Brain Box.

Brain Box.

 

What does a software engineer do and what qualifi cations do you need to become one?
by Melanie Cooper.

 

Have you heard the one about the geeky software engineer tucked away in a darkened room crunching boring code? Yes? Well, you should know it's about as accurate as early predictions that computers would never catch on.

 

Software engineers are the people who make the computer work its magic by developing programs, making sure different programs can work together and fi ne-tuning them so they make sense to the people who use them. For people who like puzzling their way through a problem until they reach the answer, soft- ware engineering could be the dream career. It also offers entry into just about any industry you can think of: health, human resources, tele- communications, marketing, law and sport. More and more industries are looking for programs that are made just for them.

 

For Emma McLeod, the decision to become a software engineer wasn't straightforward. She chose to study commerce at Auckland University because "nothing else looked good", then, to round out her studies, decided to major in marketing and information systems. "In my fi nal year I did the information systems project paper, which was really demanding but good fun. Our team did a project for Datacom and at the end of the year all three of us were offered jobs there. The majority of the others in the class were also offered jobs at the companies they worked for. So it was well worth it even if it meant long hours." Five years on, Emma is still at Datacom but she says it is defi nitely not a case of things staying the same.

 

"I started as a graduate in 2001 and at 26 I'm now a project manager. In that time I have worked as a junior developer, a lead developer [leading a team of up to five people], a business analyst and a project manager."

 

Most of Emma's work has been as part of Datacom's interactive design team, working mainly on websites and other interactive projects such as touchscreen kiosks.

 

"I love seeing the results of all my hard work online or on a kiosk being used by thousands of people. I love the challenge of solving the problem presented to me." In her time at Datacom she has worked with Air New Zealand, museums and a district council. "I have worked in Wellington, Christchurch, Rotorua and Whangarei. Not all glamorous cities, and not all glamorous jobs, but still fun and a different kind of challenge to fi t into another organisation's culture."

 

Her work environment is another part of the job she loves. "I work with a wonderful team of people who are down to earth and enjoy having a good time. We have a fairly social environment here and an activity like volleyball, soccer, basketball or frisbee happens nearly every lunchtime for those that are interested."

 

In her spare time Emma manages to mix a passion for the snow (it's her second home over winter) with her software skills, creating websites for lots of the Ruapehu-based ski clubs. Asked what makes a good programmer, Emma says attention to detail is important and, if you want to move towards working on the client side of things, being confident and outgoing can be good.

 

"But I work with all different kinds of people with all different kinds of personalities and traits and I don't think there is any one type of person better suited to the job. As long as you enjoy the challenge and find it fun then it's for you!" Emma's experience at Datacom means there are a huge number of software programming opportunities open to her as well as project management roles, but she's not making any plans just yet.

 

"I think I could easily get a job overseas if I wanted to, but my team here is too good to leave right now and I'm still learning new things every day."

 

LICENCE TO TRAVEL

 

Less than one year into his first software engineering job with First Data Utilities, Ashley Schroder has already spent one month working with a client in Ireland. "Before that trip, the farthest I had been was Australia. It was hard work but I managed to take a look around Ireland and on the way back I stopped in Bangkok." The 22-year-old is looking forward to other travel opportunities too. One department at First Data Utilities stays on site with international clients for up to six months at a time, then moves on to the next site. Ashley's hoping to become part of the roving department in a couple of years but for now he's out enjoying the different parts of his job in Auckland.
"The job I've got means I get to try a bit of everything and I don't feel like I am being shoehorned into one particular area of programming. I've been doing requirements analysis, design, development, testing, docu-mentation and working with clients to find out exactly what they want." First Data Utilities develops software for utility companies - that's power, gas and water - based all over the world.

 

As a student at Palmerston North Boys' High, Ashley never imagined ending up in software engineering. "I was okay at maths at school but it was definitely not a favourite. When I got to university they taught maths in a whole new way. It wasn't just a case of learning things over and over: they told you the reasoning behind it and nothing was taken for granted.

 

"I would encourage anyone who isn't really inclined toward those subjects at school to take a maths paper or some pure science-based papers. They open up a lot of options."

 

After starting a Bachelor of Information Technology in Wellington, Ashley decided a Bachelor of Science majoring in computer science and maths gave him more of the problem-solving challenges he was after.

 

"I love the preciseness of problem solving. You have a problem and once you solve it, you know you have the answer."

 

Head start

 

A friendly push from a mate and his own curiosity have seen secondary-school student David Olsen take second prize in the 2006 Software Engineering Design Challenge. Run by the University of Auckland, the annual challenge gives year 12 and 13 students the chance to try out their lateral thinking skills and, if they win, to earn a sizeable chunk of their university fees.

 

A Rutherford High student, David says he'd already decided on a Bachelor of Software Engineering at Auckland University but now he gets $2,000 off the cost of his fees. (First prize went to Julie Kho from New Zealand International College and third prize to Min Gih Choi from Saint Kentigern College.)

 

To win his prize David had to complete two challenges. One was to design an MP3 application for a mobile phone that would curb copyright infringement. The other was to come up with a website forum and present it to the judges. David's forum idea could prove handy in the future: a place for students studying software engineering to discuss problems, but there won't be any swapping of the answers to homework questions because he has figured a control for that into the design.

 

"The main thing that interests me about software engineering is the problem solving. There's nothing quite like coming up with an elegant and simple solution to a technical problem. The other thing that appeals would have to be the pride in completing something, and showing off what you've made."

 

Julie Kho, who won the design challenge, says software engineering also presents lots of opportunities for creativity. "Design is a creative process; there is no one solution to every software design project. It involves individual creativity to invent a system without any limits as long as the design is logical and practical."

 

And speaking of practical, Julie was also pleased to read in a recent MSNBC survey that software engineers are among the top earners. Ultimately David wants to use his software engineering degree to get into game programming, but he says he realises it is a highly competitive industry. Just as well he's made a head start "doing a bit of work" for Last Chance Media, a small company based in Texas, and creating his own blog, at www.razor.byethost.com.

 

Qualifications to set you on the right path Bachelor of Engineering (Software Engineering) Master's of Engineering (Software Engineering)

 

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
Bachelor of Engineering (Software Engineering)

 

UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO
Bachelor of Applied Science (Software Engineering)
Bachelor of Applied Science (Software and Knowledge Engineering)

 

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO
Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)
Bachelor of Information Technology

 

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Engineering Technology

 

AUT UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Information Sciences (Software Engineering)
Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Software Engineering)

 

MASSEY UNIVERSITY
Diploma of Software Engineering

 

WELLINGTON INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Diploma of Software Engineering and Design

 

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