Day In The Life of A Software Engineer

Note: I have no idea why this is such a popular topic because there isn't much variation to it, but you searched for it, so i'm here to deliver.

When I was looking for my first Software Engineering role, I had an idea of what the role would look like and I had questions. Coming from management, I always worked with my own personal office. Would I get that? Probably not, but I was still curious. WIll I code from the time I sit down until the time I get off? Those were the types of things I wondered. 2 years into the role, I can safely say that it isn't nearly as "fast-moving" as one would assume, and it doesn't resemble the hacker movies at all.

Let's dive into a realistic day of a Software Engineer.

9:15 - Communications With Team

9:15 AM - DSU aka Daily Stand Up

DSU is pretty standard across the industry. In plain terms, it's a team meeting that gives you the opportunity to let everyone know 3 specific things.

1. What You Did (Yesterday)
2. What You Plan On Working On Today
3. Are There Any Issues Blocking You From Completing Your Work

With the industry moving heavily to hybrid and remote, this meeting is typically held either via:

1. Communication Apps - Slack, Zoom, Teams, Discord, etc..(Online)
2. Meeting Room (In-Person)

Time spent in/on this meeting is team/company dependent on what is worked on and the size of your team. This meeting shouldn't run long, though. I would estimate 15-30 Minutes Max.

9:45 AM -Coffee/Tea/Water Break

9:45 AM - Grab a drink and catch up with your coworkers.

This time is typically spent discussing the latest happenings at work and isn't really work related. I'd consider this simply a time where you're building with your peers and flexing your interpersonal communication skills. Not technical, but still needed.

10:00AM - 12:00PM Review of Stories/Begin Work

You've settled in to your couch, desk, beach chair and it's time to get to work. You'll start by reviewing where you currently stand with your sprint tasks. If you're in the middle of a task from the prior day, it's pretty normal to continue working through that issue.

If no issues arise, you will complete the entire story without really having to communicate with anyone outside of DSU. If you end up running into issues (examples below), this is where you'd get with the engineer/designer responsible for fixing the issue. If you were aware of the issue during stand up, you would let them know of this blocker at that point. If it pops up afterwards, I'd reach out via message and make them aware of the blocker.

• API not returning needed data
• Wrong response being returned
• Clarification of design before implementing
• Inability to implement feature with current tools

*Sprint - Development is typically broken down into small tasks. Those tasks are discussed with a project manager. Together, you decide on a fair time to get those tasks done. This is a tough thing to estimate.

*Story - A story is simply a task that has been assigned to you to complete. Stories are assigned during sprint planning. They typically go from a state of "To Do" to a final state of "Completed"

12:00 PM - 2:00PM - Lunch

I think it's understood what we are doing during this time. Length of time on lunch depends on where you work/day of the week/what is being worked on, but ultimately, you're salaried. Your time isn't being clocked. You are trusted as a responsible adult to take the time you need and as long as your work is being completed as expected, boss isn't bothering you.

2:00 PM - 4:00PM - Finish Your Day

At this point, you'll either continue working through your sprint stories and maybe mix in a meeting occasionally that is either a:

1) Desk Check with UI/UX for a Completed Feature 2) Random Project Manager Meeting 3) Birthday Cake Celebration

This continues for the duration of your days with small variations day by day. As noted earlier, it all depends on where you work and how involved you are with the happenings of your team.

To the surprise of many, the role is much more planning, meeting and thinking than it is code. A lot of collaboration takes place between the front-end, back-end, and designers. There are many sprint planning sessions, sprint retrospectives and discussions had with stakeholders and the project manager.

If this was insightful, feel free to share the article. I'll be back next week with another one!