also, along with the dream he had since he was in middle school. He works with a group of people that right now are making a database for accounting and he expressed that everyone has a different part of the program to code and then to implement all of that together as a whole. This was his first year at a job like this since he has almost finished the same faculty as me. His pet peeve for this job is the eye for details that drives him crazy when he forgets small characters. His hopes get bigger everyday he goes to his job and sees the potential he might have and he really enjoys the idea that employment rates are getting massive day by day. When asked about hiring someone if he was the boss he added that he would hire someone less lazy…
When we almost finished this interview he said something that I would love to quote it right here and to be read by whomever it may concern: ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I would say work even harder than you already are, because right when you think that you have worked hard enough – that’s when you should top it off with even more work.”⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
Closure ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Since high-school started I always had this thought in my head on what should I finish my Bachelor’s degree many thought came and many of them disappeared in thin air. To be completely fair since this project is for myself – this career was not something I saw myself doing 2 years ago because I had in mind going to another faculty. But everyday I am overjoyed with everything that happened in my life and led me where I am today… By the time I finish my degree I want to get in depth with everything that has to do with software developing and to get ready for the big market.
I want to learn as many coding languages as I can and do research on many topics since maybe I might change my mind in the next few years hence I want to be ready for everything life has stored.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
When I started this project I actually thought it will be something I will finish and get over but it really helped me close some unanswered questions and open new riddles for my future life….
