Stories from Prominent Job Roles in Software Development

So far, you have learned about the software engineering profession, including the types of roles it comprises, but have not learned about the progression into these roles or what they entail. The path to a career in software engineering is not linear; there are many stories from engineers who did not even see it as a potential career, while others knew it was something they wanted to do from the beginning. The best way to learn about these paths is from people who have been there.

So, in this chapter, some of these experts share their experiences in the industry. These are real software engineers (names with an asterisk have been anonymized) who have been interviewed about their careers spanning different specialties and backgrounds. They describe their job and what they do and share some advice with you about programming. You’ll find that each of these stories is unique and that the path to software engineering is...