What I do for a living
I've got a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a
minor in Philosophy, so, of course, I'm a Software Engineer.
Ever since I built my first computer at the age of twelve, I knew that
whatever I wound up doing as a career, I'd be using computers and my
programming skills to create the tools I needed for my 'real' job. I really
never expected that writing software would become my real job, but that's how
it turned out. While killing time in grad school, working on a Masters in
Mechanical Engineering, I got an opportunity to become a programmer, and for
the past ten years that's been my career.
The software industry is often compared to the construction industry. When a
new skyscraper is being created, you've got an architect who figures out what
it should look like and how it should be used, an engineer who figures out how
to make sure it doesn't fall down and that the bathrooms work, a general
contractor who manages the process of building it and who decides on all of
the construction details, and the workmen who actually build the thing.
Creating software is pretty much the same, though you often have people doing
more than one role. I'm currently doing everything from the engineer's role
down on various projects and to various capacities. I've done architect type
stuff too, but to be honest, since I never wanted to build software for a
living, I don't get that big a kick out of inventing new software. I'm much
more interested in making software work and work well.