Insight to a software engineer (or other careers relating to technology)?

There is an extremely huge and growing need for computer scientists/programmers/AI/machine learning/robotics/coders/software engineers. To see some amazing statistics, go to code.org. Software engineering is a type of programming skill that you can get by majoring in Computer Science (EE), Electrical Engineering (EE) or Computer Engineering (CE) in college. These days, Computer Science is in highest demand, both in terms of popularity (half of the Stanford freshmen last year declared CS as their major) and in terms of available jobs (again, see code.org for statistics and forecasts). A software engineer is a person who can program, but can do more than that; it is someone who can structure a problem in a way that can be solved computationally (through programming), and can then be organized and structured so it can be best solved/programmed. To get any programming job, whether it is software engineering or other types of programming, you need to get as much experience in coding as possible. The way to do this is to: 1) get a college degree in computer science if possible and 2) do projects on the side, as summer jobs or internships or even volunteer activities that involve programming for real-world use. The more experience you get, the more sense you will have of how varied the field is. You can be programming web sites, robots, satellites, submarines, smart fridges, smart cars, heat monitors, medicine dispensers for the elderly, the Internet of Things, and so so so much more. Computing, and therefore programming, is becoming the foundation of the 21st century world. So having a degree in computer science is the best ticket to your future in the 21st century. It is a cliche to believe that programming means sitting alone and programming by yourself. Most projects involve teamwork, whether they are at a small startup or in a large company. There is a lot of opportunity problem-solve in teams, divide and conquer challenges, and help each other. For most programming, you do not need to either love or be good at math. Computer science uses logic, which is totally different from continuous math. Numerous people, women especially, are superb programmers even without loving or using math. For a computer science major, you typically need 2 years of calculus and nothing more. Most serious math in computer science is already solved with software such as Matlab and Mathematica, it’s not something programmers/software engineers do from scratch. No interesting job has a typical day, that is the best part of it. As a computer scientist / software engineer, you get to keep pushing forward with a variety of challenges and types of work, including visualizing solutions to problems, sketching ideas, brainstorming with colleagues, looking things up on the Web, reading / doing research, coding, testing code, debugging, presenting, and looping again to all those things and more in teams. The world of computing is discovering new ways to improve human quality of life every day, from health and medicine (from the Fitbit to brain imaging, from apps for meditation to smart pillboxes to growing new organs on a chip), to human-machine interaction, to transportation (think smart cars and flyers), to manufacturing, to smart and green buildings, to so much more. We don’t even know what we will be programming in 5 years. Jump in and shape the future.