Should you choose Software Engineering as a career ?

       If you've found this page, you're probably contemplating a career in software development. Maybe you're in high school trying to decide on a college major, a parent trying to help your child choose a major or perhaps you're a working professional looking for a career change.

 

      I've personally answered this question not less than fifteen times over the last 8 years and it always startles me that people are keen to jump into a career path just because "they know someone who knows someone" who is having a "great career in software development". I think adding to the problem is the fact that any University / College website you go to always answers the question " Why you should be in Software Engineering " and paints a really rosy picture of the profession. No doubt software engineering provides a very lucrative and satisfying career, but the question that you really need to answer is " Is Software Engineering the right career for you ? ". How do you make that decision ? Well – start by considering a few pros and cons of working as a software professional.

PROS:

2.  It's decent money : This is often the first question I get – does software engineering pay well ?  – infact this is often the first question someone asks me. I mean let's face it – we can all think of something we'd like to do more than working if money wasn't a concern. So, the answer is, yes it does – in fact the pay is consistently the second or third best among all engineering disciplines (after petroleum engineering). In US, expect to pull in anywhere between $75K – $90K if you make it to the top companies.

3. Immigration opportunities: If you're in a developing country like India, China etc., Software Engineering provides you with the most opportunities to move to U.S., Canada or Europe. This stems from the fact that software engineering is not a licensed profession like some other engineering disciplines in these countries. For example, in Canada you need a PE (Professional Engineer) to work in areas like Eletrical, Mechanical or Civil engineering disciplines. From what I've seen , it's a multistep process that can be frustrating and take years for folks coming into Canada with foreign degrees . Software engineers, on the other hand find it a lot easier to find work upon immigrating to Canada.

4. Opportunity to Work from Home/ remotely: Software engineering also provides more opportunities to work from home / remotely than many other engineering disciplines. After all, you cannot be a manufacturing engineer and not be present at the manufacturing plant ! So if your life situation demands being at home or having a more flexible schedule, software engineering has a lot to offer.

5.  Easier to go into business for yourself: If you want to start your own consulting business or SAS(Software as a service) or packaged software business, the barrier to entry is incredibly low when compared to traditional engineering disciplines. There is no factories to build, no machinery to purchase , no labor union issues – all you need is an idea, a computer and perhaps a cloud platform subscription like Azure or AWS.

1. You need to keep on learning for rest of your working career: You'll need to learn new things in almost every profession – but the frequency with which you need to learn new things is extremely high in software engineering. Case in point, I had to learn three new automation frameworks, 3 new version control systems and 4 new programming APIs in the last 5 months or so. The need to learn might be continuous or come in bursts depending on the system you're working on –  but learn you must 🙂 Something to consider before deciding on this career path. 

2. You might have to be On-call : Gone are the days when only medical professionals and police had to be on-call and do night shifts. With the move of the software industry from the packaged software model to the software as a service (SAAS) model, chances are high that you'll need to be on call frequently to provide support for your product. So you need to be mentally prepared for that.

3. Your standard of living might be lower than some other engineers:This is a tricky one and took me a while to realize. If you're a software engineer, chances are you'll be living in a tech town filled with other software engineers like San Francisco or Seattle. What this basically means is that almost everyone is making around the same money as you are . So the cost of living (food, rent , services)in these places tends to be much higher than the norm. On the other hand , if you're a Mechanical Engineer working at a factory in a manufacturing town where the majority are blue collar workers , you're more likely to be in the top 5% of earners, which is going to give you a much better standard of living because the cost of basic necessities tends to be priced to fit the income profile of the average earner. For example, a two bedroom apartment in Redmond area near Microsoft campus will run around $2000 per month – you can rent 4 bedroom houses for the same amount or less in  most manufacturing towns.

4.  Risk of outsourcing : This is a real threat – it's much easier to outsource software jobs than jobs in industries that require heavy infrastructure investments like petroleum / chemical / mechanical engineering . So you need to be mentally ready to go where the jobs are and not get too attached to a specific place.

5. Long Hours : Although the typical workweek ranges from 40-55 hours, there are times when you might have to put in those 70-80 hour weeks, especially before release dates or while being on call. So be mentally prepared for that 🙂

6.  Sedentary lifestyle: This is true for most white collar jobs but especially pronounced if you're in a pure development role. I recently bought a fitbit and found that I'm averaging about 2200 steps throughout the workday , which is 8000 steps short of what is needed to maintain a healthy heart as stated by American Heart Association. Also, sitting in front of a computer for 8-10 hours a day can cause musculoskeletal issues. So if you're a programmer, make sure you get some physical activity in before or after work hours.