We use software every day on our home or office computers, smartphones, or any other device. One of the fastest-developing sectors of the computer and information technology industry is software development.
A software developer’s actual job description is wide-ranging and incorporates aspects of software engineering, coding, and testing.
Have you ever wondered what a software developer does all day long?
What is a software developer and what does his daily life consist of? I pulled Dragos, one of the software developers at Infobest, out of his office to find out what journey lies behind his job title.
Can you please share with us what a typical day looks like for you?
8 AM – Wakeup
First, a glass of milk .
9 AM – Head to work
I’m very lucky. Here at Infobest, we have a flexible work schedule, which means if I need to come in late or leave early I can do that without a problem.
9:30 AM – Arrive to work
I start my day at the office with a cup of tea. As soon as I get to my desk, I switch on my PC, login and then check if any urgent e-mails need my attention.
After checking my e-mails, I have to organize my workload well and plan out the things that need to be done.
Right now, I am working on a WPF application designed to be used on tablets. My main responsibilities are to write clean code, to solve performance problems, and to find solutions for programming issues.
For my job, it’s important to stay on top of technical happenings and news because software tools and languages are constantly evolving, and you have to keep learning new technologies and techniques. So I usually catch up on a few RSS feeds that I subscribe to during this time, too.
10 AM – Start work for the day
My day is ready to officially start rolling. I put on my headphones and immerse myself into the compiling codes piled up from yesterday.
Every day, we have a status meeting of the entire development team. Here, we discuss project progress, maybe some design details, release schedules or other details of the project.
1 PM – Lunch Time
Usually, I take my lunch break in the office kitchen because I have everything I need there. At this time of the day, almost all my colleagues are in the kitchen and it is a nice way to get together and discuss.
1:30 PM – Back to work
I’m back in my office and I wrap up this morning’s development work. I will take some notes of what changes are required in the coding system or what should be tested.
If we have a meeting, I will prepare for it (information about the project status, problems or solutions that I found, etc.).
Once I’ve finished a feature, I deploy it to our test department so it can be tested by our QA resources, and also so the client can check it’s really what they asked for.
Go back to coding.
A typical day depends on what phase of the product development cycle you are in.
6 PM – Ready to go home
Done for today. I check my e-mails one last time before I leave the office.
What would your advice be for someone interested in becoming a software developer?
Be prepared to keep learning!